Yes, You Should Be Using Oil All Summer Long
No, we’re not talking about baby oil… we can all agree by now that using baby oil as suntan lotion is a really, really bad idea, right?
When I began working for Elle Landon and Leslie last year, I avoided using her face oil because it was summertime and summer in Ohio can be, well, wet. With temperatures steadily reaching the 90’s and air thick with what feels like a steady mist of cooking spray, my skin usually feels oily enough on its own, and I never imagined it might need any further lubrication. So when Leslie and I were chatting about doing a daily routine post for the blog (stay tuned!) and she told me she uses her face oil successfully all summer long- I was confused. Thus began a day’s worth of internet skincare research that I never thought I needed. I was so pleasantly surprised with the magic that our bodies are capable of that I’d like to share with you my case for wearing face oil- and especially Elle Landon’s brand- even in the sticky summer.
Let’s use the July 4th for this example. Sure, it’s a very fun holiday, but it’s also a very hot holiday. There’s rarely a moment in which you are not outside, likely in the blistering sun, likely holding a beer in your hand. When you are getting ready for a day like this one, you might think, as I often did, that simply using your moisturizer that comes equipped with SPF power is enough to get you through the day successfully. But you might have also noticed, again as I have, that your face inevitably ends up feeling like a butter slick, maybe even to the point that you feel like literal grease is being excreted from your pores. Guys, I really hate to tell you this but… it kind of is.
See, your skin is saying “You’re hot! You’re drinking alcohol! You’re going to dehydrate! Let me go ahead and give you some nourishment.” In comes sweat and something I’d previously never heard of called sebum. Sweat, we all probably know well enough, is watery, full of the things the body wants to excrete, and often visible. Sebum, however, you aren’t meant to notice. It’s mostly made up of fatty acids and triglycerides, so it’s thicker, and coats your pores with its moisturizing power. Since that lotion you used is mostly water-based, it hasn’t penetrated your skin so much as it sits on top of it. In comes this illustrious sweat-sebum duo and that’s where it all goes wrong. The sebum is over-producing because it doesn’t realize you’ve got lotion on and then it mixes with the sweat and unintentionally eliminates your lotion. This not only leaves you with that greasy feeling, but it leaves your skin with no SPF and nothing but its natural moisture-makers as its defenses for the rest of the day.
So what do we do? We counter-intuitively put on our oil before any SPF! The main reason behind this madness is that oils are full of naturally occurring fatty acids, so they penetrate the skin instead of resting on top of it. This penetration means the oil reaches the sebum-producers and signals them to the chill out, they’ve got this. With less sebum being produced, your skin maintains a healthy moisture level and the lotion is not pushed into your sweat and wiped way. Your SPF will last longer, your skin will be preserved, and there will be no lotion and sebum mixing with all of those sweat excrements (…gross).
Need more convincing? We can talk about Elle Landon’s blend specifically. Leslie uses macadamia nut oil which has a naturally occurring balance of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. This balance helps to maintain a healthy level of triglycerides, which means further reducing the body’s need for excess sebum. Elle Landon’s oils also contain pomegranate oil which is not only high in linoleic acid, a fatty acid that is known to balance sebum production, but it’s high in antioxidants which help shield the skin from UV damage.
Here’s to no more oily summer skin! And who knew the answer might be putting on oil? To find out more about the ingredients in Elle Landon oils, check out our product page, and if you have follow up questions, get in touch today!