DIY All-Natural Face Oil for Acne-Prone & Oily Skin
Acne DIY Skincare & Beauty Essential oils Face Oils Natural Beauty
This DIY All-Natural Face Oil for Acne-Prone and Oily Skin combines the best carrier oils and essential oils to keep skin clear by fighting blemishes and reducing oil production. Yes, applying oil to your skin can actually reduce the skin’s own oil production! Learn why it works + grab the recipe!
Some things are just real head-scratchers…
Like how putting oil on your face can actually make your skin less oily and less break-out prone.
It took me years of frustration and poisoning my body with chemical-laden skin care products before I finally experienced this last one firsthand.
I always thought that oil in skin care products was to be avoided at all costs.
So putting straight oil on my face? Oh heck no.
But then I got desperate. And I did it. And it worked. And now I’m hooked!
P.S. Want to take all the guesswork out of it? I’ve bottled up my best face oil blends — the Body Unburdened Beauty Blends — just for you. Beauty Blend No.2 is my best-seller, formulated to gently but effectively transform blemish-prone skin.
So how exactly does oil help to keep skin clear?
Face oils help to keep skin clear and blemish-free in a few different ways.
1. Face oils help to regulate the skin’s own oil production
The skin produces oil (a.k.a. sebum) as a natural moisturizer. Sebum is totally natural and even necessary, but excessive sebum production can increase the risk of blemishes. Applying oil to the skin can help reduce the skin’s own production of oil.
Important note: excess oil production is often a symptom of hormonal imbalance. You can learn more about this and how to balance hormones naturally in my book Glow: The Nutritional Approach to Naturally Gorgeous Skin.
2. Face oils are rich in antioxidants, which prevent skin sebum from oxidizing
When the skin’s own oil or sebum oxidizes, it becomes extremely comedogenic or pore-clogging. More and more, this is becoming recognized as a primary cause of acne and breakouts. Most face oils are rich in the antioxidant vitamins A, C, and E, which prevent sebum oxidation.
3. Face oils breakup the gunk in our pores
When it comes down to it, a zit is really nothing more than a sticky mess of oil and dead skin cells. And since like-dissolves-like (in other words, oil and water don’t mix but water and water do mix as do oil and oil), applying oil to the skin can actually help to break up this sticky mess and clear it from the pore.
4. Face oils soothe and moisturize the skin
By helping to reduce inflammation and moisturize the skin, face oils help blemished skin heal more quickly and help reduce the risk of scarring.
Applying oil to my face was a total game-changer for me!
My breakouts became virtually non-existent.
Yes yes, I’m now one of those lucky ladies who gets to freak out when she gets one little zit before her period and it feels AWESOME.
Want to know the feeling? This simple face oil for acne and blemish-prone skin can help you get there!
DIY All-Natural Face Oil for Acne-Prone & Oily Skin
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons jojoba oil
- 1 tablespoon tamanu oil
- 6 drops lavender essential oil*
- 6 drops frankincense essential oil*
*This is a 2% essential oil dilution (in other words, the essential oils make up just 2% of the total final mixture)
You’ll also need a 2 oz. glass bottle with glass dropper.
Why these ingredients?
- Jojoba oil: a light oil that is easily absorbed. It mimics the skin’s sebum, tricking it to produce less oil.
- Tamanu oil: has strong anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antibiotic, and antioxidant properties, making it ideal for acne sufferers. It also helps regenerate skin cells, helping to heal broken skin and reduce the appearance of acne scars.
- Lavender essential oil: has powerful antibacterial properties and also helps calm inflamed skin.
- Frankincense essential oil: has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory benefits to the skin, making it ideal for acne-prone skin. It is also a natural toner, decreasing the appearance of pores and evening skin-tone.
Directions
- Add all of the ingredients to the dropper bottle.
- Put the cap on and give it a little shake!
- Apply 4-6 drops to clean, dry skin.
Yes, it’s as simple as that!
Interested in other carrier oil and essential oil options?
Have fun and get creative! You’ll find all of the information you need in these blog posts:
- How to Make A Custom Face Oil Blend
- The Top 10 Essential Oils for Skincare
- The Best Face Oils By Skin Type
Hey
I have this oily skin specially t-zone.i used combination of castor oil n sweet almond oil for cleansing.it dried out my skin and i got worse breakouts.jojoba and other oils you mentioned are not easily available here.can you tell me if i am using the right oils
I have oily skin which is prone to acne, upon researching about oils I’ve read that rosehip oil and grapeseed oil help reduce scars and stuff, so could I substitute them for the lavender and frankincense? Would they work in the same way? Thanks!
Hi Nadia,
How soon does this natural moisturizer start showing its effect?
I have acne prone sensitive and mixed skin type which looks quite red/inflamed most of the times. cheeks are extremely dry and T zone oily.
Ive used it only couple of times till now- no bad affect, but I was hoping it would calm the redness on my face a little bit.
Also I leave it overnight and wash with a facewash(cetaphil) next day morning. is it ok to wash it away with a face wash after leaving it for the night or that will defy the purpose? I use facewash twice a day- morning and night.
Hi Nadia
I made this oil but substituted lavender for rosehipseed (w/vitamin e), I really like it but the scent is a little intense. Can I still add lavender? If so, how many drops do you suggest?
