I have a combination skin type with the lower half of my acne prone face leaning much more towards the dry side, and my forehead leaning toward oily – however, I’ve luckily never had to deal with a complete oil slick up there.
But, sadly, I know some of you are battling some serious grease, and you want to know what to do about it.
So what’s the secrets?
1) STOP WASHING IT SO MUCH!
I know this seems counter intuitive to everything you’ve ever been told about oil and acne prone skin, but washing too much and with harsh, drying products is probably making the situation much worse.
Why?
Because sebum (your skin’s oil) is not inherently a bad thing. It’s there to lubricate your skin and protect it. When you constantly strip it of its oils, it learns that it must over produce it and it ends up producing so much that you kind of look like you smeared bacon grease on your face. Fun!
So as crazy as it sounds, you really need to cut down on the washing and switch to super gentle, natural products. Absolutely do not wash your face more than twice a day. Personally, I’d recommend washing only once a day, or you can even quit washing altogether if you’re brave.
For natural, non chemical, non drying products to use, I recommend manuka honey or just plain raw honey, or any of these natural options.
At first, your skin will definitely be really oily and you may be crying to wash it, but DON’T DO IT! Soon your skin will learn that you won’t be stripping it bare assed naked against its will all the time, and will begin to naturally stop producing so much oil.
PS – This trick also works for your hair.
2) Only Wash with Luke Warm Water
Hot water is super drying, and also irritating to acne prone skin. Using it will encourage over production of oil. So only wash your face with tepid water, and try to turn the heat down a notch in the shower if you can.
3) Improve Your Diet and Lifestyle
If you have already cut back on all the washing and products and hot water, but still find yourself a bit oily, then you will have to dig further to resolve the problem. This is because oil production is triggered internally by hormonal reactions that are influenced by your diet and lifestyle.
Improving your diet means cutting back on processed foods, eating more fruits and vegetables, and a few other tweaks depending on your situation. You may also want to try cutting dairy out of your diet for a while, as for many people, the hormones in milk products can have a big influence on acne and oil production.
Other lifestyle factors to improve include getting more exercise, lowering your stress levels, getting more sunshine, and sleeping better.
If you want more help with all this stuff (because it sounds oh-so-simple in a little paragraph like this, but obviously takes much more to really put into action), check out my ebook Ultimate Secrets to Acne Freedom.
4) If You Use Moisturizer, Cut Back or Stop
If your skin is already full of moisture, why bother putting more on there?
5) Instead of Conventional Moisturizer, Try Using Oil Instead
Yes, yes, I know. Much like the tip about “stop washing so much”, it may seem completely counter intuitive to want to put MORE oil on your already oily skin.
But despite what it sounds like, it’s not like dumping gasoline on a campfire.
Oil can do two things for your skin:
Trick your skin into thinking that it’s already produced enough oil, therefore, getting it to stop overproducing it, and
It can mix with the hardened sebum in your pores and dissolve it, allowing plugs (whiteheads and blackheads) to disappear for good.
Think about it – oil and water don’t mix, so how do you expect it to get into your pores and unclog them? Oil can do that. Like dissolves like.
My personal recommendation for an oil to use is jojoba oil. It’s especially suited for oily skin, and has a great track record for helping with acne. However, there are tons of other oils you can use, and so I suggest you read this article here for more ideas.
6) Try Using Milk of Magnesium
This quirky little trick is inexpensive and easy to use, and you can find milk of magnesium at any run-of-the-mill pharmacy or drug store. Just shake the bottle, apply a layer to clean, wet skin, and rinse it off 5 to 10 minutes later.
Apparently it works like a dream for oily skin without making it a flakey, gross mess on top of the oil. This is all according to this lady, anyway, which is where I got the idea (and also where I stole the picture at the top! Thanks!)
Get This Info In Video Format:
I made a video of all this for the youtube crowd, so if you prefer to watch rather than read, you can do that below. Note that it’s pretty much the exact same info as above, so don’t bother if you’ve already read it!
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