Oily skin needs special treatment. There are so many astringent products on the market designed for oily skin. They strip away oil and leave our skin feeling dry – well for a while anyway. I mean when we have oily skin all we want to do is to get rid of the oil and then our skin will behave. Right?

Wrong!  

If our skin was an oily ring round the bath or a patch of oil on a garage floor that would be fine.  We’d just rub some de-greaser or alcohol based gunge on it to break down the oil and voila, no more oily stain.

But our skin is very different.  It reacts very differently to what’s put on it.

What is our skin made of?

Our skin is made up of several layers. There’s the the epidermis, dermis, and the hypodermis, and they all work differently.  Depending on your skin type these layers can be thicker or thinner. Any skin without hairs on ie palms of hands and soles of feet tends to be thicker and more durable.

Skin contains thousands of tiny sebaceous glands which sit just under the top layers of skin. These glands produce sebum.  Without sebum, our skin would be very tight and dry, and would be vulnerable to environmental damage.

Too little sebum, and we experience dry skin. Too much, and we experience oily skin. Some people naturally produce too much sebum, generally down to their genetic makeup and hormone levels, and this results in oily skin.

Why does oily skin behave differently?

Most of the products on the market that claim to be for oily skin are either astringent or alcohol based.

When we use harsh astringent products on oily skin they strip away ALL the oil from our skin, even the stuff that’s beneficial and good for it.  This is the necessary flora and bacteria that naturally lives on our skin so it can repair itself and keep a sense of balance.

When this is stripped away our skin panics and thinks it’s drying out – which it kind of is once it’s been stripped of all moisture.

So it goes on to produce more oil which it sends straight to the surface of your skin to replace the lost moisture and so it goes on, the oil is back, it gets stripped so you use more products, more wipes, more astringents and so on and so on.

Hell for our skin, and hell for our budget!

My products are different:

They work with your skin instead of against it, gently cleansing it but not stripping away the acid mantle and beneficial flora and bacteria that skin needs.

Charcoal & Clay Face Soap is a wonderfully deep cleansing but gentle face soap.  It has a base of organic oils and butters that will deep clean your skin.  The clays in there will draw out bacteria and impurities, helping to close pores.

It’s made from a base of organic olive oil plus extra shea butter so it cleanses deeply without stripping away the friendly flora and bacteria that oily skin needs to repair itself.

It also contains charcoal powder which deep cleanses and detoxes the skin.

It’s delicately fragranced with a blend of anti bacterial,  anti inflammatory essential oils which help to calm irritated skin.

Tea Tree & Aloe Face Soap has been created for teenagers or tweenagers whose skin is starting to misbehave or anyone suffering from hormonal changes who has occasional breakouts.

Rose & orange toner is a lovely light, soothing toner that can be used to hydrate and refresh the skin. It will gently sweep away excess sebum or makeup but won’t strip the skin of essential moisture.  Great to spritz on the skin to cool and soothe.

Dead Sea Mud Mask will draw toxins out from the skin and tighten pores.  It also exfoliates and hydrates all in one.  As a result your skin will feel fabulous after using it!

White Tea & Lavender Face Cream. It’s a popular misconception that oily skin doesn’t need to be moisturised. So called ‘oil free’ moisturisers once again strip the skin of essential moisture, leaving it dry and smooth but only until your skin protests and sends more sebum to the surface as explained above.  This very lovely light moisturiser works with your skin instead of against it leaving it soft, smooth and calm.

Try before you buy a full size one

All my facial skincare products are available in trial sizes so you can test them out for about a week to make sure that your skin loves them before commiting to full size products.

I’d rather do this to ensure that you get exactly the right product for you rather than sell you a full size product that doesn’t suit you and never see you again!

So if you’ve got oily skin or you know someone who has and they’re struggling to find products that keep the oil at bay take a look at the products highlighted above.  There’s a whole oily skin section on my website just go to the facial skincare section and select your skin type.

Do let me know if you’ve used any of the products and what you thought of them!

Lots of love
Sue xx