If you love oil cleansing but hate the messy wash cloth, I have good news… I’ve discovered an ingredient that allows you to rinse oil off your face without having to use a hot towel! There are so many incredible benefits of oil cleansing for every skin type and while the hot towel has several benefits of it’s own, I will admit that I hate the short icky life of my oil cleansing cloths as well as oil going down my sink drain. With this recipe, these issues are remedied. Another perk of this oil cleanser recipe, it couldn’t be easier to make! You can make an oil cleanser that rinses off with just oil and polysorbate 80. In this post I’ll share what polysorbate 80 is and exactly how you can use it to make an DIY oil to milk cleanser in minutes!
What Is An Oil to Milk Cleanser?
An oil to milk cleanser is an oil cleanser that can be rinsed off with water. When water comes in contact with the oil, it turns the oil into a milky, watery substance. Oil to milk cleansers are very gentle and don’t strip the skin of it’s natural oils since they don’t contain soap.
With this DIY Oil to Milk Cleanser we are omitting the hot towel because polysorbate 80 allows the oil to mix with water so that it can be rinsed off. If you don’t use a wet towel to remove oil when using a typical oil cleanser, you’ll never be able to effectively remove the oil.
Nature has limitations when you are looking for certain textures and emulsifying abilities in DIY products. All-natural water based skincare can be very prone to bacteria and mold and a preservative is necessary. There is a way to avoid needing any type of unnatural additive and you can totally make your own skincare using only natural, plant based ingredients and have beautiful skin. However, if you aren’t a purist, playing with a few safe yet unnatural ingredients can really up your DIY skincare game. Like I said, I’m having some fun outside of my typical box.
A Word on The Oil Cleansing Method:
Let’s back up a minute and dig into oil cleansing in case you’re not familiar. You can read my guide on the oil cleansing method to find out all you need to know.
You might know that oil is used to dissolve makeup, dirt and sebum from your skin in a very gentle way. How does this work? Like dissolves Like. Oil has an uncanny ability to remove impurities from the skin and unlike soap, it doesn’t damage your skin mantle, dry out your skin or wreck your pH balance. Using a warm towel to remove it can further act to open and purge pores and is an important part of oil cleansing. Typically after massaging the oil on your skin, you would wet a washcloth with hot water and allow to sit on the skin until it cools and then repeat the hot towel again. The towel can also act as a light exfoliate and after oil cleansing this way, your skin feels completely clean. I love oil cleansing and recommend it to everyone, especially people with oily skin.
Related Post: Cleansing with Oil and 8 DIY Oil Cleansers That Will Transform Your Skin
What is Polysorbate 80?
Polysorbate 80 is a solubilizer which helps oils become evenly suspended in water. It is a thick and oily liquid. Polysorbate 80 is great in products like body sprays and room sprays but it also has cleansing abilities and enhances rinse off which makes it well suited for DIY oil cleansers. You can even add it to DIY bath bombs so that the color and essential oils will mix with bath water rather than pool on the surface of a bath.
In order for it to work as a way to suspend oils in a water based solution, you would use 2-3x more polysorbate 80 than the amount of oil in the recipe. For example, if you were making a body splash and it had 50 drops of essential oil, you would add at least 100 drops (or 1 tsp.) of polysorbate 80. I haven’t tried it in a water based spray with essential oils but I’m anxious to.
Speaking of converting drops to teaspoons, did you know I have a post with a drop converter chart as well as a dilution chart?
I believe it will also be great when making DIY micellar water. My micellar water recipe I published a while ago contains soy lecithin as the solubilizer. This worked surprisingly well but I wanted to see if polysorbate 80 was easier to work with. I added 1/2 tbsp. of oil to 1 tbsp. of polysorbate 80 plus a cup of water and threw in some glycerin and Castile soap. I had to add all the ingredients (minus soap) into a blender and throughly blend because the polysorbate 80 turned into a gel like substance when added to the water. Polysorbate 80 might need to be combined with the oil first. The end result was successful-the liquid was a milky water with zero oil settling. More experimentation is needed in the weeks to come.
