Shake it, don’t fake it – Olive Retreat Lotion

Nowadays I can’t be bothered to learn all about how they produced all products and it they are ethical or not, so I just use organic oils from a small local company to clean, keep moist and nurture my skin. Here is my own ‘lotion’ with approximate portions; 

• 10% essential oil of your skins taste (my advice is to try which one works for you)
• 20-40% of clean filtered water and
• 50-70% a fatty oil like coconut, almond, avocado, argan or primrose oil.

I use this oil mix after shower or washing. Try what works best for your skin. My skin wants me to change the essential oil and the oils. Sometimes it wants a more oily lotion, so I have about 3 or 4 mixes and I switch in between them.  The oil that my body made for my skin during the night is the best for me, so I try to avoid cleaning my face in the morning if I’m not in a dirty air like a big city. Oil dissolves oil so to get a good cleanse we need oil, not alcohol like many cleansers have. Here is a good old recipe for a good cleans that can be done once or twice a times a week, depending on your air quality, and if you use make up:

• Clean your face with warm but not hot water, or use a damp cloth. The warm water opens the pores, so give it a few minutes.
• Use a few drops of an oil mix of 70-90% of an oily oil like coconut, hemp, avocado, olive, etc, mixed with about 10-30% castor oil (dries out) to massage and cleans your warm skin. If you have dry skin use only 10% castor oil. 
• Wipe of with wet cloth or rinse with warm water. Now you don’t need any lotion, you glow anyway and your skin will thank you.

Of course they don’t look like the mixes from the fancy brands, but I know mine are more healthy for me, the Planet and no animal testing (see yesterdays blog). It is also much cheaper. If we (consumers) for example don’t like the oil to separate from the water, the producers use homogenizers, or they smash the oil molecules and press them into the water, which oxidizes the oil in the process, the same as in food like margarine. If you have been to an Olive Retreat you know that oxidized fatty acids (rancid oil) are amongst the most harmful ‘natural’ substances we can eat and put on our skin. On the label it says vegetable oil, so we believe it is healthy, but it’s not. It is one of the reasons why CVD is so high.

So what if the lotion separates with the oil floating above the water? Most people don’t know that you can just shake the bottle before you put the cream on you face to mix the two. So simple and so detoxing for both mind and body.

Shake it, don’t fake it!