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The oil cleansing method, often abbreviated as OCM, is a system for cleaning the human body. It is sometimes used for treating acne. Sometimes, oils can be mixed; one example is 50%
The modern OCM method claims to be derived from ancient bathing practices. It differs from these practices in its focus solely on oil, and the ancients would also use water. Modern soap was not produced industrially until the 19th century. In the ancient world people would use olive oil as part of their bathing. They may have combined the oil with ash, and we know they used a scraping implement called a
extra virgin olive oil
Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: f ...
and 50% castor oil
Castor oil is a vegetable oil pressed from castor beans.
It is a colourless or pale yellow liquid with a distinct taste and odor. Its boiling point is and its density is 0.961 g/cm3. It includes a mixture of triglycerides in which abo ...
. This mixture can be optimized based on skin type
The human skin is the outer covering of the body and is the largest organ of the integumentary system. The skin has up to seven layers of ectodermal tissue guarding muscles, bones, ligaments and internal organs. Human skin is similar to most ...
and personal preference.
In accordance with skin type variations, castor oil
Castor oil is a vegetable oil pressed from castor beans.
It is a colourless or pale yellow liquid with a distinct taste and odor. Its boiling point is and its density is 0.961 g/cm3. It includes a mixture of triglycerides in which abo ...
may be too harsh in some skin-care regimens and is sometimes used in a 1:9 ratio. However, overly oily skin can make use of a larger proportion of castor oil. Other oils that are commonly used are jojoba oil
Jojoba oil is the liquid produced in the seed of the ''Simmondsia chinensis'' (jojoba) plant, a shrub, which is native to southern Arizona, southern California, and northwestern Mexico. The oil makes up approximately 50% of the jojoba seed by w ...
, sweet almond oil, coconut oil
frameless , right , alt = A cracked coconut and a bottle of coconut oil
Coconut oil (or coconut butter) is an edible oil derived from the wick, meat, and milk of the coconut palm fruit. Coconut oil is a white solid fat; in warmer climates duri ...
, argan oil
Argan oil is a plant oil produced from the kernels of the argan tree ('' Argania spinosa'' L.), which is indigenous to Morocco. In Morocco, argan oil is used to dip bread in at breakfast or to drizzle on couscous or pasta. It is also used for co ...
, rosehip oil, sunflower oil
Sunflower oil is the non-volatile oil pressed from the seeds of the sunflower (''Helianthus annuus''). Sunflower oil is commonly used in food as a frying oil, and in cosmetic formulations as an emollient.
Sunflower oil is primarily composed ...
, Safflower
Safflower (''Carthamus tinctorius'') is a highly branched, herbaceous, thistle-like annual plant in the family Asteraceae. It is commercially cultivated for vegetable oil extracted from the seeds and was used by the early Spanish colonies a ...
oil, and grapeseed oil
Grape seed oil (also called grapeseed oil or grape oil) is a vegetable oil derived from the Seed, seeds of Vitis vinifera, grapes. A by-product of the winemaking industry, it is typically used for edible applications.
Uses
Cooking
Grape se ...
. Furthermore, some sources say that the oil cleansing method is not viable for sensitive skin.
History
The modern OCM method claims to be derived from ancient bathing practices. It differs from these practices in its focus solely on oil, and the ancients would also use water. Modern soap was not produced industrially until the 19th century. In the ancient world people would use olive oil as part of their bathing. They may have combined the oil with ash, and we know they used a scraping implement called a strigil
The strigil ( el, στλεγγίς, translit=stlengis, probably a loanword from Pre-Greek substrate) is a tool for the cleansing of the body by scraping off dirt, perspiration, and oil that was applied before bathing in Ancient Greek and Roman ...
.
In the Roman baths
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
, a man would bathe in this way before taking a Caldarium
230px, Caldarium from the Roman Baths at Bath, England. The floor has been removed to reveal the empty space where the hot air flowed through to heat the floor.
A caldarium (also called a calidarium, cella caldaria or cella coctilium) was a room ...
or 'hot bath'. Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ...
himself mentions ancient bathing practices.
Method
In this beauty treatment, the oil is rubbed into skin for approximately two minutes. Next, a warm, dampmicrofiber
Microfiber (or microfibre) is synthetic fiber finer than one denier or decitex/thread, having a diameter of less than ten micrometers. A strand of silk is about one denier and about a fifth of the diameter of a human hair.
The most common t ...
wash cloth is used to wipe off the excess oil. Applied sparingly, oil may be used to moisturize the skin after the cleansing oil has been removed from the face.{{Cite web, url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/09/01/what-is-cleansing-oil_n_6158450.html, title=Why You Should Wash Your Face With Oil Instead Of Soap, last=Fashion, first=Dana Oliver Executive, last2=Editor, first2=Beauty, date=17 November 2014, website=The Huffington Post, access-date=28 November 2016, last3=Post, first3=The Huffington
References