Essential oils are oils extracted from the plants they are named after. They are called ‘essential’ because they contain the “essence of the plant’s fragrance – the characteristic fragrance of the plant from which it is derived”. (For a technical understanding of the matter, refer to the Wiki article in detail.)
Essential oils are reported to have a wide range of health benefits, whether used topically or internally. They have also been immensely popular in the health and beauty sphere for some time now.
But do they really work? And should people with oily skin bother to buy essential oils?
Short answer – yes.
As someone who has oily, acne-prone skin, large pores, and a dehydrated texture (despite drinking tons of water everyday), and who has been using essential oils for almost a year now, I believe I’m qualified to talk with some expertise on this topic.
So get a cup of tea, sit back, and enjoy reading my experience with essential oils in detail!
Essential oils, as per my experience, can be the difference between skin that looks well cared for and skin that looks neglected (despite that not being the case). You may spend thousands of rupees on skin repair serums, lotions, and moisturizers, and yet not get the results you want – fresh and dewy skin, with preferably zero acne and blemishes. Oh, and also wrinkle-free!
(Let’s get real for a second. If it’s the nature of your skin to break out, it will break out. No miracle product will ever fix it once and for all. And also, there is nothing problematic about wrinkles, except in our minds. Smooth wrinkle-free skin for a 55-year-old may not even be a desirable goal to begin with.
So let’s keep our expectations real, and let’s be practical.)
I first decided to try essential oils in early 2019 when I was two months post-partum and 37 years old. I had had horrible skin throughout pregnancy. Pimples galore, prickly heat plastered all over my forehead which simply won’t go away (but miraculously vanished after I gave birth).
The skin looked tired, dull, almost scaly – oily on the top, rough underneath. I would apply the best foundation and yet all it would do was further grease me up or gift me a pimple or two.
Up until that point I hadn’t even been using moisturizers regularly, forget about anything else. I had tried many moisturizers (Nivea, Olay, Cetaphil, Neutrogena, Loreal, etc. – all marketed as oil-free) but all they would do is grease me up, at best, and leave the skin itself untouched. At worst, they would break me out. As someone with oily skin, the last thing you want is a product that only contributes to the shine and keeps attracting grime through the day. India is a hot and humid country, regardless of where you live. It’s also very dusty and highly polluted in parts,which also has a negative impact on the skin. We have about two months, if that, of slightly cool and somewhat settled weather, and that too depends on where you are. So for the vast majority of the year, my skin would remain oily and acne-prone, if not already laden with pimples, indentations, and blemishes.
As a result, I had stopped using moisturizers entirely.
But seeing the state of my post-partum skin – oily but dry, tired, and in need of urgent care, I decided that it needed some kind of nourishment. Something that would quench it, if you know what I mean.
So I did what I do best. I began Googling the topic with a purpose. I read several blogs and product reviews, and after many, many hours of research I decided to purchase The Face Shop Chia Seed No Shine Hydrating Cream Gel as my primary moisturizer. (Essential oils can’t be the only thing you have on your face; you’ve got to apply a serum or a moisturizer beforehand.)
I then turned my focus towards essential oils as they are known to improve the quality of the skin. I continued researching like a maniac in a sleep-deprived state. Whatever little energy I could spare from looking after a newborn, I directed towards setting up a helpful and sustainable skincare regimen.
My immediate purpose was to address the pimples on my face. My skin generally clears up on its own in winters, and that is also the time it looks its healthiest. There’s an inherent glow to it and makeup looks wonderful on it.
But breastfeeding kept my hormones in a state of imbalance, and my skin reacts terribly to any kind of imbalance, physical or mental. So, the breakouts continued.
My research told me that tea tree oil and peppermint essential oil can both be wonderful for my skin type as well as specific skin problems. But on the whole, peppermint essential oil was edging tea tree oil out, so I decided to take a chance on it.
Peppermint essential oil
This was my first ever essential oil, and also my favourite so far!
Derived from the peppermint plant, peppermint essential oil provides a number of benefits – from treating congestion, to curing indigestion, to clearing up acne.
