Essential Oils
Essential Oils for Oily Skin
May
Oily skin is a common problem, and not just for teenagers. It can affect anyone, at any age. There are whole aisles in pharmacies devoted to products meant for helping with oily skin, but a look at their ingredient labels reveals that most of these products are full of harsh chemicals.
All-natural cleansers exist, but these can be expensive and, frankly, ineffective. The problem with using these products to treat your oily skin is that you're really only treating the symptoms, not the cause of the problem. It's like trying to fix a broken bone by taking painkillers: you'll feel better for a little bit, but the problem isn't going away.
A much better approach would be to address the causes of oily skin, and to do that you need to know what those causes are.
Causes of Oily Skin
First, remember that everyone has oil on their skin. You're supposed to have some oil there. The pores in your skin all contain small glands that secrete oils which keep your skin healthy and moist.
So, technically, everybody always has oily skin. Excessive oil on the skin happens when these glands produce too much oil. Here are the potential causes of excessive oil production.
Genetics
Oily skin runs in the family. If one of your parents has oily skin, you likely inherited the gene that causes over active sebaceous glands from them. This means that, while you can effectively reduce the oil production, you will never be completely rid of the problem.
Age
Sebaceous glands produce less oil as you age. This is why teenagers tend to have oily skin much more often than adults.
In fact, the lower oil production contributes to the wrinkled, dry appearance of older skin. This means that oily skin can actually have some benefits, as you'll retain smoother, younger-looking skin longer than most people.
Treating your oily skin now will not stop that effect, either, so there's no reason not to tackle the problem head on.
Climate and season
Age and genetics are the biggest factors in oily skin, but where you live and the time of year can also make a big difference. Hot, humid climates usually lead more oil on the skin. You'll also have oilier skin during the summer.
Enlarged pores
Your pores can be stretched out as you age, or if you gain excessive weight. Previous acne breakouts can also lea to enlarged pores. Enlarged pores tend to produce more oil, leading to oilier skin. Unfortunately, you can't shrink enlarged pores, so you have to deal with the increased oil production.
Bad skin care products
Well, not "bad" products, but "incorrect" products. Using the wrong products for your skin can make oily skin worse, rather than better. You may be using a moisturizer that's too heavy, or you might be relying on the same products all year long when you really should be using different products in winter than you use in summer.
Cleaning your skin too much
It's counter-intuitive, but washing your face or using oil-removing products too often will lead to even oilier skin.
That's because if you wash your skin too much you'll strip all of the oil out of it, in which case your oil glands will go into overdrive, producing far more oil than they normally would in an effort to replace all the oil lost when you washed.
As you can see, most of these causes are not treatable. Oily skin is with you for you life. It isn't the sort of thing you can cure. What you want to do is find ways to lower the oil production of your glands while removing excess oil from your skin as much as possible.
Many people are surprised to learn that essential oils can help with this. There are many factors at play here, and not all of them are fully understood, but many oils can help to reduce oil production and help prevent oily skin.
Best Essential Oils for Oily Skin
Frankincense Oil
Frankincense is one of the oldest essential oils you can buy, and it's been used for all kinds of medicinal purposes for centuries. Frankincense might just be the original aromatherapy. The word "incense" is right there in the name, and it's been used in religious ceremonies for most of recorded history.
In fact, the fragrance of frankincense, and perhaps its medicinal properties when used for aromatherapy, led almost every culture of the Old World to lend it religious and medical significance.
For oily skin, frankincense may help to alleviate acne and oily skin without drying it out too much. There isn't much research to support this, but there is a lot of anecdotal evidence, which is significant.
This frankincense oil is made from top-quality frankincense, and it's mixed with fractionated coconut oil so it's ready to be applied directly to your skin.
Myrrh Oil
Myrrh, along with frankincense, is one of the oldest essential oils you can find. It's been around just as long as frankincense, and is often used in conjunction with it.
It's long been known to aid in circulation and boost the immune system. It can also help with healing, and was used to treat all kinds of wounds and injuries in antiquity. It's also a good dental oil and can relieve toothache.
Myrrh is a strong anti-inflammatory oil and can help relieve breakouts that are caused by oily skin. It's also a very healing, moisturizing oil that can restore some of your skin's moisture, which in turn will stimulate your glands to produce less oil.
Myrrh is a resin- a hardened plant sap. This makes it quite different from the most sources of essential oils.
Most oils are extracted from leaves or flowers, which are delicate structures best treated with gentle extraction processes like steam distillation. Myrrh resin is a tough material that requires the use of solvents to extract the essential oils in pure form.
This myrrh oil is extracted from choice myrrh resin and is purified for a potent, effective oil. It also comes in a two-pack, so you get a great value for your money.
Frankincense and Myrrh Essential Oil Combo
Frankincense and myrrh essential oils have several health benefits including: boosting immune system and relieving stress and anxiety.
Vivorific’s frankincense and myrrh essential oil combo is: 100% Pure and natural, free from fillers, additives and harmful chemicals, vegan and kosher certified and sealed with tamper evident closure and Euro style dropper cap.
