Saturday, September 14, 2013

OCM Progress: Day 7

Image via: Mommypotomas


I've been doing the oil cleansing method for a full week now. Every night faithfully, I "wash" my face with oil. I use a combination of grapeseed, sweet almond and castor oils. Previously I said I would stay away from castor oil, but after I read up on the benefits, I had to at least give it a try.

I can't say enough how pleased I am with the progress of my acne.  By day 3, my skin even though the acne was still present and out and and proud looked great. I could tell a big difference. My skin just looked more supple and "alive".

When I started, I didn't know what to expect. There are lots of mixed results. And putting oil on cystic acne? Seems counter-intuitive. But as I said in a previous post, the traditional acne medications I feel are too harsh and do worse for your skin and body in the long run. This most recent acne flair up was horrible. They just kept coming and coming. I am so done with acne, like OVER it!  So I read about using grapeseed oil and then stumbled across the oil cleansing method and here I am.

Again, my acne is still there but it looks so much better. Now, I made a few other changes in my diet and taking supplements that probably also helped.  I realize that my favs...diary, red meat are not good for my acne or my overall health. Yes, diary and red meat has some good things in them...but the hormones mainly help to trigger my acne.  So I have to limit these foods. I do eat them...in moderation.

My acne has made a 60 percent improvement, which his HUGE!! In just 7 days. Again, I made major changes I will break down what I did below. 3 main categories I believe made a difference, they are: New Skincare Routine, Diet and Exercise, Supplements.

New Skin Care Routine
  1. OCM:
    At night, I apply a mix of castor, grapeseed and almond oils. I massage in and leave on for about five minutes. I rinse off with warm water and cloth, every other night I'll wet a cloth with warm water and let it sit on face for a few seconds before I take off the oil. I then follow with either a grapeseed oil as a moisturizer or jojoba oil.  I also about 3x over the past week dabbed additional castor oil directly on the pimples before I went to bed (this made a big difference it seemed to help them accelerate drying up).  I do swipe the oil over my eyelid and under my eye as well (just the grapeseed and jojoba oils).
  2. Exfoliate:
    I still exfoliate to help the dead skin cells wash away and to renew. I alternate every other night with a facial (clay) mask and on the other nights I use a facial scrub.  I let the mask sit on my face up to 30 minutes and the facial scrub about 10 minutes.
  3. Morning:
    Each morning I wash my face with an Aveeno cleanser and use jojoba oil as a moisturizer.
Diet and Exercise

I think identifying what acne triggers are in your diet is super important. Many of us have food allergies and don't even know it! I believe that diary in large amounts triggers my acne...as does red meat. Here are the changes I've made:

  1. Eliminated red meat and diary consumption about 75%
  2. Drink 5-8 bottles of water daily (every day, faithfully)
  3. Added about 10 percent more green leafy vegetables to diet (need to do better with this!)
  4. Workout 4-6 days a week. Weight and cardio training  I slacked working out during the summer...time to get back on it!
Supplements

I know I wasn't getting all the nutrients I need to due to poor eating habits. So I researched supplements that help improve skin and the underlying causes of acne as well as supplements to help me get the vitamins and minerals I wasn't. Here is what I take daily:

  1. 2 fish oil gel pills
  2. 1 vitamin A gel pill
  3. 1 probiotic pill
  4. 1 multi-vitamin
I also have been taking a natural colon cleanser to start cleansing out my internal system...which is another cause of acne as well.  

The bad news is that my acne will scar...it always does. The good news is that as the acne begin to heal, the scarring is looking to be less and less.  Any cystic acne sufferer will attest to how much of a blessing this is! For the scarring I am reading more about the benefits of raw honey in aiding healing of acne scars.  I need to get raw honey or purchase Manuka honey, which has seemed to give many people great results.

I plan to stick to the same plan next week. I must admit I am apprehensive. Some people said the OCM method worked great for them until the second week :-/  I hope I continue to get great results.  


No comments:

Post a Comment