Do I Need This? Oil Cleansing (and Double Cleansing)

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I've finally returned to my Do I Need This? series, which had been on a year-long hiatus. In these posts, I offer my experience and opinion about whether or not I think a trendy product or technique is worth it. Obviously, you don't really need ANY beauty products, so the answer to the question is always going to be no, to some extent. But is it going to change your life (or face)? Is it going to make things easier? Are you going to notice any difference at all? That's what I'm getting at. You may disagree with my verdict, because we all have different bodies/faces/brains/desires, but I'll try to offer a starting point, at least.

Oil cleansing is nothing new, and oil in skin care has been a big thing for a while now. We used to always check to make sure our products were labeled "oil-free" (at least those of us with oily or acne-prone skin), but now we're being told to embrace the magical, precious oil, regardless of skin type. Especially if it's "natural." So were we mistaken all that time? Is oil the new everything? Can I actually clean my oily face with oil? Wha?

As usual, I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. Lots of oils have positive properties for various skin types. Some will work for some people and not for others. Adding oil isn't necessarily going to clog your pores or make your skin produce more oil - in fact, it might have the opposite effect. The trick, as always, is to experiment and find out what works for you.

I'm going to talk about my experience with cleansing using oils here. Facial oils that are supposed to treat skin issues are another thing (I'm partial to rosehip oil, myself), so I'll leave those out. This is about washing your damn face.

Do I need this?

Short answer: Oil is effective for removing makeup, but don't expect miracles (and you don't need to spend a ton of money on fancy oil cleansers).

Can your skin sense how oily it is and adjust its oil production accordingly? (from Lab Muffin)

No.

Quick Review: L'Oreal Age Perfect Glow Renewal Facial Oil (with a more affordable DIY alternative)

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
I got a sample of this from somewhere, and before I'd even opened it, I knew that I was definitely not going to put this shit on my face. The card it came with says:

FORMULATED WITH A UNIQUE BLEND OF 8 ESSENTIAL OILS

English Lavender
Rosemary Leaf
Geranium
Orange Peel
Chamomile
Rose Flower
Lavandin
Marjoram Leaf

Every one of those ingredients, which the single exception of chamomile, is a skin irritant/sensitizer (look them up here if you doubt me). Some, like lavender oil, might even be photosensitizers (i.e. does bad things in the sun). Lavender oil is also actually a pro-oxidant, rather than an anti-oxidant, which is what we usually look for in skin care products. Oh golly, please, let me rub that on my face. Most of these fragrant oils have no actual benefit for skin, either.

Mind you, when you look at full ingredient list, the fragrant oils are preceded by a bunch of oils that are actually mostly decent for the skin. Funny that they don't highlight those good ingredients instead on the package. Here's the list:

INGREDIENTS: CAPRYLIC/CAPRIC TRIGLYCERIDE • OLEA EUROPAEA OIL/OLIVE FRUIT OIL • SIMMONDSIA CHINENSIS OIL/ JOJOBA SEED OIL • CAMELINA SATIVA OIL/ CAMELINA SATIVA SEED OIL • HELIANTHUS ANNUUS SEED K8OIL/SUNFLOWER SEED OIL • ROSA CANINA FRUIT OIL • PARFUM/ FRAGRANCE • ZEA MAYS OIL/CORN OIL • PRUNUS ARMENIACA KERNEL OIL/APRICOT KERNEL OIL • PASSIFLORA EDULIS OIL/ PASSIFLORA EDULIS SEED OIL • ORYZA SATIVA BRAN OIL/RICE BRAN OIL • TOCOPHEROL • LIMONENE • PELARGONIUM GRAVEOLENS FLOWER OIL • CITRUS AURANTIUM DULCIS PEEL OIL/ORANGE PEEL OIL • CITRONELLOL • LINALOOL • ROSMARINUS OFFICINALIS LEAF OIL/ROSEMARY LEAF OIL • GERANIOL • ORIGANUM MAJORANA LEAF OIL • LAVANDULA ANGUSTIFOLIA OIL/LAVENDER OIL • ANTHEMIS NOBILIS FLOWER OIL • LAVANDULA HYBRIDA OIL • CUCUMIS SATIVUS FRUIT EXTRACT/CUCUMBER FRUIT EXTRACT • BENZYL ALCOHOL • CITRAL • CURCUMA LONGA EXTRACT/TURMERIC ROOT EXTRACT • EUGENOL • COUMARIN • SCLAREOLIDE • ROSA SPP/ROSE FLOWER OIL • JASMINUM OFFICINALE EXTRACT/JASMINE EXTRACT • ALPHA-ISOMETHYL IONONE

