Have you ever read about the Roman baths? There was a series of pools and rooms - hot, cold, etc - the way a person would get cleaned is to rub oil on and then later scrape it off with a strigil.
Did you get that? Cover with oil and then scrape it off to get clean.
EWWWW is what I thought.
Well, maybe not completely. I have been washing my face with oil for the past week and I am loving it. My face feels clean, not oily but also not dried out.
While I am not doing it precisely as the Romans - no strigil here - I am seeing more value in what they did. Soap is so drying and it seems so silly to strip all the protectant off my skin and then put on lotion.
So before bed I massage in some oil (right now I am doing a mix of olive and castor) into my face. I give it a minute and then use a washcloth as warm as I can stand it and hold it on my face until it cools. I then wipe off the extra oil.
That's it.
The olive oil dissolves all the gunky oil on my face, the castor is supposed to help draw out blockages from the oil glands/ducts/whatever. The heat opens up the pores.
Whatever. My skin is no longer hurting and flaking. It also seems to have cleared up my complexion.
So the Romans actually had a very good cleaning method! Well, I am unconvinced on the strigil, it sounds too much like something in the gynecologist office - but otherwise very effective.
I suggest you try it. I was doubtful at first but I really love how it feels.
By the way, I bought the oil with my own money and am receiving no compensation from olive growers, oil producers or anyone else.
Never would have thought about cleansing my oily face with oil! But if you say it works, then I just might try it.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. I actually mix the olive oil with a little sugar, add a touch of vanilla for fragrence, and use it on my face as a weekly scrub. My face is less flakey and much smoother now.
ReplyDeletewow I'm going to have to try that!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWow, completely counterintuitive. But it sounds intriguing. I just so happen to have some castor oil so I will give it a try. I will probably use coconut oil instead of olive oil...I'll have to think about it. Thanks for sharing. That is so interesting!
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