Is olive oil good for your face

Olive oil appears in many skincare, hair care and cosmetic products but should you use undiluted olive oil from your kitchen as part of your beauty routine? We say yes!

Extra-virgin olive oil and olive oil can be applied to your skin to moisturize and cleanse regardless of skin type.   It contains vitamin E, anti-oxidants, and compounds such as squalene and oleocanthal which may prevent aging and repair skin damage. Olive oil is non-toxic, anti-microbial, and hypoallergenic. Here are some ways to use olive oil on your skin.

Hand moisturizer

You can rub a few drops of olive oil into your hands when cooking. You don't have to worry about getting foul tasting lotion in your food and you don't need to clutter your kitchen with a bottle of moisturizer.

Moisturizer for babies

You can rub olive oil all over your baby. Olive oil can be used as massage oil and can help with dry skin and may alleviate eczema and cradle cap. And since babies are constantly putting their hands in their mouths, you don't need to worry about your baby ingesting olive oil. Its good for them!

Olive oil can also be used to clean babies' bottoms. If your baby is prone to diaper rash, try using a mixture of olive oil and water with a washcloth instead of diaper wipes. Try our recipe for olive oil balm for a diaper rash cream.

Eye-makeup remover

Most eye makeup removers are oil based because the oil dissolves stubborn eye makeup and waterproof mascaras. Use a cotton pad soaked with olive oil to remove eye makeup.

Hair treatment

To combat damage and frizz, treat your hair with olive oil. Put 1/2 cup of olive oil in a glass jar. Fill a bowl with boiling water and immerse the jar in the hot water for 5 minutes. Test the temperature of the oil. It should be hot, but not scalding. Apply the oil to your hair and cover with plastic wrap or a plastic shower cap. Then cover with a towel or head wrap. Leave on for 20-45 minutes. Shampoo and dry to reveal glossy locks!

Shaving cream

You can use olive oil as a shaving cream. Both men and women can substitute foam and gel shaving cream with good old-fashioned olive oil. You'll ward off razor burn and bumps with the help of this natural lubricant.

Oil cleansing

Oil cleansing is a great way to remove makeup, dirt, sunscreen and impurities without stripping your skin's natural oils. But cleansing oils are extremely expensive! To enjoy the benefits of oil cleansing for a fraction of the price, try olive oil.

Olive oil will dissolve oil-based cosmetics and sebum. For that reason, olive oil can be used as a skin cleanser.

To oil cleanse with olive oil, place a hot, damp washcloth on your face for 20 seconds to open your pores. Then, massage olive oil into your skin and let it sit for 30 seconds. Use a hot washcloth to wipe the oil away.

Also, keep in mind that stripping your skin of oils can cause more acne. People with oily or acne-prone skin tend to over cleanse and dry out their skin, which can cause the skin to overcompensate for the dryness by producing more oil.

Your acne may be the result of irritation from fragrance or other ingredients in your skin care products. Choose olive oil over scented skin oils.

If you want to use olive oil in the shower, check out our recipe for olive oil scrub.

Here is a final tip. Keep only small bottles of olive oil in your bathroom. Hot, steamy bathrooms and exposure to light can cause olive oil to spoil. Use the olive oil quickly to avoid rancidity. And consider a plastic bottle. A slippery olive oil bottle can fall and shatter on a tile floor.

Got more olive oil tips? Share them with us!

References:

http://www.medicaldaily.com/olive-oil-compound-kills-cancer-cells-less-hour-all-powerful-oleocanthal-322904 

Olive oil, despite all of its scary pore-clogging potential, has some benefits: It’s naturally high in squalene, an oil that mimics your skin’s natural sebum, so it’ll leave your skin barrier extra smooth and soft, and it’s also full of antioxidants that work hard to fight environmental skin damage.

On the flip side, my friends, it’s still olive oil. Sure, it’ll act like all face oils (opens in new tab), in that it’ll trap moisture for some extra hydration, but there are plenty of other products on the market that are more effective at hydrating—and actually meant to go on your skin.

Plus, those moisturizing benefits of olive oil mentioned above may not even be necessary. “We all have glands that already produce natural oils on the skin,” says dermatologist Mona Gohara, M.D., assistant clinical professor at Yale University. “Your face doesn’t really need any extra squalene—or at least not in the small levels you’d find in olive oil.”

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ITEM Beauty By Addison Rae Slick Type Clean Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm with Olive Oil

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Which doesn't mean that olive oil-infused skincare isn't worth trying. Maybe you’re sane, or maybe you’re like me and often think about when Jennifer Lopez said that her skincare secret is olive oil (opens in new tab). We realized Jenny from the block wasn’t playing around when she launched JLo Beauty (opens in new tab), whose hero ingredient is—you guessed it—olive oil! Cult-favorite moisturizers, like the JLo Beauty That Blockbuster Hydrating Cream (opens in new tab), are cosmetically elegant and filled with tested-and-approved ingredients that you won't mistake for a salad ingredient.

Should I be cleansing my face with oil?

As wrong as it feels—and it does feel wrong— using oil as a cleanser is not a new thing. In fact, if you have oily skin or an undesired number of blackheads you might want to consider adding an oil cleanser (opens in new tab) to your routine. Esthetician and Youtuber Nayamka Roberts-Smith (also known as LaBeautyologist) has a thorough video guide on how to oil cleanse properly and the benefits.

Using olive oil as a cleanser can help remove dirt, makeup, dead skin cells, and sebum buildup that reflects as blackheads in your skin. (opens in new tab) “Oil cleansing is always the first step, you want to start on dry skin, it doesn’t have to be clean skin, but it has to be dry,” says Roberts-Smith. When you apply the olive oil directly to your face, massaging in the oil attracts the dirt and oil in your skin and pulls it out.

Roberts-Smith breaks down in her video that certain natural oils—like olive oil!—are a great first step in a skincare routine to draw out that gross sebum that we discussed earlier. Different skin types need different ingredients, and the ones in olive oil are recommended for people with dry skin. She explains that “If you have dry skin you want oils high in Oleic acid, like cooking oils"—which will draw out any dirt while trapping in the moisture your skin might not be producing on its own.

Will olive oil make me break out?

Sorry, but if olive oil were actually this huge, life-changing secret to having Instagram-filter-level skin, dermatologists would be out of business. “The weight of olive oil is heavy, making it a breeding ground for acne,” says Dr. Gohara. In terms of its comedogenic rating (opens in new tab) (i.e. how likely an ingredient is to break you out), olive oil has a moderate risk of clogging pores—less so than coconut oil (opens in new tab), but still more than other common skincare ingredients.

“Honestly, I would keep the olive oil for your salad, not for your face,” says Dr. Gohara. Of course, if your face never breaks out (well, aren't you lucky), and you’re in a dry-skin pinch, you can test out olive oil and see how it works for you. Just make sure to massage a few drops over damp skin or your usual moisturizer to seal in hydration, rather than apply it to a dry face.

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