Knowing Your Skin Type Is Essential
The first step to having healthy skin and establishing an effective skincare routine is to find what is your skin type.
Using the wrong products for your skin type could worsen acne, dryness, or other skin problems and have adverse effects on your skin health.
Once you know what skin type you have, you can learn how to care for your skin.
For your convenience all external references used to write this post can be found here.
Let’s get to the basics.
What Are Skin Types?
Skin types classify a person’s skin based on how much sebum the skin produces naturally.
Based on this information you can ensure that any skincare products you choose are beneficial and effective without aggravating existing conditions or even causing new ones.
What Skin Types Exist?
According to the American Academy of Dermatology, there are four skin types: Dry, oily, combination and normal skin.
Each one has its characteristics and needs.
1. Dry Skin Type – What is dry skin? Why is it dry?
Dry skin means that it lacks water. Why? Because water evaporates from the skin.
This skin type produces small amounts of sebum (skin natural oil) and other natural moisturizing factors (NMFs).
NMFs are responsible for building a barrier that prevents water from evaporating from your skin. They bind water in the skin and keep it there.
As a result of the lack of sebum, dry skin lacks the lipids that it needs to retain moisture and loses water easily making your skin dry.
If left untreated, moisture levels diminish in all the skin layers, resulting in very dry skin leaving this barrier impaired and compromising your skin health.
This type of skin is prone to sensitivity to skincare products. Face washes, exfoliators and serums can cause irritability.
Dry skin looks dull and feels rough and dry to the touch, especially after bathing. It can present flakes, or cracks (fine lines). It absorbs moisturizers fast and liquid makeup doesn’t spread evenly looking patchy.
Significantly more women suffer from dry skin than men because women use a higher amount of skincare products daily, making women more likely to remove the skin’s natural oils.
Skin also gets dryer as it ages, requiring more intensive care.
2. Oily Skin Type – What is oily skin? Why is it oily?
Oily skin means it has too much sebum. Why? Because your skin’s sebaceous glands produce it in excess.
Sebum is the skin’s natural oil. Your body produces it naturally in your sebaceous glands and the amount of sebum produced is different from person to person.
Sebum sits on the skin surface and mixes with lipids, to form a protective coat on the skin’s surface that moisturizes and protects you from potentially harmful pathogens, such as bacteria and fungi.
When sebum is produced in excess you have oily skin. Excess oil affects your skin appearance and health. It can combine with dead skin cells and clog the pores or mix with bacteria and inflame.
For this reason, this skin type is prone to comedones (white/blackheads), pimples and acne not only on the face but on the neck, shoulders, back and chest too.
Oily skin feels greasy and looks shiny. Around the nose and forehead and chin – the T-Zone – has large visible pores.
It is hard to find makeup to suit this skin, as the makeup can mix with the sebum and change consistency.
It is a myth that most people with brown skin have oily skin. A lot of people believe this myth because oil is more visible on the dark skin surface. But dark skin comes in all skin types.
If you are not sure what your skin type is keep reading, I explain how you can easily find out at the end of this post.
3. Combination Skin Type – What is combination skin? Why is combination?
Combination skin means that your skin is both oily and dry in different areas.
Why? Because your sebaceous glands produce sebum in different amounts in different areas of the skin.
The oily parts of combination skin are caused by an overproduction of sebum. The dry parts of combination skin are caused by a lack of sebum that allows water to evaporate from the skin.
This skin type has sebaceous glands that are more active in the T-zone (forehead, nose, and chin) and less active in other areas of the skin. The cheeks or other areas may feel normal or dry.
The excess oil may cause breakouts and comedones in the T-zone. The dry areas may be more sensitive to products and feel tight. Your skincare routine needs to address dryness and oiliness separately.
It is hard to find makeup for this skin type because the formulas that work on your oily skin parts, might look patchy on the rest of your face.
4. Normal Skin Type – What is normal skin? Why is normal?
Normal skin is balanced skin. Why? The sebaceous glands produce enough sebum to keep the skin evenly hydrated without losing water and without becoming oily.
This skin type feels neither dry nor oily. It is not prone to breakouts or flakiness.
Because your skin has a healthy barrier it is less prone to sensitivity, being more resilient to a wide variety of products, fragrances, or external aggressions.
Note that even normal skin sometimes experiences breakouts or dullness and requires a proper skincare routine to keep healthy.
Skin Type and Skin Condition
While your skin type refers to how much sebum your skin produces and is determined by genetics. Skin condition refers to the state of your skin regarding its appearance.
Skin type rarely change throughout your life. But it may be progressively affected by ageing, hormones, climate, and medication.
Skin types and skin conditions are not mutually exclusive and regardless of your skin type, you can have multiple skin conditions. You can have normal skin that is hyperpigmented or oily skin that is ageing, and dry sensitive skin.
Skin types – normal, combination, oily, and dry.
Skin conditions – acne, hyperpigmentation, ageing, and sensitive.
When choosing your skincare products take into account your skin type to control sebum levels on your skin towards a balanced level. And choose active ingredients that will act to improve and treat any skin conditions.
