Why I Created My Own Oil-to-Milk Cleansing Balm
A personal journey towards gentler cleansing and skin comfort
It started with my own skin
For years, cleansing was simply something I did because it was an essential part of skincare.
As a beauty and skin therapist, I had worked with professional skincare products and understood the importance of cleansing properly. But as my own skin became increasingly sensitive and reactive, I began paying much more attention to something very simple.
"How did my skin actually feel after I cleansed it?"
Cleansing shouldn't feel like a battle with your own skin
When skin is sensitive or easily irritated, we often focus on what we apply after cleansing - serums, moisturisers, oils and balms.
But cleansing is where the routine begins.
There was little point in carefully supporting my skin afterwards if the very first step leave it feeling tight and uncomfortable.
So instead of asking "How thoroughly can I cleanse the skin?" I started asking "How can I cleanse effectively while being gentler with the skin?"
Why I chose a balm
I wanted something that felt nourishing when massaged onto dry skin, particularly because my own skin tends towards dryness and sensitivity.
But I didn't want a heavy balm that simply left an oily layer behind. This is why I created an oil-to-milk cleansing balm.
The balm begins as a rich, velvety balm. When a little water is added, it emulsifies into a light milky texture, allowing it to rinse away more easily.
For me this created the balance I had been looking for: the comforting experience of cleansing with oils, but with a cleaner rinse.
The ingredients behind the formulation
Oat Oil & Colloidal Oatmeal
Selected for their skin-conditioning properties. Oat oil contributes nourishing lipids, while colloidal oatmeal is included for its soothing and skin-protective properties.
Jojoba Oil
Technically a liquid wax, jojoba gives the balm a beautiful glide and contributes to the soft, conditioned feeling on the skin
Squalane
Squalane is a stable, lightweight oil that feels soft and silky on the skin. I chose it to give the balm a smooth, cushioned glide and a clean rinse, without a heavy or greasy after feel.
Rice Bran Oil
It's an emollient oil I enjoy formulating with. During my naturopathic studies, I became fascinated by how nutrient-rich rice bran is, and I love the soft, comforting glide it gives the balm.
Sea Buckthorn
Only a small amount is needed, but it gives the balm its naturally warm golden colour. There is no artificial colour added - the golden hue simply comes from the ingredients themselves.
What I deliberately left out matters too
The METTA Skincare range is formulated without added fragrance and without essential oils.
This doesn't mean I believe every essential oil or fragranced product is inherently bad for everybody.
It simply reflects the direction I chose for this particular range.
When I am creating products with sensitive and reactive skin in mind, I prefer to keep the formulation focused on what the product actually needs. If an ingredient is there primarily to make the product smell beautiful, I ask myself: Does the skin need it? For METTA my answer was no.
From the treatment room to the formulation room
CHIVATARA Collection skincare grew from years of working hands-on with people's skin, combined with my own experience of increasingly sensitive skin and my continuing study of botanical ingredients and the human body.
Therapist. Client. Student. Formulator.
Each perspective makes me ask slightly different questions. Not how many trending ingredients can I put into this? But: What am I trying to achieve? Does this ingredient need to be here? How does the product actually feel on the skin? And would I want to use this on my own skin every day?
A little note from me
Sensitive skin is incredibly individual. What feels beautiful on one person's skin may not suit another, so I always believe in listening to your own skin rather than following a routine simply because it works for somebody else.
Listen first. Formulate second.
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