I’m always intrigued by natural ways to care for my skin. I’d heard some buzz about oil cleansing on a couple of the blogs that I follow, but I admit I didn’t know much about it until recently. I was curious about the idea behind oil cleansing – that using oil to clean your face dissolves dirt, sweat, oxidized sebum, makeup, and sunscreen without stripping away the natural oil balance of your skin. By maintaining this natural balance, your skin isn’t forced to produce more oil to compensate and so you stop the vicious cycle of oil overproduction. I was still nervous about putting oil on my face though. I have combination skin, and even at my age I still get breakouts, tied to my cycles. The idea of putting more oil on my already oily skin seemed backwards.
But I decided to give it a try when I discovered Board and Batten, a line of hand-blended natural skin products created by hand at their plantation style farmstead in Lake County, Florida. Board and Batten is dedicated to creating the most beneficial “farm to skin” products. They carefully blend natural, soothing ingredients like hydrating oils, softening butters, organic plant extracts, and essential oils to moisturize your skin without harmful chemicals, alcohol, or overpowering fragrances.
Board and Batten Take It Easy Essentials Set
I received the Take It Easy Essentials Set for review. My set included two ounce containers of Cleansing and Conditioning Balm, Calming Lift with Hyaluronic Acid, Glowing Solution, and Begin Again Micro Facial Buff and Masque in a little zippered travel pouch. The set included an organic facial shammy too.
Board and Batten’s best-selling Cleansing and Conditioning Balm is formulated from a combination of rich plant oils and extracts that cleanse your skin without stripping its natural oils.
Ingredients: organic coconut oil, shea butter, organic jojoba oil, chia seed extract, organic soy oil, organic extra virgin carrot oil, olive squalane, orange peel wax, organic beeswax, oat extract, vitamin E.
Calming Lift with Hyaluronic Acid is a multipurpose spray that calms and hydrates your skin instantly. Just spray on whenever your skin needs refreshment. The hyaluronic acid holds moisture on the surface of your skin, helping your skin stay hydrated throughout the day and relieving skin inflamed due to heat, exercise, or hormonal changes.
Ingredients: organic aloe leaf juice, rose distillate, witch hazel, glycerin, silk peptides, hyaluronic acid, sorbic acid.
Glowing Solution is a concentrated blend of moisturizing oils and extracts that saturates your skin with antioxidants, good for use on face, arms, and legs.
Ingredients: organic meadowfoam oil, jojoba oil, carrot seed oil, chia seed oil extract, evening primrose extract, ascorbyl palmitate (vitamin C palmitate), vitamin E.
Begin Again Micro Facial Buff and Masque offers anti-aging and moisturizing properties. This micro buff and masque is fragrance free and gentle enough for daily use. It can be used two ways: either mixed with water to form a foaming paste for everyday buffing and cleansing, or mixed with honey to create a soothing mask.
Ingredients: organic corn starch, organic quinoa flour, organic oat flour, honey, sodium cocoyl isethionate, organic pineapple fruit extract, organic apple fruit extract.
I also received a travel size Bamboo Charcoal Skin Tonic to try. This skin tonic is said to detoxify your skin with activated charcoal while you shave.
Ingredients: lavender distillate, sodium methyl cocoyl taurate, decyl polyglucoside, cocamidopropyl betaine, di-PPG-2 myreth-10 adipate, organic cane sugar, organic citrus sinensis (orange) peel, organic citrus limon (lemon) peel, organic maple sugar, organic vaccinium myrtillus (bilberry) fruit, organic vaccinium macrocarpon (cranberry) fruit, organic fragrance, sorbic acid, bamboo charcoal.
I used a small amount of the Cleansing and Conditioning Balm on my face every night. You can see in the pic above that it’s a solid at room temperature. After rubbing it into my skin (and even on my eyelids) for a minute or so, I used the warm, damp facial whammy to gently wipe the oil off. It cleaned my skin thoroughly and had no trouble removing my makeup too.
As I mentioned earlier, I have an oily T-zone, and typically by dinnertime my face used to feel like an oil slick. After using the Cleansing Balm every night for four weeks, I noticed that my skin was much less oily as the day progressed. Success! My skin felt soft and hydrated after cleansing, even without using an additional moisturizer. I didn’t notice any improvement in my blemishes, but I didn’t notice any worsening either, so my fear of putting oil on my skin turned out to be unfounded. I did find that I needed to clean my sink more frequently though, as the oil left a ring around the sink.
