How to Use Calendula Oil in Oil Cleansing Method

Calendula oil can be one step in an oil cleansing routine, but it should not be your only step, and the usual method has two weak points: wet hands in the bottle and hot washcloths. The oil we make is an infused oil with nothing added, which means it contains no emulsifier or surfactant, so it wipes off instead of rinsing off. This page gives a method that works around that, says what the evidence does and does not show about oil cleansing, and names who should stay with a regular cleanser.

Calendula oil bottle

Calendula Oil

Our own small-batch calendula oil, in sizes from 0.5 oz to bulk.

From $13.99

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What is known about oil cleansing, and what is not

We looked for independent studies of the oil cleansing method, including whether oils remove sunscreen and makeup as well as a conventional cleanser, and did not find one. The American Academy of Dermatology's face-washing guidance does not mention oil cleansing; it recommends a gentle, non-abrasive cleanser without alcohol, lukewarm water, fingertips, no scrubbing, patting dry, and washing twice a day and after sweating (AAD, face washing 101). So oil cleansing is a personal-preference practice, not a dermatologist-endorsed one, and nothing here should be read as a claim that it beats a conventional cleanser.

The same applies to calendula. Most calendula trials tested extracts, ointments or creams, usually on wounds or radiation skin, not infused oils used as cleansers, and the EU committee judged most skin studies small and methodologically weak (EMA/HMPC assessment report, 2018). We have no evidence that calendula makes a cleansing oil work better. The honest reason to choose it is that you want to use it, you tolerate it, and you can document what is in the bottle.

Who should skip this

Everyone else should patch test first. Allergic rashes tend to appear hours or days after contact (AAD), and the repeated open application test applies a product twice daily to the inner forearm, for 7 days in the original protocol (Hannuksela and Salo, 1986). Our patch test walkthrough has the steps.

The method

  1. Start with dry hands and a dry face. Dispense the oil onto your dry palm from a pump or by pouring a little out. Do not dip fingers into the bottle with wet hands. Our oil has no preservatives, and the 1995 preservation review states that "the only limit to microbial life is the availability of liquid water" (Brannan, J Soc Cosmet Chem, 1995). FDA also tells users to wash their hands before dipping into containers (FDA, microbiological safety). Whether a few drops of water would matter in one bottle, we have not tested; this is reasoning, and keeping water out costs nothing.
  2. Use the least oil that spreads. No source gives an amount for cleansing, so we will not state one. Massage with fingertips and light pressure. The AAD says scrubbing irritates skin.
  3. Remove the oil. This is where the usual method conflicts with dermatology advice. If an oil cleansing recipe has you press a hot washcloth to the face, note that the AAD page says washcloths and mesh sponges can irritate skin. Our choice is a lukewarm, soft, wrung-out cloth pressed gently, not rubbed, or skip the cloth and move to step 4.
  4. Follow with a gentle water-based cleanser using fingertips and lukewarm water, then pat dry. This is the AAD routine, and it is what actually rinses residue. Conventional soap is alkaline (roughly pH 8.5-11) against skin at about pH 4-6 (Bohbot et al., Healthcare, 2025), so, reasoning from those numbers, a cleanser formulated closer to skin pH is the better pairing.
  5. Moisturize if skin is dry or itchy, as the AAD advises. Stay gentle around the eyes.

Once at night is enough to start with. The AAD's advice is to wash twice a day and after sweating, and a two-step cleanse counts as a wash, so more frequent oil cleansing means more friction on the skin for no documented gain.

What goes wrong

The first thing to check is the smell. Rancid oil has a characteristic odour from the aldehydes that form in later oxidation (Cawood Scientific, 2020). If a bottle smells off, do not put it on your face. Then there is the question of whether a plain oil is even the right product: a cleansing oil sold as such is formulated to emulsify and rinse, and its ingredient list will show that; a plain infused oil is not that, and we do not claim it is.

Breakouts are the usual worry. Comedogenic ratings will not settle it. Numeric scales trace largely to rabbit-ear assays whose author called the model "not an ideal animal model but is the best we have" (Fulton et al., J Am Acad Dermatol, 1984), and a small human study found finished products with comedogenic ingredients are not necessarily comedogenic (Draelos and DiNardo, 2006). So we cannot tell you how an oil will behave on your face. If breakouts increase, stop and ask a dermatologist; our comedogenicity article has the evidence.

If you get redness, itching or burning, stop, call a healthcare provider and report it to FDA (FDA, using cosmetics safely). Residue and feel depend on the carrier oil, which is named on our batch paperwork; email the lot number to [email protected]. We have not tested how our oil performs on makeup or sunscreen, so if you wear water-resistant products and want proof of removal, a labelled cleanser is the safer pick.

Keep the bottle closed, cool and out of light, because light, heat and oxygen all speed oil oxidation (Gharby et al., Food Chem X, 2025), and we do not publish shelf-life test data. Our storage article covers the details.

If you simply want to take off makeup, our makeup remover article covers that use, and the face-routine placement is in our morning and night routine. Our calendula oil is there if you decide to try it, and if your skin objects, a regular cleanser is a perfectly good answer.

Calendula oil bottle

Calendula Oil

Nature's Golden Botanical, bottled: small-batch calendula oil in sizes from 0.5 oz to bulk.

From $13.99

Shop Calendula Oil →

Sources & Further Reading