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).

Is the oil-cleansing method right for you?

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
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?