Can You Use a Facial Oil Instead of a Cream or Lotion?
Face oils are having a major moment lately, you may think they are just another trendy skin care product. However, turns out that applying “face oil” is actually an ancient beauty routine that women and men used thousands of years ago to groom in the ancient Egypt, Greek and Roman empires.
There are many options on the market — each with its own blend of oil selections, and it’s pretty tough to find one that absorbs into your skin without greasy feeling. Some feel too heavy, or too heavily scented, as each of these natural ingredients comes with its own herbaceous profile.
The combination of pure plant extracts — jojoba, camellia, rosehip, avocado, rosemary, jasmine, argan, and others, depending on each formulation — are blended to accomplish a sorta-scientific miracle. With oily skin, these natural ingredients can help balancing the skin’s oil production. In dry skin, the soothing plant oils also help to lock-in moisture by forming a protective barrier, while also calm irritation and redness. These traits make face oils great for dry, oily, or combination skin as they balance, detoxify, and calm with just a few drops of these golden liquid.
What's the Difference Between a Face Oil and a Lotion?
Let's take a look at the basic formula of each:
Facial oils are made of simply oils. Creams and lotions are made from oils, water, and ingredients that help oil and water mix. Water content is the key difference. Facial oils contain no water, whereas lotions do. In fact, lotions are usually anywhere from 60% to 90% water. The effects and benefits of each type of product depend on the interaction of oil and water with your skin.
What are the benefits of face oils?
Oil-based products are extremely compatible with human skin, as the skin's outermost layers are also oil-based. Oils (especially organic face oil) are compatible with and extremely nourishing to these layers, helping to replenish and condition them.
The top layers of your skin are vital to your existence. This barrier protects you from the constant suffering of infections, diseases, dehydration, and UV-induced damage. Oil-based products such as facial oils keep the skin's barrier function at its healthiest.
What are the benefits of creams and lotions?
Lotions provide a small amount of oil to help replenish skin's barrier function. However, the main purpose of a lotion is hydration. Lotions are predominantly made from water and water-based ingredients that sink into deeper layers of the skin. Some water-soluble active ingredients enhance the product's benefits. For example, aloe vera and glycerine help to soothe and plump skin.
Water-based ingredients must reach the deeper layers of skin before they become active, which means they have to cross the acid mantle, or barrier. This is why lotions contain less oil than water, and why you should always use a facial oil in your skincare routine.
Can you use a facial oil instead of a cream or lotion?
If your skin is already well hydrated, then you could replace your moisturizer with a facial oil. However, if you have a skin type or concern that would benefit from hydration, then we'd recommend that you integrate both.
To find the perfect facial oil for your skin, check our La Coéss Revitalisé Nutrient Organic Face Oil - a sophisticated blends of 15 organic nutrient-dense, powerful botanicals into a silky-smooth texture, delivers the exceptional power to revitalize, restore, protect and balance skin.
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