Chloe Grace Moretz Washes Her Face with Olive Oil — Should You?

Celebrities have told us lots of crazy things about how they wash their faces — Jennifer Aniston uses a bar of soap, Gwyneth Paltrow used just a splash of water (before Goop Skincare launched, that is), and Naomi Campbell uses baby soap. Now, Chloe Grace Moretz is giving us another product to ponder. “I wash my skin with olive oil — straight-up olive oil,” she told Vogue. “You rub it on your face until it all comes off clear.”

Can olive oil really clean your face? Top NYC dermatologist Dr. Sejal Shah says, sure. “Using oils to cleanse the skin is based on the premise of like dissolves like,” Shah told Yahoo Beauty. “Your makeup or moisturizer may not be oil-based, but remember makeup, dirt, and other impurities mix with the oil on your skin. This mixture is what oil cleansing — whether from your pantry or a store-bought cleansing oil — dissolves, so it can be very effective.”

Is it really as simple as “rubbing it on your face until it all comes off clear?” Dr. Shah says it can be. “The excess oil does not necessarily need to be rinsed off but should be wiped away. Sometimes even with rinsing off you may not feel that the oil has come off completely. This can be great for dry skin as many oils, like olive oil, are very hydrating.” But you can’t just use any old oil sitting in your pantry. “If your skin is oily or acne-prone, be careful with the oils you choose as many — especially food-grade oils — can be comedogenic [pore-blocking],” says Shah. “Of course don’t use processed oils like canola or vegetable.”

It can be hard to put your faith in genetically blessed celebrities with impossibly resilient skin, and hard to believe that so many simple and cheap drugstore methods produce the poreless, airbrushed faces that grace red carpets and magazine covers. But sometimes the best products really are the most affordable ones.