Which oil is best for face massage?

Although I’ve done a video about the subject some time ago (you can find it here), I keep getting asked this question. In this post I'll expand on it one more time.

Having a slippery layer on the skin while doing the massage is a must (this way the skin is protected from stretching and folding), however which oil you use is down to your own preferences.

Actually, you don’t have to use oil at all - you can pick a thick cream, slippery lotion, cleansing oil, special massage cream or any other product instead – as long as it makes your fingers glide on skin surface.

However, before you make a choice let me tell you few words of wisdom from my experience:

Thick creams – I've observed that even thick creams tend to get absorbed quite fast… therefore either the massage has to be done really fast or only one area at the time can be massaged, right where we just applied the cream. In one of my videos I show a gentle massage using the cream so may see better what I mean:

Lotions – unlike the creams, lotions seem to provide a gliding surface for a little longer but then in one instance they just get “sucked up” (at least that was the case with the lotions I used). I personally found it quite annoying… I couldn’t relax and enjoy the massage because I was rushing to finish it before that moment. Also I found that reapplying the lotion onto already absorbed layer create uncomfortable build up. Having said that, if that's not the case with your lotion, feel free to use it :)

Face wash under the shower – it is not prohibited to do the massage under the shower but generally the foam+water gives slightly too much glide under the fingers in my opinion. This causes the fingers to slip off the intended path. Also I don’t know how about you but when I wash my face I have my eyes firmly closed so the products don’t go in there. These two factors make the massage quite imprecise and usually shorter and stronger than recommended.

Instead of a full face massage under shower, I suggest simple adjustments to the way you normally wash it. Whether or not you use fingers, cleansing brush or cleansing pocket (like above), if you always proceed with mindful upward circular moves instead of strokes in random directions, this alone would have anti-aging and anti-gravity effect on your skin.

For my massages I like to use cleansing oil and grape seed oil. This is because massaging in the evenings before washing the face works best for me.

Cleansing oils would be my no 1. if not the fact they are not easy to get in the UK :( I explain little bit more about them in this post).

Therefore grape seed oil is my winner because I found it to be a great alternative to cleansing oils. It’s light, easy to remove with face wash (unlike e.g. olive oil), it’s cheap (my 500ml bottle cost £3.99), it’s easy to buy online or at pretty much any larger department store and health & beauty shop.

Here are other oils I’ve tried:

Olive oil – my first self-massages were done with this oil (it was the only one I had at my home in Australia). Unfortunately I found it to make my eyes itchy, it was hard to completely remove from the skin (often I had to wash my face few times before it was clean) and… it clogged the sinks (it happened in a few different apartments so it’s confirmed the oil was to blame)!

Coconut oil – it was good to use although I found it inconvenient having to wait to dissolve before being able to use it. I like to use the same oil as eye makeup remover and it was challenging to melt it on the cotton pad to effectively cleanse the eyes. (If you don't mind this - go ahead and use it :) )

Sunflower Oil – it's a very thick oil and just like olive oil hard to remove from the skin. I had an impression I had more blackheads after few days of using it. It also felt a bit weird to think I was using the same oil for frying ;)

Baby oil - this one is a big NO NO because it's nothing more than a perfumed mineral oil which is a byproduct of gasoline distillation from crude oil… it seals the skin and disrupts its natural immune barrier – inhibiting its ability to breathe and absorb moisture and nutrition. It's also tricky to remove and contribute to formation of milia (a milium cyst is small, white bump that typically appears on the nose, cheeks or around the eyes).

I used to use Baby Oil as a makeup remover when I was a teenager. In that time I developed 1 milia cyst near my eye which I still have today (the pic above is not of me). Although it is not 100% certain what caused my milia, since I found out mineral oil could be to blame and I stopped using it, I never had any new ones developing.

The above image is from this page.

Jojoba oil – I’ve got nothing bad to say apart from it was more pricy than many other oils. For that reason I prefer grape seed oil as is does the same job but it's much cheaper.

Argan oil, rosehip oil, avocado oil, bio oil etc – they are all good but due to their beneficial properties and the price to volume ratio, I would not want to use them for massage because I’m always washing the face straight after. I would feel like a waste of a good oil for a 3 min use.

Organic or not?

I used to buy organic grape seed oil in the past but then I realised that due to the time it has the contact with my skin during face massage (few minutes only before it gets washed) it’s probably a waste of money. I always wash it off because my skin doesn’t like oils left over night - I get blackheads and pimples. Also because the massage happens before washing the face and the oil gets mixed with the remaining of makeup, it makes sense to wash it straight after.

If your skin handles oils well without side effects and you intend to leave the oil over night, then I believe it makes sense to invest in a good quality organic oil.

One more thing about leaving the oil on after the face massage. When you massage your skin, it’s likely to expel dirt and toxins... I saw this video recently by TheBeautyBreakdown and what caught my attention were dirty cotton pads even though she performed a quick massage on a seemingly clean face…