Olive oil, jojoba oil, apricot seed oil, etc. . . . these are good things. But there's just so much fragrance and crap in there that it's not worth it.

It does smell really fucking good, though. I thought maybe it would be nice as a perfumed oil, but unfortunately the scent fades very quickly. It absorbs well, so I've been rubbing the sample I have on various dry body parts and enjoying the temporary scent. It will have the same irritating properties no matter what part of your body you use it on (and you don't have to physically feel the irritation for it to damage your skin), but I'm okay with a little bit of that in places that don't get as much sun damage as my face, and that I don't care about protecting as much in general. I do wear perfume, after all.

Even though it smells great and feels nice on the skin, I still wouldn't recommend buying it for any purpose.  L'Oreal Age Perfect Glow Renewal Facial Oil retails regularly for $25 (though it's $19 on Amazon) for just 1 oz. (30 ml). If you want a pretty-smelling body oil, just pick up some jojoba oil (like this one) (or one or more of the other oils from the beginning of the ingredients list above) and add a few drops of scented essential oils like lavender (here), orange peel (here), rosemary (here), and geranium (here). (Rose and chamomile are more expensive.) Obviously your initial cost is going to be greater (using the oils I linked to, which equal about $33.50 total), but the oils are multi-purpose. You'll spend something closer to $6 per oz., rather than $25 per oz. for the L'Oreal stuff. Even if you went for the more expensive rose and chamomile oils, you'd do better than the L'Oreal cost. You'll get a nice, moisturizing oil with beneficial properties (jojoba), along with a bunch of stuff that smells pretty and doesn't do much else.

I found a use for a detestable product

Remember when I reviewed the Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition Miracle Dry Oil? And I hated it, oh my god, so much. What useless shit that was. You would think I would have thrown it away, since it was pointless, stupid, and horrible. I certainly thought I had. But no. Somehow my hoarding tendencies took over (big surprise) and I found it in a box with some other crap a few weeks ago. 

So did I immediately throw it in the garbage like any reasonable person would do? Um, no. 

I figured out a use for it! It actually works really well for cleaning makeup swatches off of my arms, even long-wearing eyeliner and lip stain. Spritz it on, wipe it off, voila. I mean, probably any oil would work, but this way I'm not using an oil that is actually functional in some other way to do this. 

Okay, most people aren't swatching shit on their arms on a regular basis. I also tried it as a facial cleansing oil, and it works quite well for that purpose as well. I always follow up cleansing oil with regular cleanser. I find that oil breaks down my makeup better and ensures that everything is gone, so I don't break out. That's important for me, particularly if I am wearing foundation. Unless you inexplicably like the smell of this Garnier oil, you'll want to give your face an extra wash in order to rid it of the cloying odor anyway. I'm not sure you'd want to spend a lot of time massaging it into the eye area, since it is so highly perfumed, but I don't really do that with cleanser anyway. 

So there you go. If you are unfortunate enough to possess some of this crap, you can use it to remove makeup. If you actually like it . . . no judgement, no judgement. In that case, here is yet another use for this wonderfully versatile miracle product. Or maybe you'll find this shit on sale, and you've wanted to try a cleansing oil, but they are overpriced. They are. This is a very lightweight oil that has some decent ingredients, so it might be worth a shot. Especially since you are going to rinse it off immediately and not give the irritants it contains any time to irritate you.

