It's important to know your skin type, and why
You may suspect you have dry, oily, or sensitive skin, but do you really know your skin type? Do you know the skin concerns? Knowing your skin type will help you choose the right skin care products.
In order to implement your best daily skin care routines, it is absolutely important to know your skin type first. If you don't know your skin type and choose the wrong products, it may cause skin issues including dryness, excessive oil, acne symptoms, or other skin problems. After determining your true skin type, the right skincare products will help you to achieve glowing skin.
How Can I Identify My Skin Type?
How many types of skin from the research
Each person has their own unique skin type. According to the book "The Skin Type Solution" written by Doctor Leslie Baumann, there are a total of 16 kinds of skin types based on the following features: Dry/Oily, Sensitive/Resistant, Pigmented/Non-Pigmented, Wrinkle Prone/Tight.
Sound ordinary? It's not complicated, but it's very helpful. Everyone is special, and so is your skin type. A more comprehensive awareness of your skin type will help you establish your own proper skin care regimen.
In daily life, they are usually classified into the following 5 basic skin types
1. Normal skin: The skin looks no dry patches, not oily, it's healthy skin and a common skin type.
2. Sensitive skin: It's fragile skin, usually accompanied by feelings of discomfort, such as heat, tightness, redness, itching, or flaky.
3. Dry skin: It is generally characterized by a feeling of tightness and rough texture appearance.
4. Oily skin: Oil on your cheeks in addition to your forehead and nose, you most likely have oily skin.
5. Combination skin: The area with more oil is usually the T-zone (Forehead, nose, and chin) while the skin on the cheeks is normal or dry.
The methods of determining your type of skin at home:
Wash your hands first and use lukewarm water(not hot water) wash your face with a gentle facial cleanser, pat your skin dry with a clean towel, observe and take note of how your skin looks and feels after around 30 minutes, and you will find an answer from the following description.
1. Normal skin: Normal skin type is looked clear, even including the tone and texture, and usually no feel of any tight or irritated after the face washed. It will not change much during the day.
2. Dry skin: After washing with warm water, dry skin will feel dry or no skin hydrated for a short time. It may also appear dull, rough, or flaky.
3. Oily skin: If the skin becomes shiny with excess sebum after 30 minutes, or wipe the skin with a paper towel, there is oil on the paper, that it is. The oily skin is always accompanied by larger pores, breakouts, dark spots, or acne-prone skin.
4. Combination Skin: People with combination skin type usually has an oily T-Zone area and normal or dry double cheeks. The T-zone with constant oily appearance includes the forehead, nose and chin. After a while, this area will look shiny or oily, but not the cheeks.
5. Sensitive Skin: If you have a sensitive skin type or irritated skin, you may experience stinging, burning, or itching after washing, even just with a mild cleanser but without any other skincare products within a few hours.
How to take care of your skin type(Skin care tips for different skin types)
1. Normal skin
Normal skin type requires less maintenance than others. The best way to maintain this skin type is to wash your face twice daily using a gentle cleanser, followed by moisturizing with a rich cream for skin healthy and moisture. Avoid harsh chemicals such as soap and alcohol-based products which strip away natural oils from your skin, as it will cause flaky skin. If you use makeup, choose one that doesn't contain any harsh ingredients. And always apply oil-free sunscreens when stepping out to protect against sun damage from sun exposure.
2. Oily skin
Oily skin type is characterized by excess oil secretion by the sebaceous glands. This causes a greasy and shiny skin appearance. Too excess sebum production can cause clogged pores, dark spots, acne-prone skin, acne breakouts, etc.
To care for this skin type, the first important thing is to build a healthy skin care routine which starts with daily cleansing. Wash your face with a gentle cleanser twice a day, not use a soap-based cleanser, and do not overwash. The more skin clean you want to make, the more oil your skin will produce. Exfoliating regularly helps prevent the buildup of dead skin cells, which can contribute to pimples and blackheads.
Besides, applying an oil-free moisturizer(which contains hyaluronic acid) is necessary, which keeps the skin hydrated and maintains the moisture level of the skin to help to restore skin in balance.
Choose the skin care products with ingredients such as retinol and salicylic acid that boost the skin's metabolism, as well as derivatives of vitamin C (such as VCIP and VE), which help oils resist oxidation.
3. Dry Skin
Dry skin is often caused by an imbalance between the amount of oils produced by your body and the amount of oil lost through evaporation. It's related to the factors such as genetics, age, and environmental conditions. When too little oil is present, the natural skin barrier lost its ability to maintain water content and causes dehydrated skin.
To care for this skin type, firstly avoid harsh soaps and exfoliants which may damage the skin barrier further and irritate your skin, wash your face as less as possible while doing the basic cleansing.
Besides, apply moisturizers regularly at least twice a day. Tends to select the skin care products that contain ingredients such as hyaluronic acid, glycerin, collagen, and natural plants oil for hydrating and moisturizing; also natural ingredients such as ceramides, and squalane for barrier restoring.
4. Combination Skin
Routine for combination skin is often difficult because it involves balancing multiple issues at the same time. For example, if you're dealing with dryness, then you'll likely also have oily areas. You may find yourself having to deal with both types of problems simultaneously. In order to keep skin balanced, you should opt for products that contain lightweight moisturizers and oil-free natural ingredients. These products won't weigh your skin down and they won't leave any greasy residue behind to cause skin worse.
5. Sensitive Skin
Actually, sensitive skin isn’t technically a skin type, but rather a skin condition. Therefore, regardless of your skin type, you can also suffer from sensitive skin. Meanwhile, the concept of sensitivity is very broad, and the reasons are also varied.
The sensitive skin can be caused by the damage of the skin's natural barrier due to over-skincare.
Even if the skin's barrier is not damaged, the skin may still feel tingling and irritation if the nerve endings are over-sensitive.
Due to problems with the body's immune system, allergic reactions may appear on the whole body or local skin after exposure to certain materials.
To care for the sensitive skin type, it's recommended to keep sensitive skin out of contact with strong irritants, including physical friction (such as secondary cleaning with cotton pads), chemical aggression (such as alcohol and acetone), and intense temperature and humidity changes (such as a sauna experience).
Besides, make only basic skin care routine: gentle cleansing, hydration, moisture, and sunscreen. Before choosing skincare products, check the ingredients list to avoid any harsh ingredients that can result in skin irritation, such as fragrance, acids(hydroxy acids, ascorbic acid, salicylic acid, etc), alcohols, and sulfates. Tend to choose plant-based mild products which contains soothing ingredients such as aloe vera, squalane, ceramides, green tea extracts, etc.