Olive Oil & VO5 Conditioner

These two items have saved me from scratching myself to death.

As winter set it, my skin and hair were getting dryer and dryer.

It was so bad that the skin on my eyelids was cracking.

It burned, BURNED, when I put on my Olay moisturizer. That never happened before. And it was awful.

I had to do something.

So I polled my friends, "what do you use"

I got answers with the usual plethora of expensive and non-expensive beauty products.

Then I started hearing "Olive Oil"

Really? Olive Oil? Isn't that going to make my face oily & cause major pimples. I'm 41, I don't want to deal with pimples!

So I started doing research. For hundreds and thousands of years people have used Olive Oil internally & externally for health benefits.

"Olive oil is high in antioxidants, including vitamin E. Antioxidants are nutritional powerhouses that protect against age-accelerating free radicals. The oil of this miraculous fruit will guard your body and your skin... from the inside out."

Yeah, I'm still not convinced.

"Do not be afraid of applying oil to your face. Oil, alone, will not bring you blemishes. Pimples, cysts, zits, blackheads, whiteheads...these are a result of several different factors including hormones, bacteria, dead skin cells and the buildup of these factors. Your skin naturally produces oil because it needs it."

Basically, if you keep washing away the natural oils on your face/body/hair, your body is going to produce MORE and that's how you end up with greasy skin, hair, etc.

This convinced me enough to try it at least on my eyelids. They were so irritated I was afraid to put anything else on. So on the morning on Jan 13, 2011 after showering & washing my face with Dove Sensitive Skin soap, I applied Olive Oil to my eyelids.

Then I put Olay all over the rest of my face.

The next morning, my eyelids were almost 100% better.

Hmmm, interesting. It can't be that easy.

So I was brave.. after my shower, I took a cotton ball and applied Olive Oil all over my face and neck. I work from home, I can deal with a zit or two.

In the meantime I'm still reading about the virtues of Olive Oil. I learned it can be used to clean your face.

??? Using oil to wash my face? Nah... I'm going to be a greasy zit face.

Then I thought, what the hell, what does it hurt to try, I've had good results so far!

So a few days later I brought a little Olive Oil into the shower. Rinsed my face & massaged in the Olive Oil. Little circles all over. Probably massaged for a minute. Then I took a nice hot wet wash cloth and wiped it all off. I didn't scrub but I wiped it good, rinsing the wash cloth often.

I've been doing this for a week now. My face looks AMAZING. I can't see my pores, not greasy, no zits and weird things are happening. As I've posted about, I've lost 55lbs in the last 2 years. I had bags under my eyes and a waddle of wrinkles on my neck, just under my chin.

Not anymore.

Seriously, it's gone. I am utterly amazed.

Simple, extra virgin olive oil.

I'm going to keep doing this. I have to go see a dermatologist for an unrelated issue (I'll blog about it someday) so I'm going to keep this up and see what she thinks of my skin.

Now for my hair and the VO5, same thing. My hair was dry & fly away and just would not cooperate. In the past I've done "Conditioning Only" so I decided to do it again, and my hair looks AMAZING. It helps I got hair cut too, but it's no longer dry & straw like.

I did learn one thing though. Make sure you wipe off all the Olive Oil before washing with the conditioner. And when you use the conditioner as shampoo, massage it in just like you would shampoo. You're see an amazing difference!

Now, with all this said I should add in that this is not for everyone. People also use Coconut Oil the same way I use Olive Oil. I am apparently allergic to Coconut Oil, and it didn't work for me.

So before you go spend a ton of money on beauty products that may or may not work, check out your pantry first. There are a lot natural beauty products out there!