Skin Types

Knowing your skin type can help you to take better care of your skin. There are basically five different types of skin:

• Normal
• Dry
• Oily
• Combination
• Sensitive

Now certain types of skin are sensitive to various external stimuli and by knowing what type of skin we have we are better able to combat breakouts and pre-mature aging.

Also there are many different factors that play critical roles in deciding what type of skin you have.

• Hormones
• Health Problems
• Genetic Predisposition
• Smoking
• Various Medications

Some other external factors effecting skin include:

• Weather (humidity, temperature…)
• Skin Care Regimen
• Sun Exposure

Normal Skin:

Normal skin is usually soft, supple, smooth, and usually fine textured without any blemishes. This type of skin almost never feels too oily or dry.

Aside from daily maintenance and cleaning, people with normal skin do not suffer from more than an occasional break out (usually caused by some exterior factors).

Dry Skin:

Dry skin is characterized by a fine texture that commonly has a slightly transparent look to it. Often it feels tight and drawn without moisturizer. Right after washing dry skin tends to feel especially dry.

The biggest key to maintaining dry skin is to maintain a proper moisture levels. So be sure to moisturize your skin and drink lots of water (moisturize both inside – out and outside – in).

Do’s:

1. Using moisturizer during the day is very helpful.
2. Always use a sunscreen of SPF over 30.
3. Eat a diet rich in fruits, yogurt, vegetables, whole grain cereal, and drink plenty of water. Drinking about eight glasses of water per day is optimal.
4. Try using rich night creams for repairing your skin. Look for night creams with antioxidants, ultrahydrating hyaluronic acid, and essential fatty acids.
5. Take special care of the delicate skin around the eyes.

Don’ts:

1. Expose your skin to too much sunlight.
2. Dry the skin while applying or removing make-up, since dry skin tends to wrinkle faster.

Oily Skin:

Oily skin is marked by a greasy, sallow, and coarse complexion. This skin type also tends to have large pores and suffer from whiteheads, blackheads and other skin imperfections more than most other types.

Acne Treatment

1. Avoiding fried and junk foods such as whole milk, butter, cream, cheese, ice cream, chocolate, rich salad dressing, cocoa, nuts, sweets and fatty meats. It is considered to be a lifelong diet.
2. Eat foods rich in water, fresh fruits, lean meats, chicken, cereals, whole grains, boiled fish and complex carbohydrates. This will help in regulating the bowel movements.
3. Include Vitamin A and zinc capsules as a dietary supplement.
4. The spots could be hidden by makeup which covers and camouflages them.

Some general pointers:

DO’s:

1. Make sure that your hands are clean when you touch your face. Special care has to be taken when touching the spotty areas.
2. Always use an oil-free or water based product for cleansing, toning and moisturizing.
3. Use the face packs on regular basis.
4. Exercise regularly.
5. Try to reduce stress in your life.
6. Stick to a diet rich in vegetables, salads and whole grains.

DON’Ts:

1. Touch or squeeze spots.
2. Ever go to bed with make-up on.

Combination Skin:

If your skin feels taut and flaky on the cheeks but oily on the T-zone (forehead, nose and chin) you have what is known as combination skin. Now because your skin is a “combination” of patches of both dry and oily skin, acne treatments need to be a combination of treatments for each skin type.

1. Always make use of milder cleansers on the whole face and neck. Look for cleansers with deep pore cleansing effects. This helps in keeping the oily T-zone clean and clear. Wash with cleansers twice a day to produce better results.
2. During summer times, use an antibacterial soap to control the bacterial invasion and to prevent further problems in the T-zone.
3. Dry areas need a good moisturizer, as they are known to stimulate the water penetration into the skin and also decrease the rate at which the water evaporates from the surface of the skin. If the hydration is not enough, choose those lotions having silicone oils in them. This would help you moisturize your face without any feeling of extra oiliness and it is also light to use.
4. A toner which is free of alcohol should be used on the oily areas to prevent the shining of the central panel of the face. But make sure that you do not use it in the dry areas.
5. Exfoliate the skin so as to get a new and fresher look. While performing it check out the oilier areas more such as the nose, chin and even the forehead. The recommended mask for a combination skin is a gel mask. Otherwise you can prefer a clay mask for the oily areas such as forehead, chin and nose. A cream mask for dry areas which includes cheeks.
6. On oily areas always prefer oil-absorbing make up as this would surely control the shine.
7. Depend on a sunscreen whenever you step out and use those having a minimum of 15 SPF.

Sensitive Skin:

Many people have sensitive skin. It is the most fragile type of skin. It is easily prone to irritation like stinging, chafing and even itching. Because sensitive skin is prone to such effects, when choosing cleansers and other products for your skin, extra care should be exercised.

A good recommendation is to test new products on a patch of skin not readily visible or likely to hamper your daily routine before applying it to your face.

Just because you currently have one type of skin, it does not mean that you will have that skin type for the rest of your life. As we mentioned before there are a lot of factors that can affect your skin type. A change in even one factor can drastically change your skin. So be careful and follow the precautions given in this article.