How To Determine Your Skin Type.

I remember as a teenager, I tried to figure out what type of skin I had.  It was difficult because I was told if you break out in acne, you have oily skin but what if you break out during that time of the month only? I had acne but not much and I didn't have it all the time. I ended up giving up for the simple reason that it was easier to find information on the shape of ones face and the best hairstyles for those shapes than it was to find skin type.

Now it is so much easier to determine your skin type especially with the internet holding so much information.  It is important to know the type of skin you have so you can treat it properly, purchase the right products for it, and adjust your lifestyle to match it.

One of the easiest ways is to do the 30 minute test.  To do it, you must first wash your face to get rid of anything on it such as makeup or sunscreen.  Leave it alone for 30 minutes.  This means do not apply any sort of product to it.  At the end of 30 minutes, look into a mirror and carefully examine your face.  If it looks shiny and even feels slick when you touch it, you have oily skin.  If your skin feels dry and flakey with some tight feeling patches, you have dry skin but if your skin is red and irritated, you have sensitive skin.  Finally, if you have both flakey and shiny places, you have a combination skin.

Another test is to use a clean piece of blotting paper on different parts of your face and then hold the sheet up to the light.  If the paper picks up a lot of oil, you have oily skin.  On the other hand, if there is little to no oil, you have dry skin. If you only find oil in the T-zone, then you have either combination or normal skin.

Now, it is quite possible for your skin to undergo temporary changes but it won't usually change its basic type since that is genetically determined. Your skin can and does change temporarily to enviornmental changes or during certain transitional periods in your life, or age.  For instance, when a woman goes through menopause, your skin may become dryer due to your oil producing glands becoming less active. Your skin may also undergo changes due to medications, levels of stress, or even diet.

If you skin becomes oilier, that is often caused by changes in your hormones. Your hormones can begin to produce more which causes the glands in your skin to produce more oil.  Sometimes, this happens to the whole face while other times it might only be along the nose in the T-area. 

Thus it is important to change your routine to meet the current needs of your skin type.  If you had dry skin most of your life and suddenly it becomes oily, you want to switch to products that are designed for oily skin.  You can damage your skin if you use the wrong product on your skin.  If you have oily skin that suddenly dries out but continue to use products made for oily faces.  You could dry your skin out even more and that isn't good.

So take time to monitor your skin, note any changes, and make adjustments.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.