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
Hello Nadia! I used olive oil to massage my face and I only did it foe about two nights and my face broke it so BAD! I t was the worst break out in my life since it was over my whole face. I want ted to know if you have had any experience with olive oil and how it go for you since you have oily skin too.
I guess I am just not using the right oils for my oily skin, but I really want to use oils because they have such great benefits for the skin. It’s been a month now and my breakouts are clearing up BUT now I am afraid to try oils. I have used jojoba in the past I used the dessert essence one, and it’s just not too great All the oils I’ve tried so far did not work out for me. I have used jojoba, olive, coconut, rose hip, hemp seed, and finally grape seed. but i am so glad I have found your site so I can learn more about natural care.
Hi Bianca! 1) YAY! and 2) Great question – check out this great post from Holistic Squid on the topic http://holisticsquid.com/4-cheap-and-easy-ways-to-protect-against-swimming-pool-chemicals/
Hi Nadia. I have been using your blend and it has been working for me so far! I was wondering if you hand any tips to help protect my skin from the chlorine. I have cystic acne and have been suffering from it for about 8 years. I am a lifeguard at my local public pool so I’m in the chlorine a lot and I find that whenever I come out of the water I I break out more. Any tips for protecting my skin from the chlorine?
Thank you so much Nadia for the help……………appreciate it.
Here are some of my favorites: https://bodyunburdened.com/essential-oils-for-skincare/
Hi Nadia, would like to know a combination of EOs for oily skin [T area mostly] for men whose skin tends to be dark after an hour or so. Thanks
And thank YOU! Not only for answering and all the info, but for opening a door to a healthier, planet friendly, etc, life for me and my family! We just started, but we are not going back!
I read some trying to figure it out.. The two things could be too much for my skin plus if the sun hits you: disaster! I haven’t been using SPF since I can’t find something yet that fits my all natural life now
Ohhhh thanks for letting me know! I’m so glad you were able to find the culprit. (I wonder if it was the lemon or the baking soda now… hmmmmm.)
Thank you Nadia!
I think it was the baking soda exfoliant!
It’s all better now. Not red, but still with tiny little bumps.
I am doing the wash, toner (alcohol free which hazel) and the oil mix.
For now don’t want to do baking soda but will keep my honey mask once a week.
As for the OCM, I find it to “risky” and there is a lot to read about that method..
I really think I did break my face skin barrier with the lemon and baking soda.
I do want to give more time to the wash, I love it, but already thought of washing with honey if it doesn’t work..
Thank you so much! I panic! I understand now that it takes some trial and error!
Oh no, that’s not fun! Do you think it may be hormonal or linked to your diet? I only ask since you said it was after 3 weeks.
Perhaps the castile soap in the wash is too drying for your skin. Maybe find an alternate (or you could try the oil cleansing method or just washing with honey like my girl Lauren over at Empowered Sustenance) and see if that helps…?
We all have different skin so what works for some will not work for others. It can be a game of trial and error when finding the best skincare products for you but you’ll get there!!
just kidding, just saw the answer to my questions
Might be a dumb question, but am new to oils, do you wash this off or keep it on like a moisturizer?
Hi Nadia, I have been using your mix with a little twist: 3/4 jojoba, 1/4 of half tamanu half rosehip , 6 drops of frankincense, 6 drops of lavander, 6 drops of geranium.
Plus all the routine: your wash 2 times a day, your exfoliating baking sofa mix once a week, your honey mask once a week, and the oil mix twice a day. Plus a little tea tree with aloe for break outs.
The first two weeks was amazing and a huge change for my skin! Everything was going more than good! Pores were small, had a glow, super clean, the skin was tone, very little blemishes (that’s were I put tea tree) And this 3rd week I broke out all over my face and have a light redness all over , also some dry patches.
Do you have an idea of what went wrong?
Not even the honey mask or the aloe Vera with tea tree or by itself is fixing it.
I did notice that the wash was leaving my face a little dry but was using more amount of the oil mix..
My skin in a combination, Prone to blemish, and all my life had tried products for acne and everything made my sking dry and I ended up with more blemishes..
If you have a chance please send me your thoughts.
Thank you so much!
Pilar
Great to know. Thank you! 🙂
YAYYYY!! That makes me so happy to hear! As long as you don’t get it in your eyes, yep!
Hi, thank you so much for this information. I have been using your recipe the last few days and my skin and acne is so much better. Quick question though, is this mixture ok to use as an eye moisturizer too? If not, do you have anything that you recommend. Thanks in advance!
Yes, exactly! I use it as a moisturizer.
I’m so excited to try this! Can I use this blend at night instead and just use my normal moisturizer during the day?
Thanks!
Thank you! I appreciate it!