I think I'm going to complain a little first and then I'll get to the face wash. This describes the past two weeks:
Often moms try, or are expected, to do it all. Please make sure everyone has a lunch, clean clothes, take out the dog, scoop the cat litter. Make sure you are involved with the kids all the time but don't spoil them. Take all of the children to their separate activities but don't over schedule them. Do you own cleaning, but make it look easy. Cook all of your own meals with food you grew in your own organic garden. Turn off the TV! Don't forget to be sexy and work out, no one wants to see you in your mom jeans. That's just gross. While you are at it, "lean in" and make sure you are successful outside the home or you've let down an entire generation of women. They are watching you.
The past two weeks have been like that and blogging has rarely made the cut! It's been one of those times when work troubles, car troubles, illness, travel, family drama, and the process of buying a house have all struck at the same moment.
HOWEVER! I did have a minute to snap a picture of my homemade face wash. I've been trying to buy products that are better for my body and won't leave a lasting chemical residue in my cells or on the planet.
I have this travel bottle and I fill it 1/3 Olive oil, 1/3 castor oil, and 1/3 grapeseed oil. This is my face wash. I know...What the WHAT? Oil on your face sounds like the opposite of clean. But remember my son's question about the holes in my nose? This is the only face wash ever - and I have tried so many different chemical formulas - that has ever reduced the size of the pores on my nose. My pores aren't actually smaller, they're just cleaner! I want to give credit where credit is due, but I just stumbled across a million websites and blogs discussing the value of washing your face with oil. I was desperate I guess!
Here's why it works. When we use soap and other chemical products we interfere with our skin's natural process. We strip our skin of oil, then we are dry. Then our skin produces more oil to compensate and we wash more. What I learned is that "Oil dissolves oil" and actually keeps pores much clearer! Read about that in detail here.
I chose to use Castor oil because it can deeply clean the skin. I chose grapeseed oil because it is good for large pores and dark circles. And olive oil is gentle and moisturizing. Every time my son had a skin issue (eczema, cradle cap) his pediatrician would say, "Put some olive oil on that." And it freaked us out how well that worked.
Take some time in a steamy shower to indulge your face with oil. It's not a day at the spa like we deserve (!) but it's something.
-Daisy
Why not coconut oil?
ReplyDeleteI have heard mixed things about coconut oil. I have heard that it is wonderful, and that it clogs pores. I've not tried it as a face wash yet, but I use it on my hands in the winter, on chapped lips, and I certainly plan to try some mix of coconut and shea in place of the old paraben filled anti-stretch mark cream if we ever decide to give that whole baby thing a second try.
ReplyDelete