I've gotten to the point where xivilai are popping up in oblivion and they are invisible except for a black face. is this normal, they were visible at first now its just a black face walking around.

after taking closer look it's their hair that is visible not faces.

Missing textures. Install any new mods lately? Let's see your load list.

Yes,
sounds like you are missing http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=21104 (if you have COBL).

no mods, now they are becoming visible again it seems for the most part, guess it's fixed itself.