6 Ways to Banish Oily Skin Forever

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Do you have oily, acne prone skin and wish it would just go away?

I have a combination skin type with the lower half of my acne prone face leaning much more towards the dry side, and my forehead leaning toward oily – however, I’ve luckily never had to deal with a complete oil slick up there.

But, sadly, I know some of you are battling some serious grease, and you want to know what to do about it.

So what’s the secrets?

1) STOP WASHING IT SO MUCH!

I know this seems counter intuitive to everything you’ve ever been told about oil and acne prone skin, but washing too much and with harsh, drying products is probably making the situation much worse.

Why?

Because sebum (your skin’s oil) is not inherently a bad thing. It’s there to lubricate your skin and protect it. When you constantly strip it of its oils, it learns that it must over produce it and it ends up producing so much that you kind of look like you smeared bacon grease on your face. Fun!

So as crazy as it sounds, you really need to cut down on the washing and switch to super gentle, natural products. Absolutely do not wash your face more than twice a day. Personally, I’d recommend  washing only once a day, or you can even quit washing altogether if you’re brave. 

For natural, non chemical, non drying products to use, I recommend manuka honeyor just plain raw honey, or any of these natural options.

At first, your skin will definitely be really oily and you may be crying to wash it, but DON’T DO IT! Soon your skin will learn that you won’t be stripping it bare assed naked against its will all the time, and will begin to naturally stop producing so much oil.

PS – This trick also works for your hair.

2) Only Wash with Luke Warm Water

Hot water is super drying, and also irritating to acne prone skin. Using it will encourage over production of oil. So only wash your face with tepid water, and try to turn the heat down a notch in the shower if you can.

3) Improve Your Diet and Lifestyle

If you have already cut back on all the washing and products and hot water, but still find yourself a bit oily, then you will have to dig further to resolve the problem. This is because oil production is triggered internally by hormonal reactions that are influenced by your diet and lifestyle.

Improving your diet means cutting back on processed foods, eating more fruits and vegetables, and a few other tweaks depending on your situation. You may also want to try cutting dairy out of your diet for a while, as for many people, the hormones in milk products can have a big influence on acne and oil production.

Other lifestyle factors to improve include getting more exercise, lowering your stress levels, getting more sunshine, and sleeping better.

If you want more help with all this stuff (because it sounds oh-so-simple in a little paragraph like this, but obviously takes much more to really put into action), check out my ebook Ultimate Secrets to Acne Freedom.

4) If You Use Moisturizer, Cut Back or Stop

If your skin is already full of moisture, why bother putting more on there?

5) Instead of Conventional Moisturizer, Try Using Oil Instead

Yes, yes, I know. Much like the tip about “stop washing so much”, it may seem completely counter intuitive to want to put MORE oil on your already oily skin.

But despite what it sounds like, it’s not like dumping gasoline on a campfire.

Oil can do two things for your skin:

1. Trick your skin into thinking that it’s already produced enough oil, therefore, getting it to stop overproducing it, and
2. It can mix with the hardened sebum in your pores and dissolve it, allowing plugs (whiteheads and blackheads) to disappear for good.

Think about it – oil and water don’t mix, so how do you expect it to get into your pores and unclog them? Oil can do that. Like dissolves like.

My personal recommendation for an oil to use is jojoba oil. It’s especially suited for oily skin, and has a great track record for helping with acne. However, there are tons of other oils you can use, and so I suggest you read this article here for more ideas.

6) Try Using Milk of Magnesium

This quirky little trick is inexpensive and easy to use, and you can find milk of magnesium at any run-of-the-mill pharmacy or drug store. Just shake the bottle, apply a layer to clean, wet skin, and rinse it off 5 to 10 minutes later.

Apparently it works like a dream for oily skin without making it a flakey, gross mess on top of the oil. This is all according to this lady, anyway, which is where I got the idea (and also where I stole the picture at the top! Thanks!)

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6 OF THE MOST COMMON LIP BALM INGREDIENTS THAT CAUSE DRY LIPS

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For the last few months, I've been battling the craziest, most annoying case of dry, tight, painful, peeling lips.

At first, I blamed it on an all-natural lip product I'd been testing. 

But then I realized my lips were still a mess, even when I hadn't used it in weeks. In fact, I couldn't even pinpoint any one lip balm or lip colour as the source, since I'm constantly switching them up for the purposes of this blog. No matter what was in my rotation, I STILL had chapped lips.

So then I became convinced I had some kind of vitamin deficiency. Which would be weird, because I regularly track things in Cron-o-meter and usually hit or exceed every nutritional target.

Finally, a few weeks ago, I figured it out. I am allergic to... vitamin E! And possibly several other ingredients commonly found in lip balms. 

As it turns out, many lip products contain allergens and irritants that end up perpetuating the very problems we're trying to treat: dryness, peeling, cracking and flaking. Insane, right? 

If you, too, have suffered from chapped lips that don't ever seem to go away, one of these ingredients could be the culprit:

1. VITAMIN E

Just about every lip balm label I've looked at contains some form of vitamin E. A thick, sticky oil, you'd figure it would be the perfect lip hydrator. But it's not for everyone. 

This Dermatologic Surgery study found that 33 percent of patients developed contact dermatitis from applying topical vitamin E. The Contact Dermatitis Institute also lists vitamin E (dl-alpha-tocopherol) as one of the most prevalent allergens.

