Beauty

[LTT1]

I remember learning that oils were, in general, bad for you.

They supposedly “broke out your skin” “clogged your arteries” “caused your cholesterol to rise”

Why did we buy into this fallacy?

Some oils are actually drying!

What is the truth and do we know the truth even now?

Argan Oil (JM) is a healthy, pure oil and it is good for your skin (among others)

[dex]

Remember the high school  days when oily skinned people were the most likely to be plagued with pimples and acne....that’s when I came to the conclusion that oil on the skin was dangerous to my complexion.

[just bee]

I can't imagine a world without olive, peanut and motor oil.

[millieshops]

@LTT1lol   Depends upon who WE is.   For women in my generation, we've seen massive changes in medical science and that has included research into skincare.  And, of course, the purveyors take the pieces of that science that "sell" and work to convince us to change.  Sometimes what they sell us actually works!    I use oils all the time nowadays even though I avoided them when I was young because I had oily acne-prone skin and assumed what I "knew" was accurate.

Another reason WE probably have learned new and different things would have to do with the amount of information (true and false) that's available to us, epecially via TV and the Internet.   Some of us grew up in homes without either.  I don't remember learning much of anything from TV until I was well into my HS years (no TV in our house until I was 15) and Internet?  That didn't affect me until I was somewhere in my 40's!   

In spite of my personal choices at this point, I know nothing about what THEY are teling US about oils for skin such as I used to have.  There's just way too much information available to encourage me to try to know it all!

[Carmie]

I don't remember being taught anything about oils before I went to beauty school.  I started in the summer time  right after I finished my freshman year of high school.

One of my teachers was into natural healing and beauty products and we would often have guest speakers on this subject.

i know that some oils can be good for our skin, and some not so much.  Even food grade oils like grapefruit and other citrus can be harmful if applied right before you sun yourself.  Many oils will burn your skin or make you break out or cause an allergic reaction.

Olive oil has been used as a beauty product and for food  for thousands of years, successfully.

i know that today, oils are a big business.  I have a friend who sells oils for skin application and for putting in a mist machine to diffuse them into the air.  She is always trying to get me to try some of them.  There is a list of oils and how they are used to remedy whatever ails you.  She mixes them with an emollient because used on their own, they can damage the skin.

Her husband got a severe burn on his wrist because he rubbed some kind of oil on his skin for a rash that was itching that was too strong.  He had to go to a doctor and get antibiotics and other meds to heal his terribly burnt skin.

The truth in my opinion is somewhere in between.  Oil is needed and very beneficial to our skin and body in general.  We need it as a vital nutrient.  We should be getting it through the healthy food we eat.

As with anything, oil should be used in moderation.  I am not fond of the "snake oil salesmen" like my friend is selling expensive oils for everything and anything. Some oils can be harmful. They can make you sick, cause miscarriages and even kill you.

I personally, only use oils that I get through my diet, olive oil especially. My skin and hair are terribly oily on their own.  I use no moisturizers or skin products, except for sunscreen.  My DH also has oily skin and hair.  We are in our 60's.  

Argan oil is good for you to eat.  It has a nutty flavor and is great for salads and vegetables.  It sure has been selling at super expensive prices like it is liquid gold.  It's a good oil, but I don't understand the new hype or cost.

I suppose someone is making hay while the sun is shining.

[Trix]

My "now retired" dermatologist must have been ahead of the curve back in the late 1960s he pushed the use of facial oil to his patients who had oily skin.  I recall when Clinique originated on the market (1969) one of their original products was called Cleansing Oil and it was included in the regimen for skin types III and IV which are oily-to-oilest, not I and II.  They used the concept my doctor had given me and that is when the oil glands are parched by using drying products which lacked much hydration at all (if intended for oily skin), the glands will work harder to produce more oil to make up for the dehydration.  It became hard to find oil facial products during the 80s and 90s, but before the end of the 1990s, due to the international explosion of the beauty industry (thanks to the internet and to some degree TV shopping channels), one could again find oil products.  Of course today every( you name it) brand has some kind of oil in their line.   

[Harpa]

@Carmie 

Are you referring to carrier oils, or essential oils? The two are very different. It seems you wrote about both, but did not differentiate between them. (Or, perhaps I just did not follow properly.)

Some of the best information about carrier oils for skin (argan, olive, coconut, etc.) are from Minimalist Beauty, where she breaks down the acids and talks about which types of skin benefits with the different oils.

As far as digestible oils, I think we've been bombarded with a lot of disinformation in the past 2 decades or so.

Always a lot to wade through. There is what these oils are known for (for hundreds or thousands of years), and also from your own personal experience. So, it's not what I've been taught (which is nil), but from what I've taught myself through wading through a lot of material!

[tototwo]

Yes, and I still don't use oils on my complexion, especially motor oil.

[LTT1]

@Carmie @millieshops @just bee @dex 

I’m still a bit confused about oils in general.

WE, the American public, were told not to eat coconut oil because the belief was that it clogged our arteries.

It was coconut oil and palm kernel oil that was denounced by the health/medical industry... at least, this was the story advertised.

Essential oils really are not “oils” (read this on the internet) so these are not a category I’m considering here,

The oils I’m wondering are ones such as argan/sea buckthorn/coconut/rose hip and more.

I have had to start investigating others because of a skin condition I’m dealing with.

Societies have enjoyed the benefits of some of these oils (coconut for instance) for thousands of years so I wonder if they understand the benefits better?

[LTT1]

@Trix @Harpa 

Thank you so much!

It is the type of informational responses that you have posted that I was “digging” for!

I will check out that website that @Harpa listed!