[Carolyn]

From the Beauty Brains...

Makeup Removers: Does Oil Cleansing Really Work?

Meg’s facial cleansing inquiry: Here’s a question for your lovely blog. The Internet is full of recommendations for the “oil cleansing method” which involves washing the face with various oils such castor, olive, jojoba, almond, emu, corncrake, and engine oil. There are all kinds of claims made for this method, one of them being “oil dissolves oil.” I guess that means that castor oil will remove sebum. It undoubtedly works for many people, but is that claim true? It seems an extraordinary one to make.

The Right Brain’s response:
Thank you Meg, it’s lovely to have our blog called lovely! While we’ve never tried corncrake or engine oil, we do know that the oil cleansing is a legitimate way to dissolve dirt and oil and remove it from your skin.

Solving dissolving
For one substance to dissolve another it has to break apart the chemical bonds that hold it together. (We call the chemical that’s being dissolved the “solute” and the chemical that’s doing the dissolving is the “solvent.” Chemists are good at coming up with clever names like that.) Generally speaking, there are two kinds of chemical bonds: ionic and covalent. Not to get too geeky on you, but ionic bonds are formed by the attraction of two oppositely charged atoms and covalent bonds are formed by two atoms sharing a pair of electrons.

Like dissolves like
When you use oil to remove oily dirt you’re employing the chemical principle called “like dissolves like.” In other words, oils will dissolve other materials that have a similar chemical structure. As an example let’s look at emu oil just because the emu is a silly looking bird and it always makes us smile. The atoms in emu oil (the solvent) are held together by covalent bonds. Now, if the solute is greasy makeup or skin oils (aka sebum), it also consists of atoms that are hooked together with covalent bonds. So that means that emu oil is similar enough to dissolve all the gunk on your face. Cool, huh? What? You want to learn more? What are you, some kind of chemical sadist? Ok, far be it for us to deny you chemical knowledge – click here to read more dissolution theory.

Cleansers that dissolve
Cosmetic chemists use the “like dissolves like” principle to formulate oil-based cleansers in liquid and cream form. (Water based cleansers that use detergents to remove oil use an entirely different chemistry so we’ll save that discussion for another day.) The liquid cleansers are pure oil while the creams are oils mixed with water, emulsifiers and thickners. The classic example of a “cold cream” type cleanser is Noxema. Here are some other examples.

Examples of oil based cleansers

1. Max Factor For Long Lasting Makeup
Type of cleaser: Oil
Primary cleansing agents: Mineral oil, Isopropyl Palmitate

2. Pond’s Deep Cleanser & Make-up Remover with Cu***ber Extract
Type of cleanser: Cream
Primary cleansing agents: Mineral Oil, Isopropyl Palmitate


3. Physician’s Formula Makeup Remover For Dry, Normal skin
Type of cleanser: Cream
Primary cleansing agents: Mineral Oil, Petrolatum


4. Kiehls Oil Based Cleanser and Makeup Remover
Type of cleanser: Oil Primary cleansing ingredients: Isopropyl isostearate, isopropyl myristate, squalane

[Kathy]

Thanks Carolyn! I wouldn't use any of those ones she lists though because their main ingredient is mineral oil. I use Sweet Almond oil, Jojoba and a little bit of Castor oil. Mineral oil clogs your pores.

[Carolyn]

To be honest Kathy, I wouldn't use the Oil Cleansing Method. I have really oily skin at times. The thought of rubbing oil into my already oily skin kind of disgusts me.

But I like this article - at least it explains why using oil can clean one's face.

I'll stick to my soap cleansers.

[audrey]

Thanks for posting. I use OCM and it works great for my super dry and sensitive skin.

[magosienne]

thanks Carolyn ! i like the OCM, especially now, my skin is dry and sensitive so i only use a soap cleanser in the morning. but i must say until a while ago, the thought of using oil on an oily skin was disgusting me too.

[stingerash]

Thanks I use lumene oil and its been working amazing! I havent broken out once since i started!