Use Olive Oil For Dressing - Yourself (Olive Oil in general)

Member Name: flutel

Product:	Olive Oil in general
Date:	05/06/09 (49 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheaper than creams. Lovely stuff

Disadvantages: You are briefly oily - so you must factor a 'soaking in' time

The olive branch - the symbol of peace - is one that I appreciate.


I associate olive oil with the many holidays I have had in the past on Greek islands; driving in a bus past huge olive groves baking in the meditteranean sun, walking past them on pot-holed lanes in the morning on the way to the bakery, searching in the little supermakets for tins of the stuff to cook with on the dodgy self-catering two ringed electic stove. Olive oil has pleasing associations.


This consumption of fine olive oil on holiday has given me a taste for the (organic) extra virgin type which I buy from Tesco (£3.45 at the last shop) and use for the majority of my cooking.

Other oilive oil usage
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I have read on previous reviews how olive oil can be used for dry hair and I plan to have a go at that - and how it can be used to take make up off (I do that). However, I go one further than that and I use it as a body moisturiser.



Many cosmetics and creams have got ingredients in them that consumers are probably better off not knowing eg - collagen is a slaughterhouse by-product. Also, when I gave birth to my daughter, I was informed that my placenta was being taken off to 'Oil of Ulay/Olay' to become part of their creams. It quite cheered me in a strange post-natal way that someone somewhere would be eventually wearing my placenta - well, waste not want not and it's arguably preferable to abbatoir left-overs. I digress. The point is, why put something horrible on your face and body when you can use premium natural olive oil?



I decant some of the oil from the bottle into a container a bit like a travel bottle you can buy from high street chemists and take it to the bathroom. After a bath or shower, whilst I am still slightly damp, I rub it in. This usually involves having an attractive bath hat on to keep the oil off my hair and then I usually put my pjs back on a further 10 mins whilst the oil sinks in. After this - all oilyness has disappeared and I can get dressed for work.


The benefits of this - is not only that you are putting very natural, premium ingredients onto your skin - but you are also putting a good quantity of Vitamin E on too. You can see Vit E being used as a selling point for many creams -and indeed, the Body Shop sells pure Vit E oil in a tiny bottle as a skin tonic. ( Vitamin E helps to 'sweep up' the cancer-causing free radicals that we get from the environment and our own digestion). I think it is quite a good idea to cut out the middle man and get a decent healthy dose of Vitamin E from a source that is much less expensive .



Also, your skin is the biggest organ of your body - we cannot kid ourselves that the stuff we rub in does not get absorbed into our underlying tissues.



How many years have I done this and what is my skin like?
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Good question - because if I had done all this and my skin was pants it would be meaningless. I have been rubbing olive oil in daily for around 5 years now. I actually like how shiny I look afterwards (a bit like a greek athlete I fancy) but that vey quickly disappears and my skin is soft. I have quite dry skin. I usually mix some olive oil with a vegan moisuriser for my face and I feel that my face is left with a deep moisturising and a barrier over the top which helps prevent it drying out (central heating, wind, sun)


If you want to give it a go -I wouldn't annoint yourself with any old olive oil though. Pick some of the good stuff and make sure it is organic; I don't think rubbing pesticide residue onto yourself is a good idea.

Summary: Don't limit Extra Virgin Olive Oil to the kitchen!