Clearing Up Some Skin Misconceptions

In the past ten years or so I have tried literally hundreds of products to show my skin some love – what I didn’t know then, but grew to suspect, is the fact that you love your skin more with less. These hundreds of products with thousands of chemicals were only adding fuel to the fire.

To make matters worse, I never had a firm grasp on the concept of moisturization. I remember as a teenager, sitting down at the Clinique counter and the woman handing me a moisturizer, saying it is essential. Later my mother told me not to use it, because our skin is oily enough. Now I realize that is one of the greatest misconceptions of skin care, and it compounded my problem for so many years.

That’s not to say I made a mistake in not sticking with the Clinique moisturizer – because it still falls under misconception #1, and as a chemical-laden product it indeed made my skin worse. But I attributed the decline to misconception #2, further cementing it in my mind.

Now that I’m so much older and wiser, I’ve mostly cleared up my skin and these awful misconceptions. There is one brand of soap I trust to use on my face, and that is RSK soaps – any variety, but I especially love the olive oil and mango formulas. I use the term ‘formula’ loosely – there are less than 5 ingredients in these products, and they are all natural and familiar.  They are also made about 20 miles from where I live. Oddly enough, they are also moisturizing formulas.

When I first started using them, I was hesitant because of that fact due to my moisturizing misconception, but the mirror didn’t lie either – my skin only looks good when I use these soaps. I know. I fell victim to advertising a few months ago and bought a fancy foaming face wash with a few questionable ingredients (wild and crazy decision, I know). It wasn’t long before I was back with RSK,  starting to wonder if their natural moisturizing properties made the beneficial difference.

What I also noticed though, is my skin would still be very oily by the end of the day – the moisturizing in the morning was clearly helping, but the sebaceous glands in my skin were still overworking. Even like, my eyelids. Something was definitely up. I started to look more into the purpose of moisturizing oily skin, and stumbled upon this epiphany:

Moisturizing actually reduces oily skin.

This counterintuitive statement has made the biggest difference in my skin out of everything I have done for the past decade. Of course, success lies in the execution – so I don’t recommend you going to the drugstore or department makeup counter and loading up with a bunch of chemical products. Although if that does work for you, congratulations! I hope everything in your life is that simple. However, I have to be much more methodical.

1. The time I moisturize matters. Even though my soap is a moisturizing formula, I must use my moisturizer a few minutes after I pat my skin dry. Every time I wash (no more than 2x a day).

2. The type of moisturizer I use matters. I will tell you more in a minute, but I have finally found the best moisturizing match for my skin. One ingredient. Completely natural, very well-researched, and useful for several cosmetic and health purposes. I find that holding the bottle under running hot water for a few seconds warms it up for better soothing and spreadability.

3. How I treat my moisturizer matters. I first applied Reiki to my bottle of moisturizer (If you’re attuned, you can and should Reiki all your personal care and food products. I would be happy to Reiki anyone and/or your products in person or via long distance). When I moisturize, I massage it gently and thoroughly into my skin, keeping my eyes closed, visualizing perfect skin and sending positive loving thoughts to my skin.

Now that you know the background story and setup, let’s get to the goods. What’s my secret to moisturizer success?

Five little beautiful words: 100% Pure Australian Emu Oil.

This is a miracle product. While still fairly new in the health and cosmetic care industry, it’s no surprise Australian aborigines have used emu oil for the past 40,000 years. This one oil is . . .

• Anti-aging. The antioxidants in emu oil are great for combatting skin damage and aging.
• Anti-inflammatory. Emu oil reduces redness, swelling, and other skin irritations.
• Hypoallergenic and non-comedogenic. You’re not allergic to it, and it won’t clog your pores and make things worse.
• Bacteriostatic. It’s not going to contribute to any microorganism imbalance on your skin.
• Deeply penetrating. Reaching the deepest layers of the skin , emu oil works great as a carrier oil too if you want to blend it with something you need to go deep.

These are just some of emu oil’s amazing features. The benefits I’ve noticed with personal use over the past few weeks, include:

1. A significant reduction in the oiliness of my skin at the end of the day. Even my eyelids, where I don’t even apply the oil, seem to be more matte. I also have noticed that when I don’t use the oil, my skin is back to oily.
2. A significant improvement in the appearance of red marks (hyperpigmentation). They seem to be fading rapidly, especially since they typically tend to linger for a year or more without treatment.
3. A significant overall improvement in the tone and appearance of my skin. Lines are smoother, my skin seems to be plumper, and overall has a more even and brighter glow. Of course, being in a good mood helps with this too – but they tend to build on each other, I’ve found.

Of course, not all emu oils are created equal so you want to spend the extra pennies on quality. I ordered mine from Joppa Minerals for a modest $11.00 – and what’s great is, a little goes a very long way. I expect I won’t have to buy more until next year. Until then, it’ll be  on my bathroom shelf, right next to all my other essential oils.