Let’s talk about facial oils, what you should be using, and why? What you should not be touching.
Our whole understanding of oils can be different for each person; these are powerful ingredients that really require a good understanding of which work for what skin type. We now realize that oils are good for all skin types and how wonderful they can be to our skin. However, these ingredients are supremely nourishing but some facial oils (if you use wrongly) can be drying and straight up astringent, while others are pore clogging or can cause skin irritation, sometimes severe.
There are a lot of great oil blends out there and a lot of beauty products that have oils in their formulas, continue to keep in mind that we all have different skin and the ability to tolerate different ingredients. So let’s dive in to some of the oils, the ones that we hear about the most and available in the market so you can find a product that are best suited for your skin. A lot of these oils have multiple uses and fall under more than one category like the oils for anti-aging which can also be used for dry skin, oily skin etc.
The kinds of oils we will be talking about are the ones that benefit our skin the most which are plants oils. All plants contain oil and fats mainly in their seeds, these are rich in antioxidants, nutrients and vitamins that nourish and even heal the skin when applied by rebuilding and sustaining the skins outermost lipid barrier, you will also see mineral oils in a lot of ingredient lists, these oils are primarily used to give emollients to a product like a cream, they also sit on top of your skin so they can form a seal and smooth out the surface, these oils are very cheap and easy to obtain so if you are buying an expensive luxury product you do not want to see them appear of the first few lines of the ingredients list.
You will also see essential oils in a lot of ingredient lists, these are the fragrant oils, but you really, really need to be cautious, because these oils wrongly formulated have the potential to seriously irritate your skin, particularly those like citrus and lavender oils. Citrus oils are also presented in a lot of skincare products, there are also lots of citrus oil blends sold by companies, and these can be highly photo toxic causing more harm than good if formulated incorrectly.
Hopefully this information can provide you with a simple guideline to the oils we hear about and see the most in formulations. We will continue our conversation about oils on our next post. Will see you then!