You have oily skin. You find that regular moisturizers containing oil don’t work for you. Should you use oil free moisturizers?

If you have oily skin it just seems to make sense that an oil free moisturizer is a good idea. After all who needs to add oil to an oily skin?

And in the case of regular big brand skincare products and anti aging products it is a good idea.

Why?

Because the big brand name skin care products and anti aging products use mineral oil in their products. Mineral oil is a petro chemical product. It is used because it is a very cheap form of oil.

This is common with many big brand skin products, the ingredients are chosen not because they are the best ingredient for optimum facial and skin care, but because they are cheap. Mineral oil is cheap.

Mineral oil can also be called liquid paraffin, paraffin wax, petrolatum, and is quite common in most big brand skincare products, including perhaps those you use now, check the label.

What does mineral oil do for your skin? Firstly it provides a layer of oil over the skin that helps to keep the moisture in because it can’t escape. That all sounds good, except that this has problems. It exacerbates acne as the skin cannot breathe, and clogs the pores of the skin. It can also cause various other skin problems.

And by clogging the pores it makes it very difficult for the skin to breathe and eliminate toxins. It helps remove the skin’s natural oils and this can lead to dryness, the opposite of what you want.

And there can be health problems caused by the use of mineral oil on the skin, including skin disorders and others including links to cancer.

Here’s a quote from Wikipedia about mineral oil. “Mineral oil is one of the most common ingredients in skin care products and colored cosmetics. It is a lightweight inexpensive oil that is odorless and tasteless. One of the common concerns regarding the use of mineral oil is its presence on several lists of comedogenic substances.” (ie cause acne)

So as you can see skin care products (and cosmetics and many baby care products) containing mineral oil should be avoided. What alternatives do you have, or should you just use oil free moisturizers? After all an oil free anti-aging facial moisturizer overcomes this problem does it not?

There’s nothing wrong with oils for your skin, even if you have oily skin, and you don’t need to choose oil free moisturizers or oil free skin care products in general. There are oils which are extremely beneficial to your skin, but they aren’t used in most skin care products because they are expensive.

Here’s a couple of examples of oils good for your skin, that are used in the worlds best skin care products.

Babassu oil from the nut of the babassu tree. It grows in the Amazon, and has been used by the locals for hundreds of years for it’s skin nourishing properties. It is good for both oily and dry skin and helps moisturize extremely successfully. It helps prevent some skin conditions like eczema and skin inflammation.

Grapeseed oil, obviously from grapeseeds. Rich in antioxidants and moisturizes extremely well. It helps repair the skin and also to prevent stretch marks on the skin. Read the rest of this entry

Many people worry about oil in their facial moisturizers. But is oil necessarily a bad thing in a moisturizer?

Do you have oily skin? Do you find that many moisturizers actually seem to make your skin more oily and feel heavy and greasy?

If you do you’re not alone, many women find the same thing. So it seems to make sense that you should be using an oil free anti-aging facial moisturizer.

But if you did that you’d be throwing the baby out with the bathwater, well the oil anyway.

You see the problem with most of the moisturizers that use oil is that they use the wrong oil. There are many oils that are beneficial to your skin, and your skin, of course, has it’s own oil.

And as your skin loses oil it’s beneficial to add the oil back.

But the problem with most common moisturizers is that they use mineral oil. Mineral oil will clog pores, possibly create acne and make your skin feel greazy.

Why do they use mineral oil if it does this? Because it’s cheap.

The worlds best skincare and anti-aging products use oils known to be beneficial to the skin and which do not clog up pores or cause a breakout.

They use Babassu oil, from the fruit of the Babassu tree. This protects your skin and moisturizes very well. It also smooths the skin and helps the skin repair itself.

And they use grapeseed oil, which is high in beneficial anti oxidants, linoleic acid and other oils that are good for your skin. Read the rest of this entry