Some of the ways vitamin E might appear on a lip balm's ingredient label include: natural vitamin E oil, tocopherol or tocopheryl acetate. It can be man-made or derived from plants, but contrary to popular opinion, both forms can be allergenic. 

One reason it took me so long to figure out that vitamin E was the source of my chapped lips is because I was using an all-natural vitamin E oil every night as my lip moisturizer. It didn't even occur to me that it could be allergenic! It was only through a complete elimination, i.e. not putting any products on my mouth for a whole week, that I was able to identify the source. Now, I know that my natural vitamin E oil is derived from soy, so it is possible that the soy is what I was really reacting to. But since tocopheryl acetate, the synthetic vitamin E, is considered even more allergenic on EWG's database, I think I'll just stay away from ALL types of vitamin E from now on. Unless it's quite far down on the ingredients list, it will probably irritate me.

2. CASTOR OIL

Castor oil is another thick, viscous liquid, and if you look, it's found in a heck of a lot of lip products. Derived from the seeds of the Ricinus communis plant, it is comprised of about 80 to 90 percent ricinoleic acid.

The problem with ricinoleic acid is that it can be an allergen—some even say, the main one behind chapped and inflamed lips. This Contact Dermatitis study found that ricinoleic acid was the most common contact allergen, accounting for 54 percent of contact chelitis.

None of this surprises me, considering my highly traumatic experience with castor oil and the Oil Cleansing Method. Not only is it extremely drying, but I suspect my terrible reaction started off as contact dermatitis, which left me vulnerable to infection... and finally, turned into full-fledged acne. I can't say for sure yet whether castor oil is a problem on my lips or just my face, but I will always look at it with deep suspicion!

It's less likely, but other oils in lip balms, such as coconut, olive and almond, can be allergens, too.

3. BEESWAX

I don't mean to point fingers at specific brands here, but the one that comes to mind when you think of beeswax lip balm is obviously Burt's Bees. Accroding to Dr. Cynthia Bailey, it's the product she sees the most problems with.

The beeswax in your lip balm might not be that soothing, after all. (Photo: Rakka)

The issue is the propolis that gets mixed in with the beeswax. Propolis is a kind of "glue" that bees make from tree and plant resins to fill in the spaces in their hives. According to this Journal of Pharmacy and Bioallied Sciences study, it seems to be one of the most frequent contact sensitizers, with possible reactions including chelitis and peeling lips.

I guess this is why I didn't got the hype over the original Burt's Bees lip balms! They never seemed to work for me, so probably I have some minor sensitivity. I'm allergic to honey, so I'm sure there is some link with bees and bee products in general. Too bad, so sad!

4. LANOLIN

Lanolin is a waxy substance that is secreted by the oil glands of sheep, like this fella below. It is used in lip balms such as the cult favourite Lanolipsbecause of its highly emollient properties and ability to prevent water loss.

Lanolin, derived from the oil glands of sheep, is a known allergen in lip products. (Photo: noquarter)

For those who aren't sensitive, lanolin can be great. Dior Crème Abricot, for example, contains lanolin and is my most favourite cuticle cream in the world. (I hear some people even use that on their lips!)

However, lips lack oil glands and could be more reactive to it. Dr. Sharon Jacob considers lanolin a "significant sensitizer," and on the "A-List" for top allergens.

If you do a search for "Lanolips allergy," there appears to be quite a number of people who can't use lanolin.

5. FRAGRANCES AND FLAVOURINGS

It should come as no surprise that fragrances can be allergens. One would think perfumes would have no place in our lip balms, but often, they are used to mask unpleasant smells from other chemicals, or to add flavouring. 

The Contact Dermatitis Institute has identified two fragrance mixes—list oneand list two—that are problematic, including geraniol, citronellol and cinnamaldehyde. These can be derived from plant, animal and synthetic sources, so just because a lip balm is 100 percent natural does not mean it is free from potentially allergenic fragrances.

Peppermint oil is one of the worst offenders. This Dermatitis study tested sensitivity to propolis, lanolin, coconut oil, almond oil, peppermint oil and vitamin E. Out of all those things, the peppermint oil was shown to be the most likely culprit in the patients' acute contact dermatitis. 

Peppermint is one of the most irritating ingredients in lip balms. (Photo: Michael Lehet)

Other fragrance/flavour ingredients to watch out for include menthol, camphor, eucalyptus and limonene.

6. SUNSCREEN

If you're especially diligent about always wearing SPF on your lips, that could be the cause of chronic chapping, at least if you're using products that protect with chemicals, not minerals. Studies such as this one in Photodermatology, Photoimmunology & Photomedicine have identified chemical sunscreens as a cause of allergic skin reactions.

Chemical sunscreen ingredients may cause allergic skin reactions. (Photo: Tyler)

Oxybenzone (also known as benzophenone-3), octinoxate, avobenzone, octisalate and octylcrylene are the hard-to-pronounce words to avoid on your labels.

Instead, choose lip balms with mineral sunblocks such as zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, which shouldn't give you any issues.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU SUSPECT AN ALLERGEN

If you are allergic to an ingredient, signs such as dryness, tightness, flaking and peeling should should appear within a few days of your lips 

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