For many women of all ages, oily skin is a fact of life. Many products promise to make skin stop producing oil, but this is impossible. Oil production occurs beneath the skin, so there are no topical products that can get down under it and shut down the oil. However, there are things you can do to stop the oil from making your skin look shiny once it gets to the surface.
First of all, the important thing is not to use too much moisturizer. Use the lightest moisturizer that you can, because using something that’s too heavy will only add to the greasy look. If your t-zone (nose, forehead and cheeks) are extremely oily, you may consider not even putting moisturizer on those areas. Try it and see for yourself. If, after washing your face, the oiliest parts still feel comfortable before you moisturize, you might be able to skip them. But if those areas feel like they need a moisturizer, use the lightest one that you can. Since the time of year can affect how much humidity is in the air, you may find that you need a moisturizer in the winter but not the summer.
Make sure to keep some oil blotting papers in your purse, or some other handy place. Use them throughout the day to dab the oil off your face whenever needed. Some brands that make these products include Maybelline and Clean & Clear. These papers are able to absorb the oil off of your skin without disturbing the rest of your makeup, so always do this before you consider adding more powder to your face. After you blot, you may find that you don’t even need to powder. If you don’t have oil blotting papers, or you run out, then paper towels or toilet paper can work in a pinch.
Stay away from toners or astringents containing alcohol. Although alcohol has a drying effect on the skin, it is only temporary, lasting for just a few minutes. It even has the potential to cause irritation to the skin, which may eventually result in an overproduction of oil. What you need to do is absorb the oil on the skin, not dry out the skin itself.
Of all the topical products and “primers” that have promised to make my skin look less oily, none of them have worked. However, there is one product that has worked so well for me, I almost consider it my miracle product. And it isn’t even technically a skin-care item. It’s milk of magnesia.
Hear me out. Yes, milk of magnesia is the stuff that you drink for constipation. It is essentially liquid magnesium, which has incredible oil-absorbing properties. And I put it on my face everyday, with amazing results.
Each morning, after applying sunscreen, I use a cotton ball to dab some milk of magnesia on my nose and cheeks. I wait a minute for it to dry, then apply my makeup over it as usual. The results continue to amaze me. The magnesium absorbs the oil once it reaches my skin’s surface, preventing it from looking overly shiny. I still need to occasionally use oil blotting papers on my skin, but now I only use them once a day. Before I started using milk of magnesia, I was blotting my face almost hourly. Skin that was once like an oil slick now looks nicely matte, but not overly dry.
Does it sound weird to put a constipation product on your skin? Just think about all the other products women put on their skin in various home remedies: eggs, honey, milk, vinegar, crushed up aspirin… Suddenly milk of magnesia doesn’t seem so strange. And it’s hard to argue with the results when I look in the mirror. Maybe it won’t work for everyone, but if you’ve been struggling with oily skin and nothing else has worked, then it’s worth a try.
Some people may find that the product is too thick, and leaves a whitish cast on the skin. If this is the case, add a bit of tap water to the bottle and shake it up. That should thin the consistency enough. I find that my milk of magnesia tends to thicken up over time, so after I’ve been using a bottle for a few weeks, I usually add some water to get it back to the consistency it had when I bought it.
While oily skin can’t be completely stopped, it can be controlled by following the steps above.
