A few years back, while reading a biography of Jeanette MacDonald, I came across a throwaway sentence about how she advertised Lux Soap even though she only used olive oil to clean her face.  Knowing how good she looked, and for so long, I googled this trick to see how it was done and got NO hits back whatsoever.  Now by accident I find that it's coming back into fashion and there are now LOTS of how-to pages with excellent directions, so I'm going to try it for a few weeks and see how it works.

Here's the cliff notes version of the instructions in case you're interested.  Get Extra Virgin Olive Oil and unprocessed Castor Oil.  And here I must warn you where it is so you don't get embarrassed like I did.  Yesterday when I went to Walgreens to buy it, I couldn't find it in the health and vitamins section where I figured it would be tucked in with rosewater and mineral oil.  I asked a worker to help me find it and she couldn't remember where it was either or what it was for.  I told her it was for my face.  Eventually we went to the pharmacist to ask where it might be, and she looked past the worker at me.  "It's a laxative.  You'll find it in the laxative section."  The worker gave me a look that said, "so it's for your face, huh?"  Gads.  The things we do for beauty.

So anyway, take a half and half mixture of the two, just enough to fit in the hollow of your hand, and massage it all over your face and neck, over any makeup, dirt, whatever.  Masssage, massage, massage.  The oil will break up everything it comes across, especially more oil.  When you've covered everything, take a washcloth and wring it out in steaming hot water, then drape it onto your face so it steams all the pores open.  When it starts to cool down, use it to wipe off all the oil.  Wring it out and do it two or three times if you need to, just wipe off all the oil.

And that's it.


Any takers?  I'd like to see how this works on you too.  Try it and post it here.  The extra virgin olive oil you probably already have in your cabinet, and a small bottle of castor oil only cost me three dollars.

I started last night and had pretty good results.  Oddly enough my face felt a little dry after washing.  I'll post again after a couple of days and tell you how it goes.