In this recipe you will notice that when the oil on your skin meets the water on your hands the oil turns white, like milk. You’ll feel the oil changing form so that it can be cleanly rinsed away. It’s basically magic.
Polysorbate 80 can be found on Amazon in a 6 ounce bottle for around $9.
Benefits of an Oil to Milk Cleanser:
- Won’t clog the drain
- No messy towels
- Protects skin barrier
- Detoxes skin
- Gentle on sensitive skin
- Balances oil production
- Protects skin’s moisture
- Removes makeup thoroughly (even waterproof mascara)
What Skin Types Benefit from Oil to Milk Cleansers?
I don’t recommend this recipe to people with acne prone skin. If you are concerned about breakouts I would stick with the traditional oil cleansing method-don’t skip the hot towel. If you are simply oily or dry and are not prone to skin congestion then this recipe is for you. I’m not saying polysorbate 80 and oil will clog your skin, I have no way to know but I do know that skipping the hot towel tends to leave my skin a little oily. This is beneficial for those of use with dry skin and it’s even beneficial to those with oily skin because it will cause oily skin to stop overproducing oil. I’m guessing that oil left over could cause a breakout if you typically breakout.
Oil to Milk Cleanser Recipe Notes:
This recipe is incredibly simple. All you need is polysorbate 80 which I found on Amazon and a carrier oil. You can add essential oils and extra carrier oils if you’d like or you can make it super simple. The options are limitless. I used hazelnut oil in mine. I like hazelnut because it’s light and absorbs quickly. It also is non comedogenic, meaning it won’t clog pores. I also added a tablespoon of tamanu oil. Tamanu oil for oily skin is amazing. I originally was making this for my acne prone daughter so that’s why choosing tamanu oil made sense and why my cleanser is green. Tea tree and lavender essential oil were also added. I ended up making her a foaming cleanser instead since I am not sure this recipe is the best option for acne.
Basically the proportions of an oil to milk cleanser are roughly 90% oil to 10% polysorbate 80. I used a 4 oz. glass pump bottle and 10% of 4 ounces is 2.43 teaspoons.
What You’ll Need to Make DIY Oil to Milk Cleanser:
Materials
- 2.5 teaspoons Polysorbate 80
- Carrier Oil
Tools
- 4 ounce glass pump bottle
- Small Funnel *optional*
Instructions
- Add Polysorbate 80 to your glass bottle using a small funnel.
- Top off with your carrier oil of choice.
- Replace the pump lid and shake.
Notes
How to Use:
- Pump 1-2 pumps into your hand and massage your skin thoroughly with the oil.
- Wet your hands and gently continue to massage as the oil turns to milk.
- Rinse the oil off with water and pat your face dry.
- Follow up with a toner, serum and moisturizer.
Ingredient Suggestions:
- For added cleansing action you could add a tablespoon of castor oil or hemp seed oil. Both are cleansing oils.
- As I mentioned above, tamanu oil is great for acne prone skin.
- Olive oil, apricot seed oil, sweet almond oil and avocado oil are great for dry skin.
- Sacha Inchi, hazelnut oil, hemp seed, rosehip, squalane, jojoba and grapeseed are all non-comedogenic oils which would be appropriate if you are concerned about breakouts.
This recipe is not for those of you that want to keep your DIY skincare products 100% natural. Polysorbate 80 is not natural. However, it is not considered a harmful ingredient either. It rates a 1-2 on the EWG scale (10 being the worst) and is not known to be harsh on the skin, cause endocrine issues or cancer. Up until recently I have steered clear of any product that was not natural apart from a few anti aging additives and preservatives but lately I’ve been into experimenting and have branched out quite a bit.
SHOP THE POST:
While I love oil cleansers and think using a hot cloth is a super beneficial part of the oil cleansing method, having a simple oil cleanser that rinses off my skin with water has been a nice change. Polysorbate 80 isn’t natural but it’s not known to be harmful and may be a great additive for future oil cleansers and for sure water based products that contain essential oils. I’m thinking of trying a toner that contains some oil for nourishment and using polysorbate 80 to emulsify it! Stay tuned for that if it turns out!
xx, Jenni
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