My Favorite Facial Oil

Oils.  Have you noticed the advertising of facial oils has been blowing up over the past year??  I walked by Sephora and the big window advertisement is now focusing on oils--it is finally being given its 15 minutes of fame!  The funny thing is, the use of facial oils has been around for a long time.  I myself started looking into facial oils about a year ago, even though I was deathly afraid to try them--I have sensitive, acne-prone, dehydrated but oily skin (I know I'm painting a pretty picture for myself here) which I have to manage very carefully.  Putting oil on an already oily face seemed counterintuitive to me, and it was not something I was willing to do….until I started doing more research.  

Here are some of the things I learned about oils:

1. Some oils have antioxidants and can protect your healthy cells from damage caused by free-radicals. 

2. Oil can help re-balance your skin.  My oily skin was oily because it was dehydrated underneath.  I spent so much time trying to dry out my skin to stop the blemishes that my skin was trying to compensate by creating more oil.  When you apply oil to your skin, your skin won't feel as parched, thus decreasing oil production.

3. Oil allows for deeper penetration of skin care products into your skin.  

4.  If you chose the right oil for your skin type, it will NOT cause breakouts.  

I read 15 more articles on the benefits of oils before I decided to take the plunge and give it a try--the inner product junkie in me won out over my fear of breaking out and I started researching different brands.  I decided to start with Argan oil and  I noticed there was one brand of Argan oil that both consistently got good reviews AND all the reviewers indicated they didn't get a break out.  This was my first foray into face oils:  Kahina Giving Beauty Argan Oil.  I tried several different types of oils (Fresh's Seabuckthorn, Meadowfoam oil, and Rice Bran oil) and these all caused me to break out.  I'm trying out some One Love Organics oils as well, and the jury's still out on the results.  I'm giving it a few more tries before I write a review. 

Back to Kahina's Argan Oil--from the first time I used it, I got no breakouts, which is HUGE for me!  I'm pretty sensitive (read: breakout prone) to most products, but not the case with this oil.  It didn't cause any breakouts, and the next morning, my skin looked smoother and less oily.  I've been using this oil in the evenings about 2-3x/week for the past 8 months and I still love it!  It comes in a nice black, thick glass bottle with a dropper.

How I use the oil:
-Cleanse face
-Leave face damp with water or a misting spray (this step is ESSENTIAL, as oil does not spread well on dry skin and may cause you to break out).  The spray that I use is from 302 and it's called "Calming Mist Rx."
-Put 2-4 drops of oil on your palms and rub your palms together to warm the oil
-Pat oil on to face
-If you need additional moisture, feel free to add.  I don't use anything afterwards, but skin is individual and you know your skin best!  However, for the first week of use, I wouldn't recommend using anything on top of this oil, just to figure out if it works for your skin or causes a breakout. 

Additional things to note:
-I did get a small spot/zit or two when I first started using the oil.  Not a major breakout or crazy, angry pimples (the red giant ones).  This typically happens to me when I first start using any new product, so this didn't scare me.  Now if you break out all over, I would not continue using the product. 

Pros:
-does not clog pores
-skin tone seems improved
-less oil production (this may not apply to everyone, but this helped me because my skin type was on the oilier side)
-wake up to skin that seems better than it was the night before
-certified organic and fair trade 

Cons:
-some may find it to be pricey ($36 for a 30ml bottle)
-glass bottle may make it heavy for travel

Information from EWG/Skin-deep:
Hazard Score: 0; Data Available: Limited

Click here if you want to see the ingredient hazard information from EWG/Skindeep:  Argan Oil

If you want to read more about oils, here's an interesting link I found!