So I made my own cleansing oil... Spoiler alert: I'm in love

I hate the cleanser my derm wants me to use. It comes in a bar, dries out my face, and doesn't rinse well. I spent a lot of time and experimentation "curing" my oily skin before I first saw a derm, and now my acne is significantly better, but I'm back to being a greaseball. I love what OCM does for my skin, but I don't care for the residue left by pure mineral oil.

Solution: cleansing oil
As most of you probably know, oil and water don't mix. If you try to rinse oil off your face, the water just beads up and does absolutely nothing. Unless you add an emulsifier, which allows oil and water to bind, thus causing the oil to actually rinse off cleanly.

Without further ado, here is my "recipe" and my reasoning for each ingredient.

• 100 mL glass bottle: a black glass bottle with a dropper that blocks all visible light. It's also airtight, so it's perfect for storing even the most finicky of oils.
• 87.75% Hemp Seed Oil: I chose hemp seed oil because it has a 0 rating for comedogenicy and because of this post. It reduces redness and irritation and is a good oil for cleansing. Cheap too. Must be kept refridgerated.
• 10% Cromollient SCE: An emulsifier. Other options are polysorbate 80 or 20, but I elected not to use either of those because they can cause flushing in those with very sensitive or flush-prone skin, which I have.
• 2% Green Tea Extract: reduces redness and inflammation, which is a constant battle with my skin.
• 0.25% Rosemary Oleoresin Exctract: antioxidant (preservative). Alternatives include 1% vitamin E, which I didn't use because it breaks me out. Having a preservative extends to shelf life of the mixture and prevents it from spoiling in case water gets in.
• Tea Tree Oil (From Trader Joe's): not added to the mixture itself. I wanted to keep it separate so I'd have the freedom to choose when I use the TTO. I use 2 drops of TTO in 2 "pumps" of the cleansing oil. TTO is antibacterial, so this is the acne-fighting component.

I used this calculator to find out how much of each ingredient to put in the mixture. My Lotioncrafter order luckily came with two pipettes marked from 0 to 3mL in .5mL increments. I have no idea how I would have measured everything out if these hadn't been included. I also got a 1cc scoop and stir rod with the pipettes.

The resulting mixture is green, a little thick, and smells a little nasty (but not nearly as bad as Neem Oil). After adding the TTO, I think it smells quite lovely, then again, I love the smell of TTO. I also like the cooling sensation, especially since my face is flushed so often. It feels really nice and definitely overpowers the smell of the rosemary oleoresin extract and hemp seed oil.

As I was massaging the oil (without TTO) to remove my makeup, I was in denial that it would actually rinse off like a cleaser. There's no way. But then a miracle happened: it rinsed off as cleanly and easily as any soap or cleanser I've ever used. My face was clean and clear from the excess oil from the day and for the first time in a month, my face wasn't tight! I was thrilled and did a second round (with TTO) to make sure there was no more makeup left. After using my clindamycin pad (50% alcohol!) my face wasn't anywhere near as dry as it usually would be. The dryness was comparable to that of the "prescribed" cleanser alone, which is miles better than the dryness I got from the combo of cleanser and the pads.

Sorry for the wall of text! I'm so excited and I hope that this "cures" my oil overproducion again, and helps others who want to use OCM but are hesitant because it doesn't rinse cleanly.