I Traded Face Moisturizer For Essential Oils And It Was A Game Changer

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Several years ago, when everyone in the world of skincare started suggesting that we put oils on our faces in lieu of lotions, I threw my arms up in protest. Did we not just spend the entirety of our adolescent years trying to get all of that breakout-causing grease off our faces?

I’m a woman with a truly eclectic heritage that has huge implications for my skincare routine. My Puerto Rican-Italian mother gave me my large pores and soft olive skin with decent tanning abilities. My Scotch-Irish father gave me my skin’s random sensitivity to seasons, allergens, the sun and basically everything. To say that I have combination skin is the understatement of the year, and it’s a perpetual challenge of mine to balance the moisture of my skin without creating other problems.

At this point in life, there’s really only one source of information I trust for skincare tips: my father, the man who has experienced everything from acne to eczema to rosacea. So when he told me to ditch face moisturizer for essential oils, I stopped and listened.

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He recently made the essential oil shift himself and saw immediate changes in the natural composition of his skin, using pure, natural argan oil for daily moisturizing and post-cleansing and rosehip oil for rosacea flares. Argan oil specifically peaked my interest for my skin’s typical yet erratic behavior, so I committed to giving it a try.

Argan oil is one of the least comedogenic oils out there (it literally ranks 0 on the scale), meaning it won’t clog your pores at all. In fact, it’s able to closely mimic your skin’s natural oils, which is why it absorbs so well and doesn’t leave behind that detested greasy sheen. Many skin-drying (read: acne treatment) products lead to worse oil-production problems because your skin overproduces it to compensate for what was lost. Argan oil, instead, strikes a balance instantly. Bonus: it’s loaded with anti-aging antioxidants and vitamin E.

After just one use…

I noticed a difference. My skin wasn’t oily to the touch, but it held that moisturized glow I can typically only achieve after using a hydrating face mask. I also loved how I only needed to use 3-5 drops for my entire face — talk about stretching the life of your skincare products.

After a few days…

Blemishes began to disappear and any skin irritation or redness reduced significantly. Even the texture of my makeup looked better.

After one week…

I was hooked. My skin didn’t just look healthy — it felt healthy. For the first time, I experienced what properly moisturized skin felt like and how much it impacted the rest of my skincare routine. Since making this switch, I’ve gradually swapped out my cleansers and scrubs for all natural options and ditched any extra products that had ingredients I couldn’t pronounce or recognize on their labels.

Over the course of a couple months…

I’ve found that argan oil is also an amazing assistant in treating mild sunburn (I find peeling disgusting) and growing long, healthy nails (since you apply it to your face with your hands, it naturally soaks into the tips of your fingers twice a day). And because I attend a lot of fitness classes where forearm planks are involved, I even use argan oil on my elbows to help reduce redness post workout.

My friends joke that I’m now on a mission to convert everyone I know into an argan oil advocate as well, and honestly, I pretty much am. This stuff has been nothing short of a game-changer for me, and the world must know.

P.S. It also doesn’t have to break the bank. I buy mine in a 4-ounce bottle (that’s a lot of oil) online from an essential oils company for less than $15 rather than going for a big beauty brand name. Boom.