We all want to know what kind of skin type we have. Because knowing what kind of issues we need to take care of and target allows us not only to treat our skin to improve its appearance but also to solve underlying conditions.
HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU HAVE COMBINATION SKIN?
Combination skin seems to be one of the most common skin types and this is due to the fact that skin changes a lot through the seasons.
– Oilier T-zone
– Drier U-zone
– Frequent dry patches in certain areas
– Clogged pores on the oilier areas
– Skin tends to change drastically quite suddenly
– Flaky makeup
– Uneven skin texture
TAKE CARE OF YOUR COMBINATION SKIN
Combination skin is a mix in between the characteristics of two main skin types, oily and dry. This means that many times you will need to care for the various areas of your face differently.
Or, that you need to find multifaceted products that will be able to target and care for different conditions. This might seem like a difficult task, but it will be a piece of cake once you know what to look for and what products to use.
CLEANSING
In terms of combination skin, cleansing remains just as important as in any other skin type. Only to add one extra thing to take care of, exfoliation to resolve the unevenness in different areas.
In order to keep the skin both hydrated and deep cleansed one of the best choices you can make is adding a good oil cleanser to your routine and follow up with double-cleansing. A good oil cleanser will help keep any dry areas moisturized and deep cleanse the pore to help avoid pore-clogging and blemishes.
And an extra tip is to include exfoliation on your routine, once or twice a week to help improve the appearance of pores and blackheads, fight excessive oil production and smooth out and eliminate any rough patches that you might develop on the drier areas of your face.
TONER
Toner can be another one of your big allies when you have combination skin. Since it is not only a key part of balancing the skin barrier but also at replenishing the skin and balancing out your hydration levels and sebum production. But since the condition of combination skin keeps on changing, your skin’s needs referring to toner might also change with the current condition.
If your skin feels dry, my recommendation is to re-hydrate the skin from within using a good hydrating toner when your skin feels more oily and sensitive you can always use a milder toner to balance your skin or even do the seven skin method to replenish your skin without adding heaviness to it.
It is important to take into account that it doesn’t matter if your skin has been drier or rather oily the last couple of days, either or toner should not be missed since it will be one of those steps that help you balance your skin and make it more resilient from the get-go.
SERUM
Serum is another golden step since it is the main step that focuses on targeting your specific topical issues.Serums are filled with antioxidants, rich ingredients and even actives catered to solve specific skin issues. Which in the case of combination skin is in grand part the unbalance of basic skin functions like skin hydration and texture.
If your skin has been quite oily, which tends to accentuate especially around the summer period for combination skin types. Follow the former advice suggested on the toner section and substitute your toner step for more layers of your product of choice of the toner category.
On the other side when your skin is rather dry, you might want to add an extra step. You can do the toner layering or skip it but make sure to add a layer of a light serum that will help add extra moisture. Try to go for a product that is highly moisturizing but not pore-clogging, to cater to both, your oilier and drier areas.
CREAM
Even when you have oily skin, it is always important to add cream at the end of your routine. The function of cream is quite misinterpreted in the beauty world though. Many expect this to be the step in which we add all the hydration when in fact cream is actually the step in which we lock the moisture in.
We have been adding light but deeply hydrating layers of moisturization during our routine, but if we don’t want all that to disappear you will want to lock that moisture in.
For that choose a cream that is light enough to still penetrate even the oilier parts of combination skin without clogging the pores. A cream that will at the same time add an extra touch of hydration and be slightly occlusive to retain moisture without creating any kind of pore blockage.
Having blackheads is definitely not one of those things that we wish to relate to. Yet, most of us, l say most, to not say all, just in case any of you is one of those magical and mesmerizing unicorn people that happen to not have to deal with any blackheads.
In that case, lucky you, half of the world including me low key envies you a tad. And by a tad, l actually mean a lot but always in a good way so, my dear lucky unicorn you can skip this post and go live your blackhead-free life.
For the rest of us, the not so lucky ones, still unicorns of course, but unicorns with pesky blackheads today we will be learning all about how to deal with, take care and eliminate those blackheads.