I got mine off Nykaa (Nykaa Naturals peppermint essential oil), a small bottle of 10ml that lasted more than 6 months – it seemed a safe bet based on the reviews and the price.
When I received it, I opened it with some trepidation and not many expectations.
The first time I unscrewed the top and put in the dropper, the strong peppermint smell made my eyes water and nose run. It was overpowering. I made sure to move away from my two-month-old after I realized how strong the smell was.
That night, I cleansed my face with a facewash, took a pea-sized amount of the chia seed gel on my finger, and added a couple of drops of peppermint essential oil to it. (NOT the right way to apply oils to your face, I found out later. But still, it worked.)
This was it. The moment! Will this be a miraculous combo?
I couldn’t quite savour the magnitude of the moment because the oil immediately started running down my finger. So I mixed up the gel and the oil and applied it all over my face. I immediately felt a tingling sensation, which I still enjoy to this date, but it was gone in a few minutes. On the application of peppermint essential oil one feels tremendous coolness on one’s skin. In winters as well as in air-conditioned places this can make you feel colder, mind you.
I went to bed a happy woman. I woke up in an expectant state.
As I stepped into the bathroom a few hours later (short sleep cycles as a new mother!) to take a look at my face, I was pleasantly surprised (or maybe elated is the word?) to see my skin looking so…. nice! Like it never had!
It was looking well hydrated, fresh and dewy, none of the things it had ever been before. It was as if someone had injected a revitalizing serum into my skin!
Wow.
This is holy grail stuff, I thought to myself.
Peppermint essential oil is now a skincare staple for me.
But, a few things to keep in mind:
- It did not cure my acne. It left the pimples as it is. But what it did do is improve the quality and texture of my skin. My skin is no longer scaly and looking for redemption from oiliness, but fresh, well-balanced, and lively. Acne, in my experience, is largely hormonal. There can be a number of reasons behind it, and to expect topical treatments alone to cure it is a bit foolhardy.
- Peppermint essential oil gives a strong tingly feeling when applied to the skin, which might not be to everyone’s liking. Personally, I love it. It can also make your eyes water and make your nose run.
- With this oil, less is more. Use it sparingly. Even a single drop will do the job.
- One has to be careful when applying peppermint essential oil. It should always be mixed with a lotion, cream, or a carrier oil before application. It should not be applied to the eye area at all (even in a mixed form). It should also not be used on hands. Just keep it confined to the face.
Moringa essential oil
For the longest time, peppermint essential oil was the only oil I used, twice a day mixed in with my face lotion. But being someone that couldn’t leave a good thing alone, I started wondering if other oils could be as impressive.
My research led me to moringa oil – which has acne-fighting properties. Moringa is your humble drumstick – the amazing all-rounder that everyone should have a place in their kitchen and beauty cabinets for!
If there were a Miss Wonderful of essential oils, this would be it.
Image courtesy: www.needpix.com)
What it does:
- I add a drop of peppermint essential oil and a drop of moringa oil to my facial serum and work it into the skin for beautiful healthy skin the next morning.
- I apply moringa oil directly to my eyes, to keep the delicate eye area well nourished. Use your ring fingers to gently pat the oil in. Don’t apply pressure to this area and certainly don’t rub anything in.
- You can add moringa oil to your hand cream or lotion for buttery smooth hands, which I have gotten into the habit of doing. I have placed my moringa oil next to the hand lotion so it’s all done in a jiffy.
- You can add a drop of moringa oil to your lip balm or apply the oil directly to your lips for ultra-smooth and soft lips. For best results exfoliate your lips with a mild lip scrub before you do so.
- Add a few drops of moringa oil to your shampoo for lustrous hair. You can also apply some to freshly styled hair for an all-natural and effective hair serum.
Sea buckthorn oil
Another oil that popped up in my research and looked promising for my skin type. Also known as the “holy fruit of Himalayas”, sea buckthorn oil is another favourite in traditional medicine around the world.
