Skin is a very important organ more than we think. Skin is covering every muscle, protecting our inner fibers from the environment, heat, cold, and danger. It is the shield of our body. Skincare is based on science. Doing skincare is art. Understanding your skin type is very important so that you can treat it back right. Our main concern is always to get normal skin. The normal type of skin is everybodyโs dream.
Importance of Knowing Skin Type
Finding the right product is very hard for every person. We have to spend a lot on the wrong products then we can find the right cleanser-serum-moisturizers. But it will be harder if we neglect the skin type. Suppose your skin is dry and your facewash is not mild then your skin will become dryer day after day! If your moisturizers do not have an adequate amount of hyaluronic acid, glycerine, etc humectants, moisturizing ingredients then your skin will never recover from that dry state. Same for oily skin type. Oily skin type is also dry inside but because of the body fat mainly skin becomes oily. Litlle bit combination skin comes under normal skin. Now any skin can be sensitive or not or can have any special concern. For that knowing ingredients before buying a product is very very important.
Skin Types
What type of Skin do I have? To know that shortly skip to this part. Our skin type depends on three things mainly.
- Hereditary: This means that comes from our genes. Our gene is a combination of the whole family from both parentsโ sides. Some genes are expressive while some are dormant. And not just skin type but everything the whole us depends on these explicit genes. They determine โUsโ.
- Environment: Environment means the temperature, humidity, and wind impact our skin a lot. Normal skin can be dry for low temperature and humidity and vice versa.
- Habits: The next thing is a habit. The only thing in our hands is our habits. Fooding, sleeping, exercising, stress, and happiness can change your skin condition. A happy stress-free mind can make your skin glowy while a stressful, sleepy face will look dull, dry, or oily with dark circles.
Heredity and Environment are something we canโt change but habit we can. These three things decide if our skin will be Normal, Dry, Oily, or a Combination of Dry & Oily.
1. Normal Skin:
Normal skin type has good hydration and strength produced by a healthy epidermis and dermis layer of skin. This type of skin feels soft, plumped, nourished, shiny, or dewy but not dull. Skin will have a healthy glow. Skin will not show any dry patches or dehydration lines for dry skin or large pores that secrete oils. Normal skin looks good because of good Metabolism and blood circulation. A newborn child will always or in most cases will have normal healthy skin. Change of skin or some problem mainly occurs before puberty and continues. Thatโs why we do skincare. Besides UV rays, rich-spicy foods, and less green are also effects with time and you can see the result on your skin. So basically we have changed our skin from normal to a different type now.
To maintain Normal skin you have to be aware of teenage. Some hit puberty early and some later. A good diet is very important. I am not saying delete spicy fast food. Iโll never say that because I eat fast foods, spicy foods, and roadside food quite a lot. But what you have to do is eat healthy when you are at home. Include green vegetables two times with the meals. Like this when you will eat fast food you can eat tension-free as I do. But everybodyโs skin is different some may need more attention. With a good diet, at this young age taking minimum care on a cheap budget is important. Teenage or early twenties we may not have a lot of money but skincare is a necessity. Cleanse your face properly, and then donโt leave it dry. Always use a cream (Winter) or heavy toner (Summer) to nourish your skin. Always use Sunscreen and lip balm at the last.
2. Oily Skin:
Oily skin is caused when sebaceous glands produce more oil than they needed to. Oily skin can cause pimples often and more acne-prone. Due to extra oil bacterias from the environment gets more trapped in the pilosebaceous follicle and that causes pimples. Oily skin looks greasy rather than glossy. To differentiate a healthy glow from oily skin contains oil. So when you will touch your face there oil is oil on your fingertips. You will look exhausted rather than healthy because oily skin attracts more dirt than normal or dry skin. Your nose and forehead may look greasier than the rest of your face. Hot and high humidity cause can make any skin look oily. Thatโs why even my skin is normal it tends to be oily sometimes in summer and a little dry in the winter.
Oily skin can also be dry inside. If oily skin has water deficiency that means even if the skin is oily itโs dehydrated. And itโs not good. For this skin type, your skin will feel tight after washing but after a few minutes because of excess oil secretion, the skin will become oily. For that, Oily skin also needs gentle washing. Mild cleansers are kind of common for each skin type. Keep oily skin hydrated with a hydrating water-type serum /essence or toner. Do not use thick moisturizers because they contain high oils, nor only that, but they will do no work because of the oil barrier on your skin. Exfoliation, clay masks, and enzyme peeling are very important for oily skin because these can reduce oil.
3. Dry Skin:
Dry skin naturally is caused when sebaceous glands produce less oil than they needed to and for the weather. But thereโs a man-made reason too. Over-exfoliating can cause dry skin over time. If you do over scrub regularly for a long period your skin you feel irritated, and will get thinner, sensitive, reddish, inflammation, and damaged. But as our body has its defense mechanism, the skin will respond to it by making extra layers of keratin to protect the damaged area of the skin. This condition is called Hyperkeratosis. Now, because of the extra layer of skin, your skin will feel dry.
Dry skin feels little rough, cracky, and also itchy. Which we normally feel in winter, especially in the back area. Dry skin will look very dull, not plumped because it lacks moisture. This type of skin will contain more fine lines and wrinkles. As thereโs no protective layer of natural oils at all this type of skin is prone to lose moisture more, and is more sensitive to the Sun and wind. Dry skin needs a lot of hydration, and humectants which will attract moisture but thatโs not enough. Emollients are a very important factor to the dry skin to add at the last step of skincare to protect the provided nourishment. As the skin has no protective oil layer, the applied product will evaporate quickly. So sealing or locking the moisture is something they should always do.
4. Combination Skin:
You have probably combination skin if you canโt decide what type of skin you have. In combination skin, the T zone which is the forehead, nose, and chin is tends to be oily. You can see the sign of Oily skin mentioned before. Your chick area or U zone, including or excluding the chin tends to be dry. It can be Normal (U Zone) & Oily (T Zone), Dry (U Zone) & Normal (T Zone), or Dry (U Zone) & Oily (T Zone) any combination.
For this type of skin use humectants in the U zone, and partial peel in the T zone. I am not saying donโt provide any hydration in the T zone. But you need to give special attention to the T zone when youโre peeling or exfoliating. This means if you do exfoliate/peel two times a week, do the whole face once, and detoxify or peel the T zone two to three times a week. After washing your face, apply hydrating toner/serum then In the U zone only apply a moisturizer to seal the hydration. Donโt need to apply it to the T zone because that area already contains natural oil.
The Ultimate Test to Know Your Skin Type
Steps
- Wash your face with a very very gentle cleanser. Take a penny amount. Do it in the morning, not after a bath. During a bath, we lose water from the body, so itโs normal if the skin gets a little dry after taking bath, that way you will not understand your skin type.
- Semi-dry your face with a towel patting on your face.
- Do not apply any type of product even a light mist within one hour. Just leave your face.
- Take a clean big tissue or blotting sheet and evenly cover it and press it on your face. Like a face sheet mask. Do not move it. Leave it for 5 seconds. Make sure your full face is in touch with the tissue.
- Now observe the Tissue and your face skin.
Results
- If the tissue is not soaked with oil and your face does not feel flaky, tight, or itchy you have normal skin.
- The tissue paper will be stained or damped wholly and your face will still feel greasy if you have Oily skin.
- If your face feels very tight, a little itchy and flaky and thereโs nothing on the tissue paper at all that means you have dry skin.
- If your tissue paper has soaked up in the shape of a T that means you have combination skin.
Thatโs all. I hope you understood the basic four types of skin. If youโve any questions feel free to leave a comment.
