Oil to Prevent Blackheads and Milia

The idea of cleansing your face with oil to prevent blacheads and Milia may sound strange to some people but for some reason when I first heard about the Oil Cleansing Method (OCM) or Oil Cleansing Treatment (OCT) it made some kind of sense to me.

Oil cleans oil, I’ve known this for a long time and often use oil to remove other old or unwanted oils on objects. Oils have worked well to remove tar from my feet and even had some impact on getting it off towels. It also works to get off sticky substances off of objects or to clean hardened oil off of cooking surfaces.

Knowing this, I see no reason why oil isn’t a great substance to use on those oils blocking our pores.

Oil Can Open Blockages

True, oil is also the cause of blockages but it is internal oil called sebum. Sebum is natures way of cleansing our pores of  dead skin cells. However, sometimes this doesn’t go exactly to plan. Too much sebum or other complication can mean that the sebum clumps up with skin and hair  and gets trapped in our pores.  This can cause bacteria to develop which become pimples.

Black heads occur in a similar way, forming when our natural oil gets trapped in a hair follicle and the oil oxidizes and turns dark. While there is no infection related to blackheads, most of us would prefer not to have them.

For years I’ve been told to be careful using things that will block my pores, especially oil laden lotions and makeup. I was told to look for noncomedogenic (a blackhead is known as a comedeo) products to prevent my pores from getting clogged.

When I began getting those small white pumps around my eyes as I got older called milia ( small epidermal inclusion cysts) I was strongly urged to use only oil-free or water-based products on my face by an esthetician in order to avoid milia and blackheads. I followed her advice for several years but still got those damned white spots.

All accepted wisdom needs to be questioned every now and then. I still agree that oil laden and greasy things left on skin for too long is likely to block pores.  However, it seems to me the right oils used properly can prevent and maybe even lessen blackheads and milia by loosening up stubborn sebum and allowing it to be cleansed away.

It may be coincidental but ever since I’ve been using high quality pure oils to gently cleanse my face, I have no white bumps on my face, eyelids or around my eyes and even the bumps that are deep in my skin under my eyes are less noticeable and bumpy.