Olive Oyl

This is going to sound completely strange to most people, but this post is all about how wonderful oil is for your face.  Yes, you heard correctly, I said "oil."  I'm sure that all of us have used an oil-based, eye make-up remover  at one time or another and are probably at least vaguely aware that oil-based cleansers are great for breaking down make-up.  Oil cleansers have more benefits than just make-up removal, though.  It is also good for washing away other skin care products (like sunscreen) at the end of the day and some oil-based cleansers are supposed to be great for getting rid of sebum and other oils on the face.

As counter-intuitive as it sounds, apparently it is true.  I am told that this is how it works: the oils in the cleansers attract the oils that are on our skin already and when we wash off the oil-based cleanser the oil on our face goes bye-bye along with it.  I am also told that Biore Pore Strips work on a similar principal.  I have also learned from a few sources that the wash-rinse-repeat routine that most of us do with our shampoo is also the best way to wash our faces.  Skin-care specialists refer to this as the "double-cleanse."  The double cleanse is supposed to be most effective when you first wash your face with an oil-based cleanser, rinse and then wash your face with a cleanser targeted to your skin type.

I have tried three oil-based cleansers before and liked all three of them.  My personal favorite is Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil.  The reason I prefer it to the other two is that there are different ones for different skin types.  To be honest, it is quite expensive and I found it to be no more effective than Dermalogica Precleanse.  The third one that I tried is really an exfoliator (St. Ives Olive Scrub).  Though I absolutely loved it, it is not really ideal to use as a first step in the double-cleanse process.  I have learned that St. Ives also makes an Olive Cleanser, but I have not personally tried it.  If it is anywhere near as great as the Olive Scrub, it would be a very inexpensive alternative to the Shu Uemura and Dermalogica.  If any of you try it, please let us know what you think.