you wash your face with what...

Oil.

Yes, I wash my face with oil.  Strange, I know.  I thought the same thing when I first read about the oil-cleansing method, but now I'm a believer.

What is the oil-cleansing method, you ask?

It's literally washing your face with oil.  At the end of every day, I slather my face in oil, steam it with a hot wash rag, wipe it off and then put a layer of coconut oil on before heading to bed.  I think my husband thinks I'm a little weird, but I can see a big difference in my skin just in the two weeks I've been using this method.

This website has a detailed explanation of why it works, but basically oil dissolves oil.  Castor oil, which is an important ingredient, has cleansing and healing properties.  Massaged into your skin, it helps dissolve the dirt and oils that clog your pores and give you irritated skin, black heads, etc.

Castor oil is a thicker oil and needs to be thinned, so I use sunflower seed oil to do that.  You can use any vegetable oil though...whatever your preference.  Below is a guide that shows mixture ratios to help customize to your skin.  My skin is a little bit combo and a little bit dry, depending on the season, so I use 25% castor and 75% sunflower seed.

• oily: 30% castor 70% other oil
• balanced: 20% castor 80% other oil
• dry: 10% castor 90% other oil

Too much castor oil can be drying, so you'll probably have to experiment with mixture initially until you find what is right for your skin tone.  I have a 3 oz bottle that I mix in and use, that way if I need to make adjustments, I'm not wasting a lot of oils trying to get my perfect blend.

Once you have your blend, you're ready to cleanse:

1. Gently shake your oil mixture and pour about a quarter size onto palm.
2. Rub hands together to warm the oil, then massage onto face.  I generally massage about a minute, concentrating on that T-zone area.
3. Wet a wash rag with hot water.  Not so hot to scald but enough to steam your face.
4. Squeeze excess water from rag and place over face to allow it to steam.  Let the wet rag steam your face until it cool. 
5. Gently wipe away the oil from your face.
6. Repeat step 3
7. Repeat step 4
8. Now, use a clean rag to gently wipe the remaining oil from your face.
9. If your face feels like you need some moisturizer, apply a light layer.  I use coconut oil on mine.

In the time I've been using this method my skin has gotten softer, cleaner and my pores are so clean.  Make-up goes on so much more easily, because I now have a nice, clean base.  I have larger pores in the T-zone and they are almost invisible because they're clean.  I'm in love with this method!  

I'm convinced this is exactly what my skin needed.  I've never had acne, but my skin was break-out prone, even in adult years.  Annoying.  This method seems to be the answer for my skin.  

My face has a more even tone.  It's soft, and it looks and feels healthy.  I'm sure I'll get the occasional breakout, but the skin on my face has really calmed down and seems to love me and I'm loving it.