Is the oil-cleansing method right for you?

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I know lots of people have tried it and loved it. I tried it and it did absolutely nothing for me. My skin didn't get worse, but it didn't get better either, and it was a lot more work than my usual routine of washing my face in the shower. I do use facial oils (particularly rosehip oil), and I like them, but this routine just didn't give me results. And now I'm stuck with this big bottle of nearly-expired castor oil that I don't know what to do with.

If you follow this link (from Paula's Choice), you can find a detailed critique of the claims made by proponents of this skincare routine, and you can also find a link to the routine itself, in case you want to give it a try (it is pretty cheap). I'm linking to the critique first, because the fans of this method can have a weird, almost religious, way of trying to spread the word, so I think it's better to start with the negatives before you get sucked in completely. There are people who like it, but the same thing won't work for everyone, even people who seem to have the same skin type.

Have you tried the oil-cleansing method? What did you think?

You guys know about coconut oil, right? Cheap, natural, effective hair conditioning treatment

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Hair oils have been around since . . . like, probably forever, I'm pretty sure. When people figured out how to extract oils, they started rubbing them on themselves. Maybe even before they ate them. But lately they've been getting a bunch of mainstream attention. Here's the thing - you don't have to spend much money to get probably the best oil treatment possible. Coconut oil. It's one of the only oils that will actually penetrate the hair shaft and condition and moisturize that way. I've tried it - it does work.

Here's what you do. Buy a tub of coconut oil. It really doesn't matter which brand. Get a cheap one from the grocery store. Or here's one.

Nouveau Cheap's review of the million uses for jojoba oil

If you're interested in using pure oils in your skincare routine, check out this thorough description of how to use jojoba oil from Nouveau Cheap. Very useful!

Review: Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition Miracle Dry Oil, Part II (The Results, with photos)

If you missed my post on the formula of this product and my expectations based on that, check it out here. This second post reveals the results I got using this product in a number of different ways.

Let me start by repeating the marketing claims made by Garnier about this Dry Oil, since that will the main basis on which I evaluate it:

According to the Garnier marketing materials, this is a combination of "three weightless oils - olive, avocado, and shea" that is mean to "transform hair and skin". It is "made for everyday use on your hair, body, and face" and "instantly absorbs in a touch with no oily residue". They claim that it is the first multiuse oil on the mass market, "making revolutionary hair and skin care affordable for everyone".

I'm also comparing this to other more basic oil products, such as olive oil and rosehip oil, which are inexpensive and readily available. I've used those and continue to use them, so I am familiar with the benefits of using oils and how to get good results with them.

So how did it work out?

Review: Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition Miracle Dry Oil, Part I (The Formula)

How could I not try out some new products from the brand who brought us this hilarity? I'm not afraid. Well, not too afraid.

What it is:

According to the Garnier marketing materials, this is a combination of "three weightless oils - olive, avocado, and shea" (plus a lot of other stuff they don't mention; see below) that is mean to "transform hair and skin". It is "made for everyday use on your hair, body, and face" and "instantly absorbs in a touch with no oily residue". They claim that it is the first multiuse oil on the mass market, "making revolutionary hair and skin care affordable for everyone".

So, as usual, I will be evaluating this product against both the marketing claims and my own expectations. I have used, and continue to use, hair and face oils, rosehip oil in particular, so I'll be testing this to see how it stands up in comparison. I'd argue that multiuse oils are, in fact, already available for cheap - for instance, olive oil, which is included in this product. You can get a 17 oz bottle of extra virgin olive oil for about the same as the recommended price for 5 oz of this Garnier spray ($5.99), and there's no reason you can't use straight olive oil on your hair or skin. I'm pretty sure that they are expecting you to think of argan oil or maracuja oil or something, but there are lots of cheaper options out there. But of course, those aren't sprays, and they don't "instantly absorb". So let's see what the difference is here!

The first thing I did was do a little research on the ingredients.