Yes, I Wash My Face with Oil

We are in an area known as the "Valley".  Okay, it's not The Valley (which I had to ask a local Mom what that really meant and she clarified for me that it meant the San Fernando Valley) but it's another Valley.  I swear, there are so many valleys here and none of them seem to be a true valley of below sea level.  But maybe I'm just missing something.  Anyway, Satellite Village is in a valley but also in a rocky and dry mountainous area (see - it's not a real valley!) where it's almost desert like in the heat and lack of moisture.  My first summer here I remember driving along the 101 Freeway and on my right was a raging wildfire.  I flipped out and had to call the Big Man at work to tell him about the fire that was literally 10 feet away from us zipping by at 65 mph.  Turned out I was lucky because 10-15 minutes later they shut down that stretch of the 101 to fight the blaze.  So in a nutshell it's dry here, mountainous, and the temperature can swing between 80 to 40 degrees in a 24 hour period.  Though we don't get snow or torrential downpours, I do miss the humidity that comes with those weather patterns.  As a result my skin has gotten extremely rough and dry and scaly and just plain nasty.  I don't know how the other women deal with the dryness, but I'm dying from the dearth of humidity.

I've tried all sorts of lotions and serums for my face.  Bliss socks and gloves for my hands and feet, which only work if you never have to take them off.  I tried non soap cleansers for my face, shea butter soaps, baby oils and creams, basically anything that will help alleviate the dryness.  I'm normally not a beauty junkie, but I did start to notice fine lines in my face where it's really dry.  And that scared the crap out of me.  I don't want to start getting brown and wrinkly and turn into a middle aged Magda.  So I resorted to the one product I tried a long time ago in NY and discovered was too rich for my skin, Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil.  I have to say that it's kind of expensive, but a little does go a long way.  I think this bottle will last me at least 6+ months.

Granted my face doesn't feel as dry and tight after using it, but at least when I slather some heavy duty cream on it won't dissipate in a few hours.  It's truly sad that my life has been reduced to searching for heavy oily facial products because of the weather and (gasp!) also because I'm old!  I have to actually do the math to figure out how old I am now.  I think after 30 it was all the same to me, middle aged.  

Anyway, this is basically my exciting news for the week.  I use oil to wash my face, and it works.  I still have to find something for my hands and feet, but at least the skin on my face won't crack when I smile now.