Chantelle FarrellApplying some body oil in the shower is a great way to moisturize and tone your skin. Yet to reap the most benefits you need to be mindful about how you apply body oil in the shower.
Find out how much, when, and the appropriate method of applying body oil after a shower.
Why Use Body Oil After a Shower?
There are several reasons why you should apply body oil after a shower.
1. Seal in Moisture Post Shower
Showering exposes your skin to water, the chemicals in the water, and also the chemicals in your soap. As a result, your skin will dry out as these chemicals dissolve the natural oils in your skin.
Applying body oil to your skin after a shower will lock some of the natural oils back into your skin. By preventing more moisture loss from your skin with body oils, you ensure your skin doesn’t continue drying out.
2. Antioxidants Help Rejuvenate Skin
Since your skin is dried out in the shower, it becomes necessary to replace the lost moisture and prevent further moisture loss through your skin or skin cell damage will follow. While your skin may be wet from the shower, it doesn’t mean your skin is hydrated at all.
By applying a moisturizing lotion or body oil, you can ensure your skin cells are nourished, moisturized, and retain their fullness. This prevents wrinkles and signs of age-related skin decline such as sunspots and dryness.
3. Body Oil Restores Natural Skin Barrier
When your skin is dried out, it leads to damage of the skin cells, which can open the door to infections and bacteria entering the body.
By applying a body oil after your shower, you ensure your skin is sealed and can effectively repel any bacterial infections.
4. Apply Body Oil and Essential Oil for Increased Benefit
While you may have been patiently rubbing in lotion, body oil is much more effective in absorbing. This means you can use body oil as a carrier for other essential oils such as lavender oil, which allows you to change your morning routine into a relaxing and rejuvenating time.
When To Use Body Oil
While you can apply body oil before a shower as a means to prevent moisture loss during the shower, the most used method of applying body oil is to do so after your shower. A neat trick is to apply body oil to your still-wet skin as soon as you have finished showering.
When your skin is wet and still hot from the shower, it will absorb the body oil much quicker, and you won’t have greasy skin to deal with. Once you have applied the body oil, gently rub it into your wet skin, then simply dab at your body with a towel to dry off any remaining water.
You can apply body oil after a shower as needed. Once to twice a week should be sufficient to lock in moisture and ensure you have hydrated skin. If you suffer from dry skin or eczema, you may want to apply body oil more frequently, even as much as after every shower.
Body oil is typically applied as a treatment on its own, but you can finish off your beauty routine by applying a body lotion before your body oil. Applying a body oil before the lotion would prevent absorption of the lotion into your skin and cause greasiness.
How to Apply Body Oil After a Shower: Step-By-Step Guide
Applying body oil in the shower can be somewhat tricky. Use these expert steps to safely apply your body oil and get the most out of your beauty routine.
Step 1. Shower in Lukewarm Water
While you may like a steaming hot shower, your skin doesn’t. When your skin is hot, it will lose more moisture, so choose a lukewarm setting. Rinse your skin well after soaping, and close the taps.
Step 2. Measure Out Your Body Oil
Next, measure the amount of body oil you need per area of your body you are treating. Use a small amount at a time to prevent spillage.
A pump action bottle for your body oil works well as this eliminates the risk of dispensing too much body oil in one application.
Step 3. Application of Body Oil in the Shower
Simply drip the body oil onto the palm of your hand, rub your palms together, and then massage the body oil into your wet skin. Repeat this until all the different parts of your body are treated.
Do not apply body oil to the bottoms of your feet as this can lead to slipping in the shower or on the bathroom tiles.
Step 4. Towel Buff Your Body
Lastly, use your towel to gently dab at or pat your body to remove any excess water from the shower. Avoid vigorous rubbing with your towel. If you are using a heated towel, you can also wrap the towel around your body and allow the heat to absorb the excess water.
While you can apply body oil to dry skin, this will result in an oily residue on the skin surface. To remove this residue, you may need to wrap yourself in a damp or heated towel, using the heat and water to absorb the excess oil and open your skin pores so the oil can absorb better.
Can I Use Body Oil on My Face?
Some brands of body oil are specially designed to be used on your face, but for the most part, the answer is NO. You don’t use body oil on your face.
The skin of your face is too delicate to absorb the larger or fatty molecules of body oil. This will result in an oily residue on your skin if you apply it to your face.
You can apply a small amount of body oil to your ear lobes, neck, and lips, but be sure to gently massage the oil until it is fully absorbed, then pat with a towel to encourage full absorption.
Can You Mix Body Oil With Other Shower Products?
Depending on your skin type, you may find body oil to be too greasy for your skin. In this case, mix a few drops of body oil with your favorite body lotion and apply this to slightly damp skin.
The body lotion will help the body oil penetrate more deeply into the skin layers, hydrating and nourishing the skin for a fuller and plumper look.
Likewise, you can also add a few drops of body oil or essential oils to an unscented shower gel before you shower.
Be sure that your shower gel is unscented and paraben-free as this will ensure you don’t have nasty results of the shower gel not mixing well with the oil.
Can You Apply Body Oil Before or While in Shower?
You can certainly apply body oil in the shower, but be sure not to oil your feet or apply too much oil, which can lead to spillage and slippage.
Using a small bottle of body oil in the shower is best, and a pump action or squeeze bottle is safest to prevent accidentally spilling half the bottle and then turning your shower into a slip-n-slide.
While in the shower, you can choose to apply the body oil as a mix with your other shower products while showering, or you can wait until you have finished showering and then apply the body oil to your damp skin. Simply rub in and glow!
