Olive Oil: The miracle skin cleanser
Here’s a little discovery I recently blundered upon: plain old olive oil makes a great facial cleanser and skin conditioner.
I know…it’s counterintuitive. Olive oil should make your skin greasy. But it doesn’t. Not at all. In fact, as I write this my skin could use a little face cream. Some people say it’s safe to use on naturally oily skin prone to acne, because your own skin’s native oiliness has nothing to do with what you put on it and everything to do with your hormones. So many people buy into this theory that there’s actually a coterie of folks who have developed an “Oil Cleansing Method”(OCM), which they recommend for acne sufferers.
The other day I stumbled on this when I opened a freebie sample packet of expensive skin cream from L’Occitane. Thinking it was rather nice, I glanced at the ingredients and discovered the stuff is mostly water and olive oil.
Olive oil? I’ve got that in the kitchen, and it sure doesn’t cost what a bottle of fancy goop from L’Occitane costs.
Meanwhile, there’s a backstory here you should know about: Over the past two or three years, I’ve developed a maddeningly itchy spot on my face. It runs along the sides of my nose, especially around the creases where the nose joins the face. One dermatologist decided it was seborrheic dermatitis and prescribed a high-octane cortisone cream. Another dermatologist said it certainly was not that, because there was no visible reddening or rash, but she didn’t know what it is and thought I should leave it alone.
Well, cortisone cream does nothing. After I’d faithfully followed the first specialist’s instructions for about ten days, I learned that cortisone creams can cause your skin to atrophy. That’s just what I need: atrophied skin on my face! Thanks, doc!
Moving on, I tried dandruff shampoo (briefly soothing…for about ten minutes), calamine lotion, insect itch stuff, face creams, Vaseline, witch hazel, Bactine, antibiotic ointments, Myconazole, special soaps, Benadryl cream, oral antihistamines, swearing off caffeine, swearing off alcohol, and on and on and on. NOTHING helped to make it heal up, and only two things would stop the itch for longer than about five or ten minutes: salacylic acid (in Scalpicin) and benzyl alcohol plus pramoxine HCL (in Itchex gel). Both of these sting like the dickens when you apply them—as in hurt so much it makes your eyes water—but they would stop the itching for three to five hours, which was better than anything else did. Meanwhile, I continued to unconsciously paw at my face, because nothing would bring the itch to an end.
When I realized the L’Occitane cream was mostly olive oil, the Still Small Voice whispered, “Olive oil? Try it!”
Why not? Nothing ventured, nothing gained. The OCM enthusiasts are hot to add stuff like castor oil and aloe, but I decided I would restrain myself from running to the drugstore and just use the Costco olive oil I had in the house. Here’s the strategy:
You need
• a small amount of olive oil
• small dish
• warm water
• washcloth
• a few minutes of undisturbed time
Pour a tablespoon or two of olive into a little dish. Using your fingers, dip up oil and spread it over your face. Rub the oil gently around and into the skin.
Dampen the washcloth well with very warm but NOT scaldingly hot water. Lay the warm washcloth over your well-oiled face and let it set. Relax while allowing the steamy warmth to work on your skin. As the cloth cools, repeat this several times.
Then gently wipe the excess oil from your skin. Rinse and wring out the washcloth, and you’re done! If you like, splash some cold water on your face as an astringent.
Amazingly, as soon as I applied olive oil to the itchy area around my nose, it started to sooth the discomfort! And it didn’t hurt.
After I finished wiping the oil off my face, I dabbed a light film of olive oil onto the itchy area. It worked! It didn’t 100% cure the itching, but it soothed enough that I could keep my hands off my face all day long.
I’ve been using olive oil on my face for several days now, and it’s making a huge difference. Maybe over time the years-old irritation will settle down and go away. BTW, the oil also works really well to remove make-up. It even takes off mascara. It leaves your skin feeling clean, with no trace of greasiness. The olive oil scent dissipates quickly or washes off in the warm water, so you don’t end up smelling like a walking bowl of salad.
Isn’t that the darnedest thing? I can’t imagine why this would work on a stubborn itch. And I’m not asking! I’m just gunna keep using it.
