day 5: oil cleansing method

all I can say is, my face is transformed. my husband notices, everyone notices. I think today's side by side photo is the most profound.
no new breakouts, smoother, softer skin, existing sores are healing up, I am just beyond stoked.

day 4: oil cleansing method, and more

The exposure on today's photo is high, but I am sure if it was just as high as on day 1 you would see even more of a difference. Absolutely amazed. Husband sees the difference too. I am really stoked about the changes and it truly does boost my confidence when my skin is better... I think I'll do the updates for a full two weeks to see the changes. Let me know if you have any questions!

Woke up with this incredible, moving song on my mind... not sure if you all have seen this video on You Tube before, but this woman... her name is Temple, and she and her husband sang this song during her labor with her son... she apparently has two big contractions during the song - I can understand, as a singer, how the vibrations and intensity of the song, as well as the deep breathing would help her through her labor. Spiritually speaking, there are so many implications of laboring in conjunction with choosing to be led by the Lord, lie down in green pastures, allowing him to restore my soul. Labor = bringing forth of great joy and delight, and release, and new life, though we have to go through great pain and suffering, inevitably wanting to give up along the way before it comes... in the process we must choose the green pastures, being cared for by the Lord... that is exactly where we are. Enjoy this video, whether or not you are a "spiritual" person... I think you will.

day 3: oil cleansing method

The long and short of it is... no new breakouts, existing breakouts are healing well... totally improved texture, smoother, softer skin, less redness and blotchiness... this is only day 3. Hopeful...

day 2: oil cleansing method

Changes since last night... may be a little hard to tell in photos but I TOTALLY see a difference in the mirror. What do you think?

My breakout is under control and redness and inflammation is down. The overall texture and suppleness (is that a word?) of my skin has improved... kinda excited about this. I sure hope this keeps doing what it's doing! So shocked to see the changes in less than 24 hours.

hope for my face

Another exciting something I learned today on the internet came from a post I found over on She Breathes Deeply about the "Oil Cleansing Method" of skin care. Truthfully, I have had horrendous skin off and on since I was about 16 or 17 years old. The only break I have ever had from it has been during pregnancy, nursing, right after my period starts and moments of God's grace. I have tried EVERYTHING. Since I weaned Noah, my skin has gone nuts again. I have been broken out now for the last two months it seems without any kind of break. I know I am seriously stressed out. AND I know I am not eating right, taking any good supplements or drinking enough water - all of which will help. But I've also noticed changes in my skin since I had Noah - weird patches of dry flaky skin and then really broken out areas. It just sucks. In conjunction with my lack of hair which I should never have cut off, my totally shrunken boobs post nursing Shiloh for 21 months, then pregnancy, then nursing another year, then weaning, and my broke out face, I just feel so ugly right now! 

All of this being said I came across this post and got excited, thinking it might be a huge help to my skin. The approach makes total sense - that oil dissolves oil... naturally, water does not dissolve oil, so chemicals and soaps are used in typical facial cleansers to strip it away. Which is really not a good thing, because then your skin over produces the oils that should be there that were stripped away, and this may result in breakouts. You can read more about it here.

I decided to do an experiment and share it with you all. You get to see my broken-outness in all it's glory. And hopefully some improvement. 

You can read more about the recommended ratios here, but basically, you start with a carrier oil, usually EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and castor oil. This Castor oil is leftover from inducing labor with Noah. Glad to have it, because I was able to put the concoction together without delay. Since I am acne prone, I did 50/50 EVOO and castor oil, and about 5 drops of tea tree oil. 

...kinda pretty how the oils separated. I stored mine in an old Ball jelly jar. I may need to grab a teaspoon to keep handy because the oil is messy and drippy when trying to pour it out of the jar. 

The deal is, you basically take a little bit of it (I used about a tablespoon - you can use less or more) and massage it into your skin for 2-5 minutes. Then, you take a hot washcloth, put it over your face until it cools, and repeat a few times. Then just wipe the oil off. You will be surprised how NOT greasy your face feels. In fact I questioned whether or not I needed to moisturize afterwards. I took these before and after photos. I will do my best to keep daily photos posted so you can see the change, provided there is a change. And I hope there will be!

Something I notice in this side-by-side is that the redness in the "after" photo seems to be reduced! I noticed that in the mirror too. I haven't edited these photos in any way, just in case you might be wondering.

I am hopeful that this change will result in clearer skin for me. I took it for granted when I was preggo and nursing, but here I am. Back to reality. Hoping for an improvement... Sure would make me feel a little better.

Thanks for being sweet...

Brooke