This nutrient-rich oil brings a number of benefits to the body, but for our purposes specifically, it works like a charm in controlling oiliness (yay!).
What it does:
- Helps control oil production (but in my experience it works decidedly better in the night than during the day. Also, it might not work at the peak of humidity.)
- Not only does it not break you out, you wake up with a glow on your face. Yep, it keeps working its magic overnight.
- It can be mixed with other essential oils, such as peppermint essential oil, for tight-looking, fresh, and glowy skin the next day. It does have a slight orange hue to it, but that does not transfer to your face.
Rosehip oil
“Extracted from the seeds of the wild rose bush“, rosehip oil contains “two powerful acne fighters” such as linoleic acid and Vitamin A. It’s also the go-to oil for those who want to fight premature ageing as well as for already mature skin. As per one report, the Duchess of Cambridge uses rosehip oil as part of her daily skincare routine. (Don’t quote me on that though!)
I had gifted this oil along with a facial serum to my mom on Mother’s Day, but she still hasn’t used it because despite my assurances she does not believe me when I say that essential oils do not oil one’s skin up.
So I tried it on myself, and rather enthusiastically. In theory, it should have worked on my skin. But it didn’t. It did not bring any glow to my face, nor an improvement of any kind to my skin. Worse, it made me break out the very next day. I tried it a few times, with different combinations, just to make sure. It did not work in the day, it did not work in the night. It did not work for me in the hot season, it did not work for me in the cooler months.
In short, though I had great expectations from this oil, it simply did nothing for me except break me out.
But it might work for you!
That’s the thing with skincare products. That which works for one person might not work for another one at all.
Application of essential oils
Even though I did not start using essential oils the right way, they still worked for me. But there’s a method to the application of oils. As a general rule, the lighter skin product goes on first. So once your face is clean and dry, pat in the serum. Follow it with a moisturizer. Then come the oils. Essential oils must be mixed with carrier oils, and NOT applied to the face on their own. These are very potent products so they need some dilution. Also, use a higher ratio of carrier oils to essential oils. You can get creative with this. Use all the oils you think are needed for your purpose.
For example, I’ve mixed peppermint essential oil with sea buckthorn oil and moringa oil. These days I use only peppermint essential oil and my trusted Nykaa Skin Potion Anti-Acne facial oil, mixing the two one drop of the essential oil to four drops of the facial oil. The oils I use keep changing, depending on the season and the particular problem I might want to address at a given time. Be adventurous with them!
To sum up
If there’s anything you take away from this lengthy writeup, let it be this – essential oils do work for oily skin.
If you have never had hydrated, fresh, glowing, and supple skin, you can do so now with essential oils. There is, however, a fair bit of experimentation involved. So be ready to be disappointed, because not everything will work and there will be times when you will wonder what the big deal about essential oils is. However, if you do find an oil, or a combination of oils, that works for you, you know you have got a keeper!
Essential oils that work, do so reliably. They aren’t the kind of products that sometimes work and sometimes do not. Their efficacy does not diminish with time. If you find an oil that gives you a glow through overnight application, it will always do so. These are not hit and miss products. Though I do feel they work better overnight than they do during the day (especially in hot weather).
They are also all-natural and loaded with nutrients. These are the kind of products that we should be gravitating towards anyway- away from chemical-laden cosmetics being passed as skincare.
These oils might not cure your acne, or iron out your wrinkles, but they will give you a visibly improved quality of skin.
And there’s such a wide variety of oils available that you can keep on experimenting and inventing new combinations that work magic for you.
Next up for me is pomegranate seed oil, which I’m waiting to get my hands on! I also plan on trying out tea tree oil in the near future.
How has your experience with essential oils been? Which ones would you recommend to us oily-skinned folks? I would love to hear your views so share them freely in the comments below.
See you soon!
P.S. This is an honest and true account of my experience with essential oils so far. All my oils and other products mentioned in this post were purchased from Nykaa, which is why I have linked to them. I’m neither affiliated with nor promoting/endorsing any brands, simply sharing what has worked for me.