I also made a night oil with the same but use avocado oil in place of jojoba.
Thanks!
Addition to my previous comment: 60ml is 1200 drops of oil based on your saying that 20 drops=1ml so 1200x.03=36. Totally possible I misunderstood. Please respond and correct me if I’m wrong. Don’t mean to be annoying and technical just didn’t know if I could add more EO safely!
Hi! Thanks for this great recipe but I have a technical q. In another post you said 1 drop EO to 1 ml of carrier oil is 5% dilution. This recipe has 4 tbsp which is 60 ml carrier oil. So how is 18 drops of EO a 3% dilution? Wouldnt a 3% dilution be 36 drops of EO? Please correct me if I misunderstood. Thanks for all the useful info!
No, it means the essential oils make up 3% of the final product.
Hi,
What do you mean by “This is a 3% dilution” it means 3% of the oil mixes and 97% water?
Hi Nadia
Thanks so much for your post. I started using the face wash and the oil mix for moisturizing. How long do you think it takes before I start to see results? And is it normal to breakout at first before it gets better? I’ve been breaking out and I don’t know if its because this isn’t working or if it is part of the process
Thank you so much 🙂
This site is so educational! Thank you for doing it!! Do you have any thoughts or experience on tallow? I was looking at this site: http://www.goldclover.co/what-is-tallow/. I have heard testimonials that it is great for your skin, but it sounds a little crazy to put basically beef fat (that is, rendered suet from organic grass fed and finished bovines) on your face! What do you think about it??
Is there a reason you use Jojoba oil over hemp seed oil? I know that Jojoba has a level 2 comedogenic rating, while hemp seed has a 0. I tried the oil cleansing method with coconut oil….WORST decision of my life. My skin broke out miserably yet I could see how beautiful it looked under the acne.
Nadia, I recently became a new follower and became obsessed with your DIY facial oil combo, however, I substitude the tamanu oil for rose hip. I use it at night and I am absolutely in love with it. I’d love to know what you use in the morning for day time wear. Do you have a favorite AM oil combo ?
Lottis, sounds like you could make it yourself!
Can you use this both day and night? I have oily acne prone skin. If not, what do you recommend during the day as a moisturizer?
LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN, I rarely leave comments anywhere, but you literally just saved my skin! I’ve always had an acne problem and when I recently hit my 30’s everything went haywire. This past Monday I was looking at my swollen face from breakouts that appeared that morning and started to become depressed. I was just about to purchase a $400 acne system because I was so desperate for help. My mom recently got into essential oils and since she had a bathroom cabinet full, I figured let me google and see what I can put on my face now until I can purchase the system. In her batch I found tea tree oil and frankincense. (I’m literally shedding tears writing this.) It’s as if the bumps started going away before my eyes. I spent the rest of my evening randomly walking in front of the mirror because I couldn’t believe it. The next day they were GONE!! I am absolutely a believer and am inspired to help others. I’m so excited for the future of my skin. Thank you so so much Nadia for doing the work and sharing. God bless you.
Janice Peel
I’m very interested in knowing what acne treatment that is? I would be so greatful if you could answer here, thanks!
Hi Nadia, I recently stumbled upon your website and love your DIYs with EOs (and have since recommended your site to friends and family!).
I have a questions in regards to the ingredients. If I decide to add a few more EOS to this mixture (Geranium, Ylang Ylang & Carrot Seed Oil), should I maintain 18 drops of EOs in total as per your suggestion and divide it equally between the 5 oils? I know EOs are potent hence I need to be mindful of the ratio.
In terms of usage, if I have a store bought serum that I am currently already using, would it be too much if I layer this over my current serum and follow through with a moisturiser and a sunblock for the day? Even as I type this it seems too much! Pls advise which step I can skip. I live in tropical South East Asia where the weather can get very hot and humid.
Thanks! 🙂
I reckon your DIY formula could work well for people.
I used an over the counter acne treatment with jojoba oil, tea tree oil, lavende roil and manuka oil and it was better than anything the doc prescribed.
Thank God I found your article on the essential facial oils. you stated clearly that coconut oil was not in the list… finally the mystery behind my break out in the past few weeks has been solved. I introduced coconut oil, I know better now to leave it out. Thanks again!
thanks so much for your great info. i dealt with acne in my younger days and then as an adult had a reaction to a fancy french face powder i bought and have had seborrheic dermatitis ever since. unfortunately, it looks just like acne on me and has no cure. after reading your posts on oils, essential oils and this post i finally decided very cautiously to try putting oil on my face. while it’s only been a couple days i’m amazed at how my skin is clearing up already.
i used 2 parts high-linoleic sunflower oil, 1 part jojoba oil, and a few drops of lavender and rosewood which is anti-fungal and anti-aging. i did a honey mask too since that is both antibacterial & antifungal. i think the dermatitis is supposed to be a fungal issue and i have read acne may be as well.
on another site (minimalist beauty blog) i had read all about high-linoleic oils for acne-prone skin and realized those were in the products that have not made me break out. i think this may be a key for choosing the right oils for acne-prone skin. that combined with all your info finally gave me the courage to *gasp* put oil on my face. i used so little the first time it was funny. who would have thought this would help! i am going to go slowly with changes but see if i can get my skin back in shape. thanks. 🙂