My morning routine consisted of the Begin Again Micro Facial Buff, a spritz of Calming Lift, then Glowing Solution. I liked how the Micro Facial Buff left my skin fresh and smooth and didn’t cause any irritation. The Calming Lift tingled a bit on my skin and felt refreshing just as advertised. I found the Glowing Solution oil very moisturizing; it took a couple of minutes to soak in before I put on my makeup.
The Bamboo Charcoal Skin Tonic is a grey gel (you can actually see the activated charcoal in it). It doesn’t foam up like a commercial shaving gel, but it worked well to help my razor slide smoothly across my skin. I didn’t get any nicks or cuts, and I really liked the subtle lavender scent. I can’t speak to any detoxification though. I’m not sure what I would look for.
I made a natural mask with one teaspoon each of buckwheat honey and Begin Again Masque powder a couple of times. I loved it! I could feel it tingling and working away while the mask sat on my skin. My skin felt so fresh and noticeably softer after using it (and it even tasted good too!). This mask and the Cleansing and Conditioning Balm are my favourites from the products I tried.
When I first received these products, I wasn’t quite sure how to use them together. I reached out to Patricia at Board and Batten who was very helpful and recommended the skincare routine I described above, but I do wish the instructions that came with the set had been a little more detailed. I’d also like to see a complete list of all the ingredients included with each product or on the website for consumers to inspect, and in case of allergies as well.
Connect
Get connected with Board and Batten on Facebook and Twitter.
Shop
Browse the Board and Batten shop. The Take It Easy Essentials Set I reviewed retails for $93.00.
Want to Win?
Come back on Thursday when you could win a full-size jar of Cleansing and Conditioning Balm (ARV $60) to try oil cleansing for yourself. Sign up for my emails to make sure you don’t miss this giveaway or any of my other posts.
Disclosure: I received sample items for review. All opinions expressed are completely honest and my own, based on my personal experience. Your experience may differ.
The Take it Easy Essentials Kit
Begin Again Micro Facial Buff and Masque looks cool! I would love to try it!!
I’d like to try the Cover Me, Honey lotion! 🙂
I would love to try the Foaming Dog Shampoo and the Lavender and Bamboo Dry Dog for my doggy!
I’d like to try the Kindhearted Cleanse. 🙂
I’d like to try the Pure and Natural Herbal Facial Cleanser.
I’d love to try their Chamomile and Lavender Bath Salts
They have a lot of great products there. I would love to try the Organic Lavender and Bamboo Dry Dog Shampoo , my dog has sensitive skin maybe this would clean him without the irritation.
I would like to try the seeds of youth serum. I like that they have their own farm with bees grove and orange grove.
I’d like to try the Bamboo Charcoal Skin Tonic
I want to try the Honey Butter Bee, my skin is dry and this might help it out.
I would love to try the kindhearted cleanser!
I’d like to try the seeds of youth serum 🙂
Calming Lift!
I would like to try the Pure and Natural Herbal Facial Cleanser.
I would like to try the Pure and Natural Herbal Facial Cleanser
I would like to try the Bamboo Charcoal Soap.Doesn’t that sound interesting?i love to try different handmade soaps.
I would like to try the Organic Lavender and Bamboo Dry Dog Shampoo .
The Take It Easy Essentials Set sounds fantastic. I would love to try it. I also found the Organic Lavender and Bamboo Dry Dog Shampoo for my dog Toto that I would also like to try. She is spoiled and sleeps in our bed so we bath her frequently and winter months it isn’t so nice because it is cold and I don’t want her to get sick from being wet. She hates the blow dryer. This might solve our problem of keeping her clean with natural safe products without scaring her with the blow dryer.
I would like to try the Organic Lavender and Bamboo dry dog shampoo.
I’d love to try the sun care butter bee
I would like to try the Organic Foaming Soap.
This brand sounds sooo wonderful! I’d love to try the Begin Again Micro Facial Buff and Masque!
I would love to try the herbal facial cleanser!
I would love to try the Organic Lavender and Bamboo Dry Dog Shampoo 6 ounces
I would love to try the Take It Easy Essentials Set
I would love to try the Glowing Solution.
I would like to try the Sugar Scrub Skin Polish.
I’d love to try the Pure and Natural Herbal Facial Cleanser. I have such a hard time finding things gentle yet effective enough for my skin.
My wife would like to try the Herbal Facial Cleanser.