I know a lot of women won't believe me. They'll think I'm going to talk about compromises and general crabbiness and grubbiness. They think I plait my underarm hair. I must admit that I've never felt like this but I have a lot of friends who do. They are generally the friends who spend a lot of time reading 'lifestyle' magazines and believing what beauty editors say. The one thing you need to know right now is, whether they admit to it or not, those editors are sent a lot of free stuff to try. If they say nasty things that free stuff doesn't get sent to them any more. They don't have to go and spend £30 of their hard-earned cash on that cream. Even the beauty editors in 'Natural' Mags all have an agenda and work along similar lines. It must be hard for them to figure out fact from fiction and advertising revenue that might stop and therefore harm your magazine. That's a lot of pressure. I don't have that pressure. No one sends me stuff to review. If they did then I would write a review and say why I was writing a review. I've tried a lot of things over the years with my oily but sensitive skin. I want to share what I've found. Simple as that.
Anyway back on track. It is perfectly possible, in fact I recommend it, even for oily skin to use some sort of oil as a facial cleanser. This can be olive but I prefer almond oil. You simply wet your face, put about 3-4 drops of oil into your palm and then smooth it all over your face, including closed eyes to get rid of eye make-up. Find a non nut based oil for nut allergy sufferers, maybe Jojoba, which is actually a wax? You can buy a 100ml bottle of Almond oil for under £5 and this will last you about 6months. You then wet a flannel and use this to rinse your face until it's clean. Great make-up remover but also great cleanser and gentle exfoliator. You will also find you don't need much moisturiser if any. I don't use toner. I don't think it's necessary and it's very drying, especially for oily skin, which, contrary to popular belief, you don't need to dry out as this just makes it more oily as the more you strip the natural oils the more your skin will try and compensate.
Moisturiser? Well if you do have dry patches then all you need is a drop of your fave oil. Use one drop of Almond oil or jojoba which is my fave, especially if you are worried about wrinkles. Neither are very expensive. As for overnight moisturising. Don't do it on the whole. I found it just makes my skin too oily. I've also heard that friends with dry skin get addicted to expensive night creams. These clog up your bathroom cabinets and surfaces and your skin. However, we all go through phases when you do get dry patches that are annoying. Coconut oil is the answer for these. You just need a small, pea sized amount smoothed over your face and then go to bed. In the morning you will wake up with lovely soft skin as it is naturally exfoliating too.
Talking of Coconut oil, I look no further than this for all my body moisturising needs too. And I'm a person who has always suffered with a spotty back and chest. Those moisturisers you find in boots just clog your skin as they are full of mineral oils designed to lock moisture to the skin so it can't escape. All the waste products your skin is trying to get rid of can't and don't escape. Coconut oil is high in natural fatty acids which not only help remove some of the dead skin and therefore unclogs it, but also nourishes your skin. You can add a drop of your favourite essential oil to this if you are looking for a natural perfume too.
In fact this is much more effective than spraying yourself with hugely expensive, chemical-laiden perfumes. For one thing, you end up with a hint of fragrance and secondly have you ever wondered why you are paying £45 for a bottle of perfume? Do you think that that fancy shaped glass bottle and the contents cost that? What you are also doing is paying the wages of the beautiful person advertising it on TV and buying into a huge fraud. Those perfume companies (and even celebrities and fashion houses) spend a lot of money on clever advertising on making you want something because you are conned into thinking that if you buy their product you are thus enabling yourself to obtain a certain lifestyle. Are you really that gullible? Think carefully and notice those adverts. Are they trying to help you or sell stuff to you by making you feel insecure about yourself?
A much nicer way to make natural perfume is to buy yourself a 100ml spray bottle, add about 20drops of essential oil (you can have a go making your own blend -go to the library and borrow a good book on aromatherapy to see what works with what before you spend a fortune on essential oils) and then top up with orange flower water or rosewater and a tablespoon of vodka (as a preservative and scent fixative) shake and leave to settle for two days before using for the scents to mix and merge.
What about hair and skin? Well I'm very allergic to a lot of shampoo bases and I've tried a lot of things but my hair is thick and oily. The best thing I've found? Rhassoul mud. All you need to do is mix it with water, leave for 10 minutes. Come back and slather it on wet hair. Leave it on for 10minutes. Then rinse out really well. Most people are okay with this but on my hair I need to use a vinegar rinse too to get rid of all traces. For this I just use 100mls of cider vinegar in a small plastic cup topped up with warm water. I then use this as a final rinse. This also works as a great conditioner after normal shampoo too. You can also use rhassoul as a facial cleanser or face-pack and and as a natural bodywash. Just massage into your skin (you don't need loads) left for a few minutes and then rinsed under the shower. If this isn't for you then there are loads of great natural and gentle shower gels, shampoos and soaps around which use much gentler foaming bases than the norm.
That is really about all you need to look good, without spending a fortune. If I've missed anything, or you want further help or advice or you want to say something about this, then please feel free to leave a comment.
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