Cleansers; The Good, The Bad and The Oily

My skin has been going through an identity crisis lately. It's multiple dry and oily personalities have been showing up rather unannounced, unwelcomed and frankly, I don’t enjoy the visits. So, off I went on a brand spankin' new cleanser hunt. The target? To find a good cleansing oil. If you haven’t heard the hype that follows the cleansing oil clan, I shall explain it to you in a much less complicated, no dictionary needed way (hopefully). Ok, so your skin produces its own oil, sebum, which in even quantities softens your skin and provides the skin with a great balance of oil and water; it’s all lovely. Add to this though, the layers product you wear day to day; SPF tinted moisturisers, premiers, foundations, concealers, bronzers, powders and well.. You get the idea. Seriously, have you noticed just how many beauty products in general you use in just one day? But, back to the point, all these artificial layers cause your lovely sebum oil to harden and create a layer on the surface of the skin giving it a rough, shiny appearance and blemishes. Now, if you've learnt anything from Chemistry class back in high school, it would be that water and oil do not mix. So, by using water based cleansers on the skin which foam more than your Morning Fresh dishwashing liquid, all that happens is that the skin gets stripped of its water and only a tiny part of the actual naughty harden oil is taken away. Your skin then starts to overproduce sebum in order to try and repair the balance from the missing water; basically it’s a vicious cycle. When, however, you use a plant based oil to cleanse the skin, its chemical composition is similar enough for it to actually dissolve the hardened oils and still leave the water and necessary sebum content in the skin balanced. The result... Taa- Daa!! Soft, clean comfortable skin! When looking for a oil cleanser try and avoid animal based oils like Mineral Oil or Petrolatum as they can aggravate the problem and lead to further breakouts. Mixed textures, such as a cream and oil, are good for those who have drier skin or want to baby step into the cleansing oil clan. Here are some of my top picks;

Bloom Nuts About You Sweet Almond Cleansing Oil, $28
Great for all skin types and does not contain any animal derived products, hence wont clog the pores. Also makes makeup removal a piece of cake.

Bloom Clean Sweep Sweet Orange Cream Cleanser, $20
A cleanser that’s part cream, part oil. Excellent if your skin is on the dry side or sensitive side.

Clarins Pure Melt Cleansing Gel, $46
An ingenious cleanser. Seamlessly evolves from a light gel to an ultra fine Marula Oil then soft milk. True versatility in one product.

Pictures: AdoreBeauty