IT ALL STARTS WITH CLEANSING
It is commonly said that all paths lead to Rome, and alike all skincare starts with cleansing. There is no set routine that will work without cleansing. Here is where you might get it partly wrong though, because all routines do start with cleansing BUTTTT, and this is a big but, not all cleansing has to be done with cleanser itself.
There are many ways to cleanse the skin, soaps, foams, toners, cleansing waters, even regular water or like in this specific case oils. Cleansing is always super duper important but not all products work the same in every skin concern and because of that for the specific concern of blackheads a foam might not be the choice that brings the best results.
WHY USE OIL?
Oil reaches deep into the pores and because oil adheres to oil much better than any water-based or even cleanser based product it will be able to capture that pesky oil clogging your pores. Oil befriends oil very easily, making all that sebum want to come outside to play together that is why if you want to vanish those strong-headed blackheads you should go for an oil.
Do not forget to add some sort of exfoliation, I highly recommend you to look into chemical exfoliation, in order to keep the dead skin cells under control and prevent pore blocking.
STARTS WITH CLEANSER, BUT FOLLOWS WITH TONER
Toner is also another important step as an essential product to rehydrate and rebalance the skin and this is no different even if you are fighting blackheads.
Many people enjoy highly hydrating toners as there are indeed magnificent but if you are dealing with blackheads besides good hydration you should keep in mind that it is better to stay away from certain types of oils. My best recommendation will be to choose a light and oil-free toner catered to sensitive skin or even possibly a slightly exfoliating one, as mentioned above when talking about exfoliation, to use from time to time.
SHEET MASK ARE NOT ONLY FOR HYDRATION
Sheet masks are widely known for providing hydration, but what many people forget is that they also treat. Sheet masks are soaked in ampoule or essence which are essentially designed to treat various skin concerns, which means that if you choose the right ingredients you can not only hydrate the skin but help banish some of your other skin concerns, in this case, blackheads.
Mask with soothing and sebum controlling ingredients like tea tree oil will be great to use as antiseptic and oil balancing treatments to help reduce excess sebum production. Consider also the lowering of skin temperature property of sheet masks as a very good benefit in fighting excess sebum,
WHAT DOES LOW SKIN TEMPERATURE HAVE TO DO WITH THIS?
Skin tends to react by overproducing oil when skin temperature rises which is the reason why we tend to get more oily and more easily congested over the summer. That is why you should try to make sure to try to keep your skin temperature on the lower side.
LIGHT OR HEAVY?
Last but not least, even with blackheads we can not forget the moisturizer, but to avoid any extra pore blocking, we should aim to stay among ingredients with similar functions to the above-mentioned ones.
That is why for this step my recommendation is to choose moisturizers designed especially for oilier and easily congested skin types made out of good ingredients.
If you are struggling with acne, today’s read will help you through having a better understanding of how to curate your skincare routine to minimize further irritation, keep skin clean, and avoid inflammation.
Acne-prone skin is probably the toughest skin concern to resolve because the causes are complex and the treatment has multiple layers and stages.
HOW DO I KNOW IF I HAVE ACNE-PRONE SKIN?
You might think, come on Lorena, DUH, if you get acne or other types of blemishes regularly, you have acne-prone skin, as easy as that. Well, that is for sure an indicator, but also not the only thing that you should take into account. You might be having an outbreak of fungal acne, hormonal acne or many other underlying conditions. Many times it is hard to know our specific skin type, pretty understandable since skin conditions and therefore our “skin type” keep on changing over time. So here are some tips to help you get clear on if your skin might be on the sensitive and acne-prone side:
• Your skin gets easily inflamed
• Skin easily reacts negatively to products
• You can go from perfect skin to full-face blemish terror very quickly
• You usually suffer from different types of blemishes, in fact, most of the time
• External and internal changes or factors affect the state of your skin quite easily
• You can not just use any products, at least if you want to keep your skin clean
• Your skin tends to get irritated very easily
Well if you agree on many of the above indicators it means that you either have a skincare condition that you are not properly managing or that you very easily have what we tend to call “ sensitive and acne-prone skin”. Two skin conditions that more often than not are highly correlated.
