Throughout my 30s I struggled with acne. It was mostly on my jawline and it was sometimes cystic, sometimes patches of whiteheads, but always annoying and ugly. I did what made sense to me (at the time), I scrubbed harder and more often and used the products that were “guaranteed” to work. When products did work, they were great. For about 2 weeks my skin would look okay, but then inevitably it would erupt with a vengeance, even angrier than before. I tried all of the solutions, including medication. Throughout it all I believed I needed to get my skin cleaner and drier because dry skin doesn’t break out. Or so I thought.
After years of repeating this cycle I finally decided that it wasn’t working, and I started to learn about oil cleansing. In the beginning, the idea of it was daunting. There are so many oils. Which ones do I use? Nevermind the sheer terror of rubbing oil on my face; the very thing I was convinced was my enemy.
I could not find an actual product; an oil cleanser for acne. The oil cleansers I found on the market weren’t actually just oil, but other toxic ingredients that I didn’t want to rub into my skin. Bloggers were raving about their oil cleansing results, so I decided I had to create my own specialized oil cleanser full of clean and effective ingredients.
My first thought was to use coconut oil. Coconut oil is good for everything, right? That was a disaster for my skin. It got very dry, yet still had acne. I began studying the properties of different oils. I learned why it was important to know the difference between linoleic and oleic acid. I learned why one oil can work for one person but be terrible for another, and why the quality of the oil and where it comes from makes a difference in how it will clean and heal my skin. I also studied essential oils and their benefits. I realized that I could treat my acne and my incoming wrinkles. I always thought I had to pick one or the other! I took all this knowledge and put together my formula.
Within a week I was shocked. I wasn’t getting new breakouts and the pimples I had looked better and less angry. Within about 3 weeks I started to notice my skin looking much clearer. By 6 weeks I couldn’t believe that I had waited so long to do this. My war with my skin was over. Not only was my acne gone, but I didn’t have oily skin anymore. I used to carry oil blotting papers with me everywhere, and suddenly I had no use for them. In fact, I had no use for ANY of the other products I had been using on my face.
I was finally balanced. My skin was behaving like “normal” skin. Not oily. Not dry. Into the garbage went all my old products and five years later, I haven’t looked back. I will never wash my face again.
My skin routine now is so simple. I just splash water on my face in the morning and apply my serum for acne-prone skin. At night I use the RE3 oil cleanser and then apply serum again. That’s it!
