How To Know Your Skin Type + Helpful Skin Care Tips
Understanding your skin type is crucial for developing a proper skin care routine. But, mistaking one skin type for another happens more often than you’d think. The problem is – we barely ever get a clear picture. There are a lot of variations and any skin type can have one or two symptoms of another.
However, if you look at it closely, there are tell-tale signs of each skin type that can help you recognize it and better understand it. Here are the symptoms of all major skin types and how to treat each of them:
Determine Dry Skin Type
Dry skin type means that the sebaceous glands in your skin don’t produce enough sebum. Sebum is important because it creates a protective barrier on the skin’s surface. Dry skin’s barrier is insufficient to properly protect the skin, and the skin easily loses moisture. It is also more exposed to the elements, so it gets easily damaged.
Because of all this, dry skin is often dehydrated, tight, and rough to the touch. Dry skin also ages faster than any other skin type, and you can easily spot premature wrinkles and fine lines. On the positive side, the pores are small and barely visible.
How to treat dry skin type:
Since the compromised skin barrier is the biggest problem with dry skin, try using greasier, heavier moisturizers and natural oils. This will help replenish the skin, prevent the loss of moisture, soften the rough patches, and prevent the formation of premature aging signs.
Also, it is a common misconception that dry skin doesn’t need exfoliation. A good, quality scrub can help you remove those dry skin cells and encourage your skin to renew itself. Just make sure that your scrub is gentle and non-irritating because too harsh products could damage the skin that is already sensitive and irritated.
Determine Oily Skin Type
If your skin type is oily, that means that your skin produces more sebum than necessary. That excess sebum mixes with dirt and bacteria, creating a perfect environment for acne and blackheads to develop.
Oily skin is characterized by large, obvious pores and a shiny, greasy appearance, somewhat reminding on the orange peel texture. The pores easily get clogged with excess sebum, and blackheads and whiteheads easily appear. Oily skin can also be very dehydrated and it can get a yellowish tone.
How to treat oily skin type:
With oily skin, it is very important to remove excess oil, but also not to overdo it and dry out the skin. Your skin needs regular, not harsh cleansing.
Also, don’t forget to replenish your skin. Many girls with oily skin type don’t use face creams, but that can do more damage than good. Your skin still needs hydration. Just choose a lightweight, non-comedogenic facial moisturizer. Not only it won’t make your skin any greasier – it might even help control the oiliness.
Determine Normal Skin Type
Normal skin type is rare. Even in the girls who have it, things usually change with aging. Normal skin means that the sebaceous glands produce just enough sebum to moisturize and protect the skin without leaving a greasy residue.
Normal skin is soft, smooth, wrinkle-free and it looks healthy. There are no neither the roughness and tightness of the dry skin neither the greasy layer of the oily skin type. The pores are small and evenly distributed.
How to treat normal skin type:
When treating the normal skin, less is usually more and the minimalistic approach can go a long way. There’s nothing to fix, you just have to maintain what you already have. Use gentle products and only those your skin really needs.
Determine Combination-Dry Skin Type
A combination skin type is very common. Most people have some variation of it. It means that some areas of your face are dry and some are oily. If you have more dry than oily areas, your skin type is combination-dry.
You can spot combination-dry skin type by the oily T-zone, while cheeks are usually dry. Most large, open pores are on the nose, chin and center of the forehead. As you move towards the edges of the face, the pores are becoming smaller and smaller.
How to treat combination-dry skin type:
Combination skin is a bit hard to treat because you literally have to treat dry and oily skin at the same time. One of the ways to do it is to choose mild products and ingredients that are suitable for all skin types. Another thing you can do is treat different areas of your face separately.
Multi-masking is a popular treatment for combination skin. It means that you should apply at the same time a face mask suitable for oily skin to your T-zone, and a mask suitable for dry skin type to your cheeks. Some dermatologists recommend the same method for all leave-on products, such as serums and facial creams.
Determine Combination-Oily Skin Type
This skin type people often mistake for oily skin. Combination-oily skin is actually very similar to the combination-dry skin type, except the oily areas are more pronounced, while cheeks can be dry or even normal.
Just like with the previous skin type, the center of the face is usually greasy, with large, clogged pores and blackheads. The oily area spreads wider than with combination-dry skin, and you can see enlarged pores extending all the way to the outer cheeks.
How to treat combination-oily skin type:
You can treat your skin the same way as described for the previous skin type. Multi-mask by applying cleansing masks to all your oily areas and coat dry areas with more nourishing products.
You can also use products suitable for all skin types. Some of the ingredients that can especially help you are hyaluronic acid, AHAs, vitamins C and E, lightweight natural oils.