Latest Hippie Weirdness: Oil Pulling

It's been so long since I wrote a "Latest Hippie Weirdness" post, but never fear, my friends, moving to a Republican stronghold county hasn't driven the hippie weirdness tendencies out of me. ; )

I'll keep this short, because let me just cut to the chase and say: this one was a bust.  For me.  But maybe you would like it?  My friend Sarah sent me a link to this article about oil pulling, knowing that it would be right up my alley:  "No Money for a Dentist?  Try Oil Pulling."   

Did I ask our resident dentist, Grandpa Dave, before diving right in?  Of course not!  That would be too sensible.  Instead, I bought this sesame oil that Georgia is allergic to (an exception to our house rules of not buying or storing anything with her allergens), slapped warning labels all over it, and stuck it in our medicine cabinet for about a month before getting around to my first experiment with oil pulling.


Oh, I also took a bunch of disgustingly close-up "before" pictures of my teeth, thinking that I'd have miraculously cleaner, whiter and different looking "after" pictures to compare them to.  I'll spare you the photographic evidence, but suffice it to say my expectations were way off base.  See, there are many supposed benefits of oil pulling, a technique that has been around for thousands of years and essentially involves swishing oil around in your mouth for about 15 minutes and then spitting it out.  Benefits like removing "toxins" (whatever that means - it's a somewhat nebulous term).  But in my vanity, the one benefit I was most interested in was the cheap and effective teeth whitening.

I thought this would be more of a "once and you're done" thing, but it turns out that practitioners of oil pulling recommend doing it every day, or at a minimum several times a week, to achieve the desired results.  And that's where oil pulling lost me.  I set a timer for 15 minutes and swished away while surfing the Internet, so it wasn't an impossible task.  Yet it felt like a chore.  (It didn't help that all the while I became paranoid about Georgia's allergies and had to be extra careful not to get the oil on anything and to thoroughly clean off my lips and the bathroom sink afterwards.  I have since realized that oil pulling can just as easily be done with coconut oil, a much safer alternative in our household.)

In the end I simply decided that if I can find 15 minutes a day to spend on my own health, well-being, or looks, I'd rather spend it walking or doing other exercise, meditating (something I don't practice but really want to learn this year), or (and I do not mean this facetiously) taking a shower and actually drying my hair.  I have not been consistently kind enough to myself on that front for a couple years.

Perhaps this hippie weirdness better suits your style of relaxation or self-care.  As for me, I'm going back to brushing, flossing, and yes, probably eventually paying for some kind of professional tooth whitening.  Does anyone want a mostly unused bottle of sesame oil? 

Latest Hippie Weirdness: Oil Cleaning Method

Yea! Clap*clap*clap!  It's time for the next installment of hippie weirdness.  You were probably stopping by here in search of cute Christmas photos, and I assure you they are forthcoming, but, WHEW!  Christmas is a lot of fun but a lot of work, and by the way, what was I thinking, planning to "catch up on the blog" in the month of December?  I must've lost my mind, so we'll just consider that an ongoing project.

Anyhoo.......
This is easily my favorite of all the hippie weirdnesses so far.  I switched up the way I wash my face earlier this year, and I've been doing it this "new" way for about nine months or so.  It's a far cry from the heavily Noxema/Oxy/Biore filled days of my teenage years - you know, the days when my skin was probably naturally youthful and beautiful, but I tortured it with all manner of picking, chemicals, soaps and masks in an effort to improve it.



Here's what I do now:  mix equal parts extra virgin olive oil and castor oil, rub about a quarter-sized amount into my face, get a wash cloth steaming hot,  place the hot wash cloth on my face for about one minute, and then when I'm through I just wipe away any excess oil with the cloth.

It may sound weird, because you're probably thinking it will make your skin totally greasy, clog your pores, or just not get you clean.  But I'm telling you, it's awesome, (and you shouldn't write it off just because you have oily skin, either).  The heat makes it feel like a little mini-facial, like you're really pampering yourself.  Plus, it removes makeup really well.

I used to use an Oil of Olay daily moisturizer but haven't been using any moisturizer since switching to this method of face washing because it keeps my skin supple.  (I'm open to suggestions, though, because I could probably use the sun protection, especially in summer.  Of course, these days I rarely seem to make it outside, but that's a subject for a whole different post!)

The only downside of washing my face this way has been that the extra 30 seconds it takes is sometimes more than I have to spare.  (Self care really should be higher on my list, I know, but often times it's not.)  In a pinch you can cheat and do it in the shower, but I really prefer not to - something about lying down with the hot wash cloth on my face feels so luxurious. 

I'm not going to go into the ins and outs of oil cleaning, but if you're curious about why it works, or how to tweak the oil ratios for oily or dry skin, then read this link. 

So, who's gonna give it a shot?  C'mon, it's cheap, easy, and you will not regret it!  Do report back.

Oh, and here's a small dose of Christmas to reward you for making it through this post. : )


{Christmas morning, playing with their new light panel.}


{December 26th: roller skating in the kitchen in new Tinkerbell skates, wearing a new vest and clutching the pink beluga and a green balloon that Santa brought. And don't you DARE tell her it's a dolphin.}