Skin Types

What Type Of Skin Do You Have?

Normal Skin

Normal skin is soft, supple and smooth. It is fine-textured and free of blemishes (with the exception of periodic blemishes). It has a nice glow and never feels oily or dry. Less than twenty percent of women have normal skin. If this is your skin type you are fortunate and you should be sure to take good care of it. 

Dry Skin

Dry skin has a fine texture and is transparent looking.

This complexion lacks both sebum and moisture. Dry skin appears fine textured, transparent, patchy and fragile and has a tendency to flake and chap easily. It feels tight and drawn without moisturizer and tends to have fine lines around the eyes and mouth. It feels especially dry after washing and may have whiteheads around the eyes and dry patches. Fine lines and wrinkles are therefore more obvious on dry skin. Dry skin can be determined if a person has flaky patches that disappear with regular moisturizing, finely textured skin with the pores not visible, tiny expression lines that do not disappear and the skin on the neck and cheeks appears chafed. Dry skin can be controlled through intensive skin care routine and plenty of hydration therapy, which includes a healthy balanced diet, lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, 7-8 glasses of water and at least eight hours of sleep.

Dry skin needs proper care because it shows signs of aging early. 

Oily Skin

The oily skin complexion is greasy, sallow and coarse. It has large pores and tends to have pimples, blackheads and whiteheads.

Oily skin types are persons that have an over reactive sebaceous (oil-producing) glands. The abundance of these glands makes the face shiny especially down the central panel- also called the T-zone. This T-zone includes your nose, forehead and chin. This over activity of the sebaceous glands causes the pores of this skin type to become enlarged and thereby prone to skin disorders like blackheads, pimples and acne. Within hours of washing the oiliness will reappear and makeup is usually absorbed quickly. Oily skin types need to take extra special cleansing care to keep the pores unclogged and maintain a daily method of gentle cleansing to prevent accumulation of dirt on the skin surface. However, care must be taken not to zealously over do the cleansing bit as this can aggravate the condition further so the prudent beauty advice would be to cleanse only with a product meant for oily skin, not more than three times a day. This should be followed by patting on a toner/astringent on the oily areas of your skin to help control the excess oil.

Combination Skin

Combination skin is oily in the T-zone and the rest of the face is dry. The T-zone is the forehead, nose and chin. The extent to which both areas are dry and oily may vary; however, both areas require a separate cleaning routine to restore them to balance. 

Problem Skin

Problem skin is usually oily, has a coarse texture and is subject to acne. It has large pores, blackheads, red blotches and may become more irritated under stress. If the problem is serious it will require the assistance of a dermatologist.

There are also two skin conditions that may occur either together or separately and may occur with any skin type. These are sensitive and allergic conditions.

If you begin to sneeze when applying skin care products, or if you wheeze, itch or breakout you are probably allergic. Skin that appears thin or pale, and flushes easily, may be sensitive and be subject to allergies. If this is the case, you should treat your skin gently and use hypoallergenic products.

Sensitive skin types are those persons who have skin that reacts in a non-conventional way, both externally and internally, to changes in life. Sensitive skin can be either oily and/or dry and tends to be easily disturbed by skin care products and cosmetics. Sensitive skin can get blotchy and result in broken veins appearing on the surface of the skin while also showing increased redness or causing itchiness in a person. Consulting a dermatologist in serious cases is advisable as proper medical care may be needed to survive with such delicate skin condition, and the reactions that sensitive skin types are prone to.