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22 Responses to “Olive Oil: The miracle skin cleanser”
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Well that’s impressive. I’ve recently starting using generic baby oil (leftover from the homemade baby wipe experiment) to remove my makeup and it works great, removing all traces of mascara and leaving my lashes nice and soft. I think baby oil is cheaper than olive oil but I may give that try too! I assume baby oil is a petroleum product and olive oil is not so that would be another good reason to try olive oil.
Yah, baby oil is basically perfumed mineral oil. Which is pretty benign…I just don’t care for the perfume. I’d rather smell like pressed olives than a baby’s petootie. LOL!
Hmmm…I’ve heard about this before, what a neat idea. I have acne prone skin too, but I’m a bit too scared to clean my face with olive oil. Maybe I’ll be brave enough one day.
VERY interesting…My best friend swears by olive oil as her moisturizer & she also uses it on her hair regularly. I have always though I should avoid all oil based stuff since I have combination skin…but you say it’s not greasy at all huh?
LOVE it that it heals dry problems. We always get very dry noses in the winter from all the blowing. I bet a little olive oil would work wonders. We always fight with lotions, balms, whatever that are so synthetic…
Neat post!
It’s weird. It really doesn’t leave your skin feeling greasy, as long as you gently wipe it off with a clean washcloth soaked in warm water. You actually come away with your face feeling nice and clean. Well…at least I do. Can’t testify for anyone else.
I have been using olive oil as my night time moisturizer for over a year now. I read the book “Beauty secrets of the Bible” and she gives you a lot of natural skin care products! It’s great. I have been told many times how soft and smooth my skin looks. Women have been using olive oil on their skin since the Bible days… why should we spend tons of money for fancy products?
Im a 42 man who had begun having red and itchy zones on my face a couple of years ago, it all began on the side of my nose, then it begun to spread slowly had it just above the eyebrows, then there were days where those face zones were so red, itchy and flakey that it made me feel very uncomfortable to just go out and meet people.
I’ve tried a couple of over the counter creams, mainly moisturizers, like Wellskin Base Glaxal, Eucerin normal and others… some would help for maybe an hour, some would make my skin feel like it got on fire, more red than ever before, i was just about to call it quits and run to the doctor’s office, then i stumbled into your blog…
Tried Olive oil, the rest it history, it’s only been 4 days now that i apply plain olive oil after on my “facial zones” right after my usual evening shower and the itch and redness has almost vanished!
Im in total Awe!
Each morning i waking up to less and less redness and itchiness!
My wife said it makes a huge difference, maybe about 10% of the rash left, almost no redness left.
If this has made such a huge impact in just 4 days, im pretty convinced my problem will be solved very soon.
Thanks so much for telling me about plain Olive oil, it’s really making wonders on my face.
Cleansing with natural oil does indeed work well. I’ve totally stopped using all soaps on my face. I use 33% castor oil, 33% olive oil, 33% jojoba oil mix for my skin. It doesn’t leave your skin oily feeling after you wipe it off with a washcloth. Just think, if it can dissolve thick oily cosmetics well then it certainly can dissolve any oily buildup blocking your pores too. I would experiment with using the oils on the face while in a steam room if you can. The more open the pores, the more the oil can deep clean. ~scott
Hi, I have been using Extra Virgin Olive Oil for a couple of months and I love it and notice my hair and skin looking better. I use it on my hair, to remove all my make-up, as a lotion all over my body and face and I also use it to shave my legs. There are so many uses for it, just search the internet other ways and recipes! Buy a small bottle of EVOO and replace it with all your products for just one week and see what it does for you! Remember, anything you put on your skin is absorbed into your body, so why put all those fancy products that contain a lot of cancer causing chemicals? It adds up over time, so go natural!
I don’t know about olive oil yet…but I’ve used castor oil mixed with Vit. E oil for several years. I think the castor oil is making my skin TOO soft.. My facial skin started to droop….I have been using plain ‘ole vaseline…I like it!
maybe it’s genetic, maybe from excessive caffeine….but I am stopping the use of castor oil for my face. I do love the stuff to remove warts after a few weeks application…
@sylvy: Castor oil is pretty heavy, from what I understand. Apparently olive oil is a little lighter.
