Essential oils can be used for so many things, including household cleaning, medicinal purposes and even in your beauty routine. I have been using essential oils for several years now and I've learned a LOT along the way. One of the things I love most is blending essential oils to get the most out of the different properties each unique oil has, and that's exactly what I do when I use essential oils for acne.
Not every essential oil is suited to every purpose. For example, I love using lemongrass oil in my aromatherapy burner, but it doesn’t make my skin happy at all. Tea tree oil is wonderful for clearing up my acne, but it’s a bit too harsh to use for my newborn’s baby care.
Here, I’ll cover my favorite oils to use in my skin care routine. As someone who has suffered from severe acne, I hope that these tips will help you clear up your skin too!
Acne-Fighting Essential Oils
One of the first reasons I turned to essential oils for their beauty-boosting benefits was to clear up my acne. Because all essential oils contain powerful antibacterial and cleansing properties, many of them are useful for this purpose. The key to choosing the right ones are to find those that will benefit your skin without being too harsh. The following are essential oils for acne that I’ve found to be most helpful, starting with the gentlest option:
Ylang Ylang – gently cleans, tones, and moisturizes skin.
Lavender – a little more powerful, lavender’s antibacterial properties can whip breakouts into shape.
Rosemary – a great option for combination skin, as it fights acne while balancing your oily and dry skin patches.
Tea Tree – for the worst of the worst, including multiple blemishes and cystic acne, try tea tree.
Blending Essential Oils for Skin Care
There are a few ways you can blend these essential oils for use in your skin care routine. One of my favorite, simplest ways, is to combine a drop of two different oils (or two drops of any one oil) in my hand along with a dime-sized amount of jojoba oil and oil cleanse with it.
You can also just use it as a facial serum and let it sit on your skin.
One more way that you use essential oils to clear up your skin is to treat your makeup brushes with essential oils. This is only recommended if your makeup brushes are made from natural fibers, as synthetic fibers might be broken down by the oils. To do this, clean your makeup brushes well with a bit of facial cleanser and warm water. Then, soak the brushes for 30 minutes or so in a solution of:
1 cup of warm water
⅓ teaspoon of baking soda
3 drops of your chosen essential oil(s)
(shake the solution well)
After soaking, rinse well and lay the brushes flat on a clean towel to dry. For the best results, treat your makeup brushes this way every month or so – give or take depending on how often you wear makeup!
Clearing Up Acne Improves Confidence!!
According to About.com, “A study published in the British Journal of Dermatology found that acne patients experienced social, psychological, and emotional ramifications at the same level of those with chronic health problems, such as epilepsy, diabetes, and arthritis.” As someone who has gone through it myself, I have no problem believing this.
As I said before, I once suffered from incredibly severe acne and it’s hard to put into words exactly how much it can diminish your confidence. If you have this problem, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Although I tried many commercial products to clear up my skin, what would happen is that it would clear up for a couple of weeks and then gradually become worse again until I was back where I started. It wasn't until I started using oil based skin care products like the ones I made myself that my skin actually improved for good.
I hope that you have the same experience after trying essential oils for your skin. xx
Kris @ Attainable Sustainable
Thankfully, acne isn't a problem for me. But I tell you - I'd NEVER have thought that OIL is the ticket to clearing it up!
Kylie
I know, right? It seems so counter-intuitive but it's totally true.
Emily @ Recipes to Nourish
Thanks for sharing this, I didn't know about all of these oils. I've used tea tree and lavender and love them. Pinned it.
Kylie
Thanks for pinning, Emily!
Amanda L
I love essential oils and use them in many ways in my daily routine. I learned something new today though - how to clean my makeup brushes with them! I love this idea and will be trying this immediately. Thanks for a great article.
Candy cse
I have combination/oily acne prone skin with black heads and large pores. I've never used oils but I am excited to try the oil cleaning method I'm just not sure which oil I should try to start with. Which one do you suggest? Thanks
Kylie Worthington
Hi Candy,
Try jojoba and tea tree to start. 🙂