THE BEST ROUTINE FOR ACNE-PRONE SKIN
Since acne-prone skin tends to be highly sensitive and reactive there are some aspects that you definitely need to watch out for:
• Try to stay away from potential irritants
• Provide enough moisture to your skin
• Be aware of textures and the kind of products that work for you
• Focus on skin regeneration to avoid scaring
• And make sure to keep your cell turnover on point.
And for that, here you will be able to find some basic rules that you might want to start following as well as some good product recommendations for this specific skin type
CLEANSE AND REFINE
As you can imagine cleansing is a major step when we talk about skincare for acne-prone skin types. You need to find a cleanser that is powerful enough, but also not harsh. One that cleanses the skin but does not irritate it or over dries it.
In order to also pass on any extra skin conditions, such as fungal acne or excessive breakouts, using a cleanser with low pH would be even better. Basically, you want to focus on finding the mister incredible of cleansers, the perfect medium. Deep cleansing, but soft, moisturizing but light and exfoliating but non-irritating.
This is the best way to help you keep your troubles away but also to have a smoother and more radiant overall complexion.
SIMPLE TOUCHES
We all know that toner is like the new moisturizer, but on a routine, for acne-prone skin, the moisturization part is not the only thing to take into account when choosing the item for this step. It is also rather important that our choice of toner is not heavy, nor occlusive and also free of any potential irritants. The more nourishing, but simple in the formulation, the better results you can await from it.
A simple and unscented toner would be a great addition to your routine to help rejuvenate and restore the hydration levels of the skin, while also avoiding any irritation. Toner also helps calm the skin, and re-balance its pH which is, of course, a very important step when talking about acne-prone skin types, so make sure this step is never missing from your routine.
FOCUS ON HYDRATION BUT ALSO ON FIGHTING BACTERIA
Being acne-prone means that you basically are more likely to develop different types of blemishes. And if this condition comes due to topical reasons, it is basically linked to two major causes:
• Pore blockage, due to waste accumulation on the pore conduct
• Blemish causing bacteria.
In order to prevent both you need to build good moisture levels to fight inner dryness and balance the oil production. But also consider incorporating good ingredients that are anti-fungal and antibacterial in order to prevent any bacteria and fungus overgrowth or spreading.
Choose nourishing ingredients that help re-balance your skin moisture from deep within which will take care of balancing the skin’s sebum production levels and fight inner and outer dryness. Yet consider adding ingredients with anti-bacterial properties like propolis or green tea to have the best of both worlds.
BRING ALL THE GUNK OUT
Proper cleansing, a few layers of toner and good ingredients will do wonders, but we all know that if you have acne-prone skin there is always an even bigger elephant in the room, THE BLEMISHES.
Most of those blemishes come as we have previously explained from the pore getting blocked due to excessive waste. So we will want to pull all that extra waste out ASAP.
Let’s not get overly excited here, because many deep cleansing products can be quite harsh on the skin and as we have also indicated, skin irritation is a major cause of breakouts on acne-prone skin.
Fortunately, not all deep cleansing treatments have to be overly drying, so try to consider adding a wash-off mask or treatment with purifying yet soothing ingredients to help conquer those blocked pores.
Ingredients such as mugwort, soft clays, and BHA´s can bring great benefits for the skin without overly drying it and adding any irritation.
MOISTURE SHALL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN
We have already stated many times that even if you have acne-prone skin, moisturizing your skin shall never be forgotten since it is the last part of your routine that will help complete the whole process. Giving your skin the proper nourishment to guarantee optimal skin function and keeping the necessary moisture and oil balance. If you want to keep your skin blemish-free you should maintain a healthy skin barrier.
So choose products that will not only provide instant moisture and hydration through fast absorption but also long term moisture without being too occlusive for acne prone skin types.
Dry skin can be one of the worst feelings to have. When the wind gets colder and drier, piling on layers and layers of cream might not even be enough and taking a hot bath in a cold winter won’t be a privilege that you can enjoy if you have dry skin.
Feeling all that pull, scaling and extra sensitivity will never be fun, BUT the good news is that mastering a routine that fits your skin’s needs, will not only keep skin hydrated but also nourish & soften it! Hydrated & healthy skin is what you will get once you curate a skincare routine that will effectively work on your dry skin! But before anything, how do you know if you have dry skin?
DO I HAVE DRY SKIN?
