For centuries we have been using oil to moisturize our skin and lately rosehip oil seems to be the thing.
It's always baffled me though because we produce our own oil.
We actually have oil glands that do only that. They're our sebaceous glands.
So why should we rub in more? We don’t swim in water to give our skin a drink after all.
The problem when we use oil on the skin pre-menopause is that it creates what’s known as a negative feedback system within the skin.
Basically it tells the sebaceous glands that they can take an early retirement because we have taken over the job by massaging oil into the skin. So effectively they stop working and forget what to do.
Then one day we change out moisturising medium as we tend to do (as consumerism is our thing) and this one doesn’t have oil. Then…BAM! Our skin is as dry as the desert because not only are the sebaceous glands on a beach in Hawaii but we have taken away the replacement oil too! Everyone's on holiday leaving your skin without a support team to even answer the phones.
I often think, just because humans have been doing something for centuries doesn't it make it right. Solution? Use oil as a booster, like we use a hair treatment. Once a week is ideal.
Your skin needs hydrating, water-based hydration, and it only receives 7% of the water that we drink, can you believe it?
Skin is our largest organ and yet our body rations its water!
Moral of the story? Oil on the skin is a slippery slope to a drought.
Isabella Loneragan