The Best Skin Care for Your Facial Skin Type

The best skin care for your face depends on your facial skin type. Not all facial skin types are created equal!

If you want to look great and have beautiful skin, knowing your skin type is a must have. Many people may experience two different facial skin types in the same lifetime. Why? Because varying factors can influence it and actually change it over time.

These can be internal or external factors like genetics, illness, climate changes, aging, or even stress and anxiety.

There are five basic facial skin types. Knowing which one you are is imperative in knowing which products you should buy. Each skin type depends on how much sebum or oil your own sebaceous glands produce. Sebaceous glands are sac-like structures in the dermis which secrete and produce sebum. (oil) To get the best skin care for you, its important to know which skin type you are!

depends on how

much sebum or oil

your own sebaceous

glands produce.

To get the best

skin care for you,

its important to know

which skin type you are!

Your sebaceous glands can actually predict the size of your pores. The oilier your skin is, the larger your glands and pores will be. (sorry:o(

Skin type categories include: dry skin type, normal skin type, combination skin type, oily skin type, and sensitive skin type.

Dry Skin Type

Combination Skin Type

Combination skin is what most people technically have. It’s characterized by having one type of skin in a few areas and another type of skin in another area. Most frequently, it is also characterized the oily ‘T’ zone on the face. The top of the ‘T’ stretches across the forehead and the bottom of the ‘T’ stretches down the nose and chin. In most cases, the cheek skin, eyes and mouth are either normal or dry. Since different types of skin have different needs, normal skin is the hardest skin type to treat effectively. The best skin care for combination skin consists of 1) removing excessive oils from the ‘T’ zone while 2) other areas may need an application of extra moisturizers to keep them plump.

Oily Skin Type

Although oily skin may cause other problems like acne, this skin type is the best anti aging skin type. Oily skin is caused by overactive sebaceous glands and is characterized by shiny, greasy looking skin with large pores. The best skin care for oily skin is to 1) remove the excess oils with good toners with stronger salicylic acids like Neutrogena Pore Refining Toner, 2) good cleansing programs, 3) heated treatments like steam or thermal treatments like Olay Regenerist Thermal Skin Polisher, and 4) clay masks. Queene Helene Mud Pack, Masque facial mask is an old standard, however if you're looking for a new blend, try Kiss My Face Organics Pore Shrink Mask or Zia Naturals Papaya Enzyme Mask. All of these treatments help remove excess oils from the skin. Just be sure to not over clean. If you clean your face too much, your oil glands will produce even more oil. There is a healthy balance that must be attained to keep the face clean and free of excessive oils.

Sensitive Skin Type

Since sensitive skin can be either oily, dry, or normal, it is often viewed as a skin condition rather than a skin type. Sensitive skin generally ‘overreacts’ to some of the ingredients in certain products or to environmental factors. Products may contain ingredients such as fragrances or artificial colors, (or other products), that cause the skin to have an adverse reaction. (rash, blochiness, redness, etc.) Pollutants or UVA/UVB rays are example of environmental factors that can influence the skin’s reactions.

The best skin care for sensitive skin is to 1) take care of it gently, 2) use hypo-allergenic products or ‘light’ or ‘water based’ products that are also fragrance free and specially designed for sensitive skin 3) use organic or all natural products. Examples of organic products are Kiss My Face Organic Toner and Beauty Without Cruelty Vitamin C UV Lotion with CoQ10

FYI***

This was copied and pasted here from the US FDA website:

(Not that I think that much of the FDA but I thought I'd include it for reference only! It IS certainly information you'll appreciate knowing!)

Hypoallergenic cosmetics are products that manufacturers claim produce fewer allergic reactions than other cosmetic products. Consumers with hypersensitive skin, and even those with "normal" skin, may be led to believe that these products will be gentler to their skin than non-hypoallergenic cosmetics.

There are no Federal standards or definitions that govern the use of the term "hypoallergenic." The term means whatever a particular company wants it to mean. Manufacturers of cosmetics labeled as hypoallergenic are not required to submit substantiation of their hypo-allergenicity claims to FDA.

The term "hypoallergenic" may have considerable market value in promoting cosmetic products to consumers on a retail basis, but dermatologists say it has very little meaning.

(So be careful when you choose your products. Use brands that you know and trust!)

Choosing the best skin care for your facial skin type can be a bit tricky, but everyone eventually finds the product(s) that works best for your type skin. Use brands that are tried and true and companies that always over-deliver their products and stick with them!

Don't know your skin type? Use this handy method and extra tips to determine it!

- Clean your face and wait about 1/2 hour. Use a one ply tissue and press it against your face for 10 seconds or so, remove it and check the results.

- Using a fresh one ply tissue each time, repeat this on a few different areas on your face.

- Oily skin will leave some stain on the tissue.

- Dry skin wont leave any traces of oil or moisture at all.

- Normal skin may show some moisture on the tissue, but no traces of oil.

- T-zone or combination skin will show oily parts and dry parts on the tissue, according to where you're placing the tissue.

- Sensitive skin is usually thin and delicate. The pores are almost non existent. That skin type is prone to broken capillaries, redness and reacts very quickly to the environment and products.

- Dry skin feels very tight, especially after cleansing and shows fine lines and wrinkles at an early age. Glide your hand over your cheeks and check for dry patches. It may also feel leathery at times.

Most people have combination skin. It's usually dry on the cheeks and oily in the t-zone. Oily skin tends to be shiny. When you touch the skin, especially the forehead, you'll feel the oil. The pores tend to be larger, you may see blackheads and be prone to zits, pimples and breakouts.

The best skin care for you depends on what products work well on your facial skin and leaves your skin feeling great. They should never feel oily or heavy. Oil of Olay is a standard in the industry. My grandmother used Oil of Olay daily wear lotion for a long time. She had beautiful skin till she was in her 80's. The proof is in the pudding! When you buy any daily wear facial lotion, be sure to get UV protection. Products like Olay All Day Complete UV Defense Moisture Lotion and Olay Total Effects Moisturizing Vitamin Complexare used to block the harmful rays of the sun.

To go to the next Anti Aging Skin Care page, here's the link: Facial Masks for Every Skin Type

To view the previous Anti Aging Skin Care page, here's the link: Exilerating Anti Aging Facial Skin Care

Back to Top of Page Restorative Anti Aging Skin Care Beauty Care Tips and Techniques Go from Best Skin Care Back to Homepage