Many times it is hard to know what our specific skin type is. Which is normal since skin conditions tend to change a lot over time. Some tips that might help you pinpoint if your current skin state is on the dry side are the following:
• Skin is overly sensitive or pulls during the day or after cleansing
• You tend to get flaky or patchy in some areas
• Skin is not elastic enough for your age
• Skin feels slightly rough and looks dull
• Fine lines and small strikes form through any repeated movements
• Makeup tends to crack easily
• Skin gets irritated after changes in temperatures.
BEST ROUTINE FOR DRY SKIN
On the contrary to popular belief, the best thing you can do in order to take care of your dry skin is not to apply a lot of heavy moisturizers repeatedly in hopes that your skin will absorb it and one day decide to finally become moist and plump.
What is actually best for your dry skin is not only moisturizing with something occlusive to prevent moisture loss but prior to that, you would have needed to properly and efficiently moisturized your skin from deep within, for that last moisture step to be efficient at all. How do you do that you might ask? Choosing the right routine for your needs, fortunately here you have some basic rules that you might want to start following.
MOISTURIZING STARTS WITH YOUR CLEANSER
What might also be a huge surprise for you is the fact that miniaturization does not actually start from the actual moisturizing step, but right at the beginning of your routine with your cleanser of choice.
Choosing a cleanser that is good enough to cleanse your skin, but mild enough to not over dry it, irritate it or get rid of all the natural oils that benefit your skin is a basic necessity of your routine. Having dry skin, you already don’t produce as much natural sebum and oils as other skin types that is why you want to choose a cleanser that helps to bring hydration and respects your skin barrier, so your skin does not have any more chances to dry excessively.
Be on the lookout for cleansers that contain hydrating ingredients and formulas to add an extra layer of moisture even during the cleansing step. This will already make a whole lot of difference at any time of the year, but especially during the colder months. So make sure to search for cleansers rich in hydrants.
TONER IS THE NEW MOISTURIZER
Toner or in Korean, “Skin”, is not only there to balance the Ph levels or to swipe any extra impurities. In fact, for most skin types and overall for dry skin types, it should be our loyal friend to build hydration from within and re-balance the moisture levels of the skin.
If you have heard about the seven skincare method, it could be a great lifesaver for your skin, if you suffer from dryness or skin is extra dehydrated during these cold winter months.
Choose a toner filled with rich and soothing ingredients, but one that does not feel too heavy so the skin can easily absorb it. Apply the first layer when your skin is still a little bit damp. Pad it well into the skin and go with a second layer. Repeat this process as much as you need, to acquire your desired level of hydration and plumpness.
Anything between 3 and 7 layers of toner will be more than enough. You don’t need to do this every day either, just do it on the days that your skin needs to get back on track.
INGREDIENTS OVER THICKNESS
If your skin is dry, you might just want to jump right into applying a thick layer of a heavy moisturizer. However, as mentioned earlier, it is all about building up step by step to achieve effective hydration into the deepest layer of your skin. So rather adding a thick cream, try adding an ampoule with great consistency that absorbs effectively.
Products with ingredients that will hydrate the skin, but also add the softness and elasticity that dry skin fails to maintain most of the time.
DO NOT FORGET TO TREAT YOUR SKIN
Proper cleansing, a few layers of toner and good ingredients will do wonders, but there are just some days that your skin is just not having it, and might need the extra pick me up. On those days you can always use a hydrating sheet mask to seal the deal.
Because dry skin, tends to get irritated easily, it is important that you choose deeply moisturizing masks. That will provide enough moisture, even when your skin is feeling extra dry while also having soft ingredients and materials to minimize any possible irritation.
FINISH IT ALL UP WITH GOOD NUTRITION
Even if you have dry skin, heavy & thick creams aren’t always the answer for hydration. What matters the most is the steps of skincare consisted of effective ingredients. It’s so important to feed your skin with proper ingredients in the most effective and gentle way.
With products that provide moisture and hydration but also fight that dullness and lack of elasticity that dry skin types are so known for. So make sure you use a good moisturizer to lock all that hydration in while feeding the skin with the best ingredients catered to your specific skin needs.
These articles were all originally written for and posted on Wishtrend. If you want to check the full articles with product recommendations from the brand click on each article title.
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