Oil Cleansing Method, or the popular OCM, is based upon the principle of fat dissolving fat.
If you’ve been careful in your chemistry class, you know how it works. It is a very gentle method of cleansing the skin off of all kinds of impurities.
Oils washes away dirt and removes makeup. At the same time, they do not violate the natural hydro-lipid barrier of the epidermis, as do face cleansing gels.
As a result, the skin remains
- clean,
- refreshed,
- moisturized and
- nourished
Although many of us still shake our heads in disbelief when hearing about the OCM method, facial cleansing with oils is gaining more and more popularity due to its amazing effects. We learned this gentle method of skin care from Asian women. It is them who decided to thoroughly cleanse the skin with natural oils, instead of using drugstore cosmetics.
At the beginning, however, a few words about why washing your face with oils is worth introducing into your daily care.
Why is oil better than gel and soap?
Traditional cosmetics are designed for washing the face, and above all cleansing gels contain aggressive detergents, alcohols and acids. They are designed to remove all impurities from the skin, including sebum. And by washing away the sebum, they violate the natural protective barrier of the skin – the hydro-lipid coating.
The most important effects of using OCM:
- Smooth, clean, moisturized and calmed skin with an even color.
- Restoration of the fat balance of the skin, reduced amount of blackheads and less sebum secretion, narrowed pores.
- Strengthening eyelashes and nails.
The oils you use to wash your face takes time to come into effect. Of course, you will notice the effect of clean skin immediately, but you will have to wait a while to even out the color, reduce the amount of blackheads or smooth the skin. It may also be that the oil blend you start with will require small modifications to suit your skin’s individual needs. However, after a week, two or three, the effects will be so visible that you wouldn’t want to wash your face any other way.
 In summary, the use of OCM brings many benefits to the skin. The most important thing is, of course, perfectly cleansed skin, which after washing with oil is also well moisturized, soft and smooth.
OCM also has a soothing effect, delays the aging process of the skin, and at the same time strengthens the eyelashes and skin resistance to external factors.
Base oils – which ones to choose and what to add to OCM?Â
For OCM, always choose pure, cold-pressed vegetable oils. The choice of the base oil for washing your face depends primarily on the type of skin. If you have problematic skin (which of us does not have it?), choose an oil that will help solve the problems you are struggling with. Of course, I encourage you to choose from natural, cold-pressed and unrefined oils. You can use cleansing oils for cleansing, as well as ready-made mixtures – but make sure that they contain no paraffin. The oil that is used in the traditional OCM blends is castor oil. But not only.
Castor oil – why is it used for OCM? Why is there castor oil in the OCM blend?
This substance is very similar in composition to the sebum secreted by our skin. Castor oil perfectly cleanses the skin. It also has drying properties. If for someone the cleansing effect of the substance turns out to be too intense, you can reduce its content in the mixture. You can also successfully replace castor oil with jojoba oil.
An even better blend – the top essential oils.
Essential oils enhance the effects of oils. Natural essential oils are a great addition to the oils that we use for OCM. They enrich the blend with their scent, and most of all with their healing properties.
