DIY Natural Facial Cleanser

When your skin gets a little out of control, we're prompted to use hundreds of 'essential' skin products. We soak, drench and condition our skin with hundreds of chemicals and layers of built up creams. But sometimes its important to give your skin a breather. For the last two weeks I've been using one simple ingredient for my cleanser, toner and moisturiser. Whats my secret?

Olive oil.

It may seem a bit crazy using oil to combat greasy/dirty skin, but olive oil is full of antitoxins and help to face old acne scars and balances the oils on your skin perfectly! 

To Use:

1. Wash your hands with soap, you're going to be using your hands to apply the oil, you don't want to transfer any bad bacteria onto your face.
2. Pour some olive oil into the palm of your hand. I usually pour some oil roughly the same size as a 10 pence coin. Rub your hands together.
3. Apply the oil onto the face, avoiding eyes.
4. Soak a flannel/hot cloth into some hot water (the hotter the better). Squeeze to get rid of any excess water.
5. Apply cloth to the face and let all the goodness of the oil soak in for about 3 minutes. You may need to take it off to take a breath!
6. When the cloth has lost its heat, its time to take off the oil. Use gentle circular motions, this helps the blood circulation around your face. 
7.  When all the oil is off, splash your face with cold water to close up the pores and refreshen the skin.

I've done this once (or twice) a day for a fortnight and my skin was clearer within a few days, and after a week old scars were fading. I didn't need to use a moisturiser because the oil balances out the natural oil on your face, so I wasn't coating my face with more product. This is perfect for someone on a budget, however I don't recommend buying cheap olive oil, its likely to be full of unnatural harmful ingredients.  You want Extra Virgin Olive oil, with the only ingredient being that, the olive oil. There are other tips on looking after your skin which I've written about in my recent blog post "Beating post-party skin. A TLC guide" or if you need something nutritious and natural, I picked up some skin treatments, which you can see in my "Lush Haul for a breakout". I've also found a lovely DIY facial scrub which I wrote about a while back. Click here for the instructions...

Hope this cleanser works as well for you as it did for me! Do you think you'll try it? Leave a comment below! xxx