How to determine your skin condition?
Sensitive skin – Sensitive skin is often referred to as a skin type, but it’s a skin condition. It is characterised by how easily it gets irritated in comparison to well-balanced skin.
For some people, sensitive skin is a permanent condition like rosacea, for others, sensitivity is triggered by certain internal and external factors.
Symptoms:
– reacts easily to products with fragrances, dyes or irritants.
– prone to negative reactions – irritation, blemishes, or inflammation.
Hyperpigmentation skin – Common in black skin. Characterized by overproduction of melanin causing some areas of the skin to be darker than your natural complexion.
Ageing skin – All skin types age. As you age, your skin loses volume and elasticity, and you can see fine lines, wrinkles, and age spots.
Acne skin – Common in oily and combination skin types where clogged pores cause outbreaks. It can also be hormonal. Acne-prone skin has blackheads, whiteheads, pimples, papules and postules as well as blemishes. Not to be confused with rosacea.
NOTE: If you are not sure that you have any skin conditions consult a board-certified dermatologist.
How To Find Your Skin Type?
Skin type can generally be determined by two types of tests you can perform at home – tissue blot test or simple observation. You can also use our quiz at the end.
The first two methods measure the amount of sebum production on your skin and can help you understand what kind of skin you have.
The amount of sebum your skin produces can determine if your skin is dry, oily, normal or combination.
You need to perform these tests several times a year during seasonal changes – spring, summer fall and winter- because skin type is affected by climate and age.
Tissue Blot Test
Follow these steps:
- Wash your face with a neutral soap (not made for a specific skin type) for 30-45 seconds.
- Rinse with water and pat it dry. Do not rub.
- Wait 1 hour. Don’t apply any makeup or skincare products.
- Press a large face tissue on your face. Press the paper on different areas of your skin, such as your forehead and nose, cheeks, and chin.
Result Analysis:
Dry skin – the tissue shows no transparency.
Oily skin – the tissue will be soaked throughout with the excess oil.
Normal skin – the tissue shows small amounts of oil spread evenly.
Combination Skin – when you blot the tissue through your T-zone it will be soaked. In other areas of your face, it shows no transparency.
Simple Observation
Follow these steps:
- Wash your face with a neutral soap (not made for a specific skin type) for 30-45 seconds.
- Rinse with water and pat it dry. Do not rub.
- Wait 1 hour. Don’t apply any makeup or skincare products.
- Watch your face closely or use a zoom mirror.
Result Analysis:
Oily skin – you can see large visible pores. Your skin looks shiny throughout.
Dry skin – your skin feels tight and it looks flaky with visible lines.
Combination skin – looks greasy only in your T-Zone and normal or dry on the cheeks.
Normal skin – your skin feels hydrated and comfortable, without being oily. Skin looks clear and will not feel tight or irritated. It will not change much during the day.
Find Your Skin Type Quiz: normal, dry, oily or combination skin
1. Oil distribution – Your skin…
a) looks shiny and glossy throughout.
b) looks dull and ashy, not oily.
c) the t-zone is shiny and glossy. The cheek area looks normal.
d) looks clear and not shiny or ashy.
2. Texture – Observing your skin, you can see…
a) large and visible pores. Often with pimples, and white/blackheads.
b) scaling or flaky. Occasionally, you have a pimple.
c) large pores, pimples and blackheads in your chin and nose. Your skin looks dull and ashy on the cheeks.
d) fine pores and smooth texture.
3. Feeling – When you touch your skin it feels…
a) greasy and the fingers look shiny after touching for a few seconds.
b) feels tight and itchy. It can be painful to rub your fingers through your face.
c) greasy in the t-zone. Normal to dry in cheeks.
d) velvet and soft.
4. How often do you wash and moisturize.
a) you wash your skin twice a day or more. You rarely apply moisturizer, only after washing your face. It’s hard for your skin to absorb moisturizers.
b) you wash your skin once, a maximum of twice a day. If you don’t apply a moisturizer your skin feels tight and rough. You have to moisturize often during the day.
c) You wash your face twice a day. Some areas like your nose and chin require more rubbing than others like your cheeks. You moisturize once a day, but your cheeks and forehead require moisturizer reapplication.
d) You wash your skin up to twice a day, and it does not feel tight or greasy. You apply moisturizer after washing but you don’t need to reapply during the day.
Results:
- Mostly a’s then you have oily skin.
- Mostly b’s then you have dry skin.
- Mostly c’s then you have combination skin.
- Mostly d’s then you have normal skin.
Now that you know your skin type you have crucial information to implement an effective skincare routine.
Start by analyzing the products you are currently using and understanding which products are truly necessary and their role in keeping your skin healthy.
Read the post below to help you.
Skincare products can be hard to understand, so I made it simple for you.
This blog post explains how each skincare product works, how many you need daily and the application order of skincare products.
Disclaimer: This article is informational only. This article does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Any information published on this website or by this brand is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, and you should not take any action before consulting with a healthcare professional. If you have questions or concerns about caring for your skin, you should make an appointment to see a board-certified dermatologist.
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