Oil has created a bad name for itself in skincare because nobody wants to look oily! This is a common misconception. Using a quality face oil, you will deeply hydrate and nourish your skin leaving you with a radiant and clear complexion.
You will not look oily!
In an ideal world our skin would always be perfectly balanced, and we would not feel the need to apply any moisturiser.
However, unavoidable environmental factors such dry weather, lots of sunshine, cold winds, and the use of soaps, detergents and makeup all dry out our skin. Additionally, our sebum production slows down with age.
Using a face oil you are helping your skin do its housekeeping. When the surface of your skin is well hydrated it enables this large organ to focus on repairing itself with new skin cells.
This is the key to healthy, radiant skin throughout your life.
How our skin works
In order to appreciate the full benefits of a face oils it is important to understand the basics of how our skin works and how different types of moisturisers interact with our skin.
Our skin has the natural ability to moisturise itself in two ways.
Firstly blood vessels in the middle layer (dermis) enable water to be drawn up to the outer layer (epidermis) which keeps our skin hydrated. Secondly, our skin produces its own oil, commonly known as sebum, which protects our hair follicles and lubricates our skin from the outside.
Three types of moisturisers
Emollients (softening)
These penetrate the outer layer of the skin, filling in the cracks and keeping the surface of the skin moist, flexible and smooth. Sebum, the oil naturally produced by our skin, is an emollient.
All moisturisers will contain some type of emollient but a ‘cream’ or ‘lotion’ will be thinned down, usually with water or alcohol, so it will be less effective at restoring the moisture in your skin.
Natural examples: almond oil, avocado oil, jojoba oil, any other plant oil
Humectants (water magnet)
These draw moisture to the surface of the skin from the deeper layers. They can be viewed as a double-edged sword because they enhance the skins own hydrating ability however over use can cause premature drying of the deeper younger layers of our skin as excessive moisture is evaporated.
Natural examples: honey, aloe vera, seaweed, glycerine
Occlusives (barrier)
These act as a barrier on the surface of your skin preventing moisture evaporation. Environmental factors such as hot or cold weather, low humidity indoors or outdoors, chlorinated swimming pools, excessive use of soaps, can all cause our skin to lose too much moisture. In these cases, it is advisable to use a moisturiser which contains some occlusives.
Remember that by nature they do not absorb into the skin so expect a very rich moisturiser.
Natural examples: beeswax, shea butter, any other nut butter
In summary
Raw organic plant oils, which are the key ingredient in all quality face oils, are very easily absorbed by the skin. They provide a simple moisturisation and do not add unwanted residues or toxins which need to be processed by your skin.
Like any other organ our skin is at the mercy of how we decide to treat it. Just as we may choose to eat organic food to avoid potentially harmful substances, we should carefully consider what we are feeding our skin.