The Truth About Face Oils

Face oils aren’t new, in fact they’ve been around for thousands of years. Waayyy before Oil Of Olay hit the market. But it seems like everyone’s been so scared of them the past couple of decades. I remember for years looking up and down the beauty aisle for these key words: Oil Free. I’d read my beauty magazines and knew better than to put more oil on my combination/oily skin. Turns out, that philosophy wasn’t entirely correct. Yes mineral oils (petroleum by products) need to stay as for away from your skin as possible. However, natural, botanically based oils are so good for your skin and the right ones can have so many benefits for all skin types. Don’t believe me? Well before you send your oily skin running for the hills, read on!

Face Oils aren’t exclusive to clean beauty brands. You’ll find plenty of them on the market from conventional brands. However, I’d beware of additional synthetic ingredients and added fragrance- both of which will undo any good from the pure oils. And the good that a quality face oil can offer is great. Not only does it offer easy hydration but botanical oils are full of antioxidants and vitamins, and have properties ranging from anti-bacterial to calming to healing. Fun fact: a lot of oils can penetrate deep into your skin so they act like little trojan horses bringing the good ingredients from your other skincare products deeper into your cells. You get a lot of bang for your buck with just a simple oil. 

Face Oils: Not Just For Grandma Anymore

I think there’s a misconception that only dry or aging skin could possibly use face oil but that is not the case at all. In fact, in some cases just using oil alone may dry their skin out more, but we’ll get to that in a minute. So you have oily/acne prone skin and you’ve been taught your whole life NOT to use oil on your face by the conventional beauty companies, but the truth is oil can control oil production. Sounds crazy, but certain oils actually trick your glands into producing less sebum and help to balance your skin. SO you hydrate your skin, balance oil production and on top of that you get get all the benefits that particular botanical oil offers, like antioxidants, vitamins, and even healing properties. Starting to sound better isn’t it? Here’s a cheat sheet for ingredients to look for in a face oil if you have oily or acne prone skin:

Lavender Oil: Calms inflamed skin, antibacterial

Tea Tree Oil: Antibacterial (great for spot treating acne)

Neem Oil: Antimicrobial, anti-inflamitory 

Rosemary Oil: Balances oil production, Anti-inflamatory

Geranium: Balances oil production

Cedarwood: Antiseptic, regulates sebum production 

On the opposite end of the spectrum is dry or aging skin. There are so many oils that have great properties to address aging! I’ve had combination skin until the last couple winters where it’s turned itself upside down and gotten so dry, yet still sensitive and somewhat breakout prone. I’ve found some oils actually make my skin dryer. I know that sounds insane. It’s like my skin just stops produces it’s own oil which leaves me dryer in the longterm, so I’ve been using face oil in between my serums and moisturizer. It’s an effective way to add hydration and helps the other products work even more effectively! Here are some great ingredients for dry or aging skin:

Coconut Oil: Strengthens Epidermis, Some natural sunscreen properties

Argan Oil: Promotes elasticity, helps fade lines and wrinkles, very moisturizing

Rosehip Seed Oil: Very high concentration of vitamin A (natural retinoid)

Frankincense Oil: Balances PH levels, fades spots, wrinkles and scars

Marula Oil: Full of antioxidants and Vitamin E (FYI- this makes me breakout)

Normal skin can get away with using a lot of different beauty oils. I recommend any of the elixirs Kypris makes or for a cheaper option try Pure Argan Oil from Acure Organics or 1,000 Roses by Andalou Naturals. 

Looking to improve skin tone or fade dark spots? Try one of these:

Apricot oil

Avocado oil

Or for Eczema:

Black Cumin Seed Oil: Anti-inflamatory, antioxidant rich 

There are so many more oils and a million uses and solutions for every skin. Hopefully this will at least get you started with a few oils that will get you hydrated and glowing!  xo