Lavender oil
Lavender oil is one of the best essential oils to have on hand, because it really can be used for almost any purpose imaginable. Lavender is also one of the best-researched essential oils, and most of its benefits have been proven through scientific research.
Lavender has strong antimicrobial properties that be of great benefit to acne-sufferers, as it can reduce the severity of breakouts.
Lavender oil is extracted from lavender flowers, and the extraction process is important to understand.
Many manufacturers use harsh solvents to extract the oil which leads to a lower-quality oil that won't be as effective. Steam-distillation is a much gentler, all natural extraction process which leaves the delicate, volatile compounds in the oils intact.
This lavender oil is steam distilled from the finest Bulgarian lavender. It's exceptionally potent and the quality is instantly noticeable in the aroma, which smells just like standing in a field of lavender.
Eucalyptus Oil
Eucalyptus oil comes from the leaves of the Eucalyptus tree, and like most other essential oils it has a long, storied history of medicinal use. Like lavender, it is especially potent as an antibacterial agent. This makes it an excellent choice for acne sufferers, as it can help reduce the severity of a breakout quickly.
This eucalyptus oil is steam distilled from Australian Eucalyptus trees. It's very potent, and the smell is clean and floral.
Tea tree oil
Tea tree oil can be found in hundreds, if not thousands, of all-natural beauty products. It makes its way into shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, soap, moisturizers, and anything else you can think of.
In fact, if you start reading labels in the beauty and hygiene aisles at your local stores, you'd probably be shocked at how many products have tea tree oil as an ingredient.
That's because tea tree oil is packed with health benefits and has no real drawbacks. Like lavender and eucalyptus, it's a strong antibacterial oil that can treat pimples.
It also has anti fungal properties that can relieve dandruff. It's a mild stimulant that can improve circulation and it can boost your immune system.
For oily skin, one of the biggest benefits is that it can penetrate blockages in your pores caused by overactive oil glands, allowing it to directly treat the glands which are the source of the problem. This makes it an especially effective oil for oily skin.
This tea tree oil is steam-distilled from Chinese tea trees. This makes for a potent, delicately scented oil that is very well suited to aromatherapy, but can be used effectively as a topical application as well.
Palmarosa oil
Palmarosa is a grass native to India with lots of uses. It's closely related to lemongrass, but unlike lemongrass it is rarely used in cooking. Its scent is quite different, too, being very floral and rose-like rather than smelling of citrus.
Palmarosa plants are often grown in and around grain fields because they repel insects that feed on the grains and bite the farm workers. Palmarosa oil can be used as a potent, natural, and safe insect repellent.
The soothing scent can also help you to deal with stress and anxiety. It's been used as a digestive aid and a fever reducer in traditional medicine for centuries. It's a common ingredient in soaps, but that has more to do with its pleasant, floral scent than with its health benefits.
Of course, that doesn't mean that it doesn't benefit your skin. Palmarosa oil has antifungal and antibacterial properties that can treat rashes and acne breakouts resulting from oily skin. It also helps to regulate moisture in your body, including the skin. Regulating moisture levels can help reduce the amount of oil that your glands are producing.
This palmarosa oil is steam-distilled from the finest palmarosa grass grown in India. The delicate extraction process yields a thin, highly aromatic oil that's ideal for medicinal use.
Palmarosa Essential Oil
Palmarosa essential oil has several health benefits including: alleviating anxiety and depression, relieving fatigue and preventing bacterial infections.
Vivorific’s palmarosa essential oil is: 100% Pure and natural, free from fillers, additives and harmful chemicals, vegan and kosher certified and sealed with tamper evident closure and Euro style dropper cap.
How to Use Essential Oils
The most popular way to use essential oils is, by far, aromatherapy. This is not only the easiest way to use them, it's the method that is supported by the most scientific research and, for most situations, it's the most effective way as well.
Many people assume that applying an essential oil directly to a problem area is the best way to experience the benefits of that oil, but this isn't necessarily the case.
Essential oils can affect you on a deep level, and inhaling them in aromatherapy is a fast way to get those oils directly into your bloodstream. This can provide very powerful treatment for most, if not all, of the ailments you're trying to address.
Aromatherapy may prove to be an effective treatment for your oily skin. To use essential oils this way, you will need a diffuser. You'll add water and a few drops of your chosen oil to the diffuser and it will generate steam that will fill the air of the room with the essential oil.
Aromatherapy isn't always the best choice, though, and you may want to apply oils directly to your skin. This is especially true if your oily skin is limited to a few specific problem areas, which is common.
To apply essential oils topically, you will need to dilute them. Essential oils are highly concentrated, and almost all of them are skin irritants if they are not diluted.
The best way to do this is by blending them with a gentle, naturally soothing oil like olive oil or fractionated coconut oil. This has the added benefit of adding an additional moisturizing agent to the oil blend, which will only help your oily skin even more.
Conclusion
Oily skin is a frustrating problem that can create a lot of discomfort and is difficult to solve. Essential oils provide a way to deal with oily skin that is all natural and much gentler than most of the harsh chemical products that are on the market today. Any of the essential oils listed in this article will help with your skin problems, and a blend of them might be even better.
Are there any essential oils for oily skin not mentioned in the blog post that your really love? Share them in the comments below.
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