Oil for Acne Oil for Acne! Yes, we do use oil on our acne prone skin. We use oil both as a wash and a moisturizer. While cleansing and exfoliating products are also used, we still recommend a follow up with a good moisturizer that will include some oil. Read below for our reasons why? Pores are not clogged by oil alone. Pores are not clogged only by oil but by a combination of oil and dead skin cells and possibly hair. Normal healthy skin produces an oil called sebum. Sebum is released through the pores and keeps the skin from drying out. Dried out skin is more prone to bacteria or other microorganisms penetrating the surface and causing infection. It is true that when we go through hormonal changes our skin produces more sebum. Sebum then builds up under the surface of the skin and possibly becomes infected with bacteria, in the clogged pore. Still, sebum is a liquid and would simply run out through the pore if the pore were not clogged by a combination of dead ski...
What is soap ? Soap is the salt of neutralized fatty acids. What! Salt! Fat! Acid! Yes, fats are made up of different types of acid: lauric, oleic or stearic to name a few. You remember that the opposite of acid is alkaline. Acids are neutralized by alkaline. Soap is made when a strong alkaline is mixed with a fatty acid to neutralize it into a salt of fatty acid. The result is no longer oil or lye, as it is commonly called, but soap. At least that’s how soap was made for about 5000 years. In less than the past 100 years ‘soap’ manufacturers have been using sulfates, synthetic detergents instead of real soap, which is much more expensive to produce. They, of course, have to add moisturizers to dilute the product or it would strip your skin (in our opinion it does anyway), but they use pore clogging petroleum based products, not real moisturizers. Do you want to use a product on your skin that has been tried and proved for 5000 years or one that has be...