I used to use Vaseline as a moisturizer, too. Get your face wet, first, because Vaseline works to “seal in” moisture, making it an effective hydrator. I would wash my face in soap and water, then while the skin was still wet gently rub on a very, very thin film of the Vaseline. It seemed to work especially well around the eyes (assuming one is careful not to get it IN the eyes!). Nice thing about it: no perfume at all!
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I can certainly vouch for pure olive oil working as a facial cleanser.My daughter suffered from a mild case of eczema the first year she was born.My family physician recommended massaging her with plain good old olive oil for the body and face,no soaps,cleansers or lotions of any sort.It worked wonders.Wish I had called on her before the visits to the dermatologist and using low dose steroid creams,cleansers and lotions from the pharmacy on a little baby.She is almost 2 years and I rarely use soap on her face (unless we are travelling and its just easy to use a gentle cleanser) I plan to start using it myself instead of the thousand and ten cleansers out there.
Thanks so much!. I’ve recently begun to throw out all cosmetics with ingredient lists that remind me more of a chemistry lab than anything that should go on my skin and hair. The stories you’ve all shared gently remind me of the care Mother
Earth can provide for us. The methyls, ethyls, propols, glycols etc are just so unnecessary and harmful, subjecting us to dis-ease and dis-harmony in our bodies and minds. The natural approach may take a bit longer and yes can be a bit messier and time consuming but it is ultimately worth our while.
Thanks again! Peace to all.
Carmen
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I am African American and have very dry skin. My sister’s baby had/has excema and she began to use olive oil instead of soap to bathe/clean her. It works very well. She began to use it herselft and on the older children. I was skeptical but tried it myself in the shower. I rinse thoroughly under the shower using a hand held shower head, wipe oil on everything except the bottoms of my feet, scrub with a wash cloth if I’m feeling especially dirty or funky (sometimes I don’t use a wash cloth and works well also) then wipe it off with a microfiber cloth. Sometimes I don’t wipe it off. Either way, my skin is left soft and healthy looking and I DON’T HAVE BODY ODOR. I still use deodant though.
@ Carment T.: Also very nice on African-style skin (or any other variety, for that matter) is shea butter. It’s expensive in retail shops, but look for it at Sprouts, at health stores, or online. In the jar (sometimes it comes in a bag), its consistency is kind of waxy and you think what is that! The trick is to take a small blob of it, warm it in your hands, and then spread it around. It makes your skin just silky. The neat thing is, it soaks in and doesn’t leave anything that feels like a residue, yet you can tell it’s still there because water will bead up on your skin until you actually wash with detergent or soap. It’s really nice for calloused heels.
This sounds pretty convincing. I bought a lil’ sized bottle of Olive Oil from the cosmetics aisles of Wal-Mart because I thought it might help ease my Seborrheic Dermatitis problem on both my scalp and face. I’ll do this trick, and I do hope it works for me.
Hi! It’s me again from the previous comment. I just want to say my skin is shinier than I had for many months! The olive oil felt very greasy and thick though, but whatever! As long as my face is spotless I’m fine!
@ Anonymous: It does feel heavy and greasy compared to a cosmetic-grade cleanser or oil. The trick is to apply it; then soak a washcloth in warm water–very warm but not burning hot. Lay the warm (not scalding!) washcloth over your face and let it set for a couple of minutes. Reheat and reapply the washcloth two or three times after it cools off. Then gently wipe the oil off your face with the warm washcloth.
This should remove the olive oil (and any makeup you had on) so that your skin feels clean but not parched.
I’ve been using olive oil for some time too as my night time cleanser. It works just as well if not better than the expensive cleasing milks on the market, and if you start with a dry face and massage the oil off with hot water, there really is no greasy residue. You’ll feel extremely clean without that stripped effect you get from cleansing foam. If you want you can always follow up with toner or wipe a used green tea bag over your face. I received L’occitane’s apple velvet cleansing oil for my birthday a while back and while I enjoyed using it while I had it, I must say I have not bothered to replace it after I ran out. I just went right back to olive oil and have been enjoying similar results. The only advantage I can see to using the packaged cleansing oils put out by luxury skincare lines is the pleasant scent – the L’occitane oil certainly smelt delicious. But I can live without that and be $25 richer.