How To Determine Your Skin Type At Home

Your skin type is one of the most important things to consider when creating your skincare routine. Here’s how to determine yours and how to deal with it.

What do you usually do when picking out products for skin treatments? Do you use whatever your friends recommend? Or choose something out of TV commercials?

Even when creating a simple skin care routine, you should always take into consideration your individual needs. That’s why you ought to know your own skin type and adapt creams and other product choices accordingly.

The Main Types Of Skin

First of all, let’s differentiate between skin types and skin conditions. For instance, acne is a skin condition, an actual problem. Sensitiveness is also a cause for concern as your skin can become easily irritated, for various reasons.

Skin type specifically refers to how greasy tissue tends to get. The three resulting types are oily, dry or combination.

There are numerous reasons as to why we have a certain kind of skin. Probably the most important factor is our genes. Hormones play a major role too, which is also why skin type can fluctuate over time as we age.

You might have noticed that medication, including antibiotics, can affect moisture levels on your face. And so does climate; for instance, you could sweat a lot and have oily skin during summer, but start to peel a lot in winter thanks to dryness. Your food choices affect skin health too, while a wrong cream could do more harm than using no product at all.

The Dry Skin Type

Dry skin is the one that always feels too tight, especially shortly after being washed or cleansed. It can even become itchy due to all the flakiness and skin cells constantly peeling off.

A common cause could be dehydration, not drinking sufficient water or frequent alcohol consumption. For most people, skin gets drier with age.

The Oily Skin

Skin that is oily has a bit of extra shine to it. Although it has the advantage of extra moisture which leads to slower aging, pores can often get clogged. That’s when blackheads are likely to appear.

Also, oily skin is more prone to acne than other types, and, once those pimples heal, dark spots will remain for a longer time.

The Combination Skin

Combination skin usually means you’ll tend to feel more oiliness on your nose and forehead, while the cheeks remain quite dry. Simple skin care could seem more difficult to balance out, but at least you’ll have less frequent acne breakouts.

The Sensitive Skin Type

Those with sensitive skin have the toughest time. Anything could bother it, cause redness or irritation. Trying on new products might feel like an allergic reaction, paired with itchiness or thin layers of tissue peeling off.

Of course, there are affordable natural skin care options on the market, which are safer to use in this case.

Figure Out What Your Skin Type Is

What if you don’t know what kind of skin you have so that you can adapt your treatment routine? Well, there are a couple of easy ways in which you could determine it.

It all starts with washing your face to get rid of sweat, makeup, and any pollutants. Don’t use aggressive products, just a mild cleanser, then pat dry, don’t scrub. Wait one hour afterward without adding any other products to your skin.

Check the outcome in a mirror 60 minutes later.

• If skin feels tight, especially when moving facial muscles, then you most likely have a dry complexion.
• If everything looks shiny and feels greasy to a simple touch, your skin fits into the oily category.
• Lastly, if only your nose and forehead are a bit oily, while the rest is not, you’re the proud ‘owner’ of combination skin.

How To Deal With Each Skin Type

For every type of skin, there are things which ought to be mandatory in our daily routine and some to completely avoid.

In case of dry skin, keep away from alcohol-based products or those containing sulfates. Choose moisturizers with hyaluronic acid and vitamin A as those help tissue regenerate. Also, don’t wash your face with hot water.

If your skin is oily, stay away from cleansers or moisturizers containing oil as well. Pick those which list glycolic or salicylic acid as ingredients.

Exfoliation is also recommended on a regular basis, and those products that have anti-bacterial components will help with pimples as well. This way, you’ll get rid of clogged pores and acne scars. Keep in mind not to attack skin too much as it will produce even more sebum as a defense.

To deal with combination skin, you might want to mix products a little bit. Again, avoid those which are alcohol based and apply a moisturizing gel. Leave aside heavy, oily creams, do a gentle exfoliation from time to time and add hyaluronic acid to your skin’s diet.

We don’t want to leave out those having problems with sensitive skin, so we’ll provide some extra insights. It’s very important to avoid any artificial fragrances as they highly irritate the skin as well as alcohol, parabens, and sulfates.

Aloe Vera is a greatly soothing, natural ingredient you can always use, and Vitamin C is beneficial too.

No matter what you choose, remember to constantly adapt to your skin’s needs, taking both its type and its current condition into consideration. Try to choose only skin products based on natural ingredients for glowing, healthy, and beautiful skin.