You know your skin better than anyone else. In most cases, you know the history of your family’s skin. Look at the skin of your parents and grandparents. This is your gene stock. Whatever skin your parents and grandparents have or had, you have. Some people will appear as if their skin has never aged and they may have used only olive oil on their face. Others may appear ten or twenty years older than they are despite the fact that they do everything, they can to protect their skin from the appearance of age. Most of us fall somewhere in the middle. Everyone’s skin is different, yet there are enough general similarities to create an effective skincare system that works for almost everyone.
Here are some basic questions to ask yourself. Based on your answers, you will have a working knowledge of your skin type. Knowing this will assist you when you approach a cosmetic counter looking for any skincare products.
Your skin is at its most balanced state when you first wake up after a full night’s sleep. Remember that high amounts of alcohol or salt consumption can greatly alter the appearance of your skin in the morning. Hot weather conditions can produce a more oily skin type and cold weather can produce a drier or dehydrated skin type. Keep these factors in mind as you evaluate your skin. How does your skin usually appear in the morning is the question you need to ask yourself. It is best to write down your answers to the following questions so you have a list of information from which to work when shopping for cosmetics.
1. What is the feel of your skin to you in the morning? Does it feel comfortable, oily, taut, or tight?
If your skin feels comfortable, the balanced state of your skin is normal. Normal skin means you have an equal and adequate amount of water and oil on the surface of your skin.
If your skin feels oily, the balanced state of your skin is oily. Oily skin means you have more oil than water on the surface of your skin.
If your skin feels taut or tight, the balanced state of your skin is dry. Dry skin means that your skin has a low level of water and oil on the surface of the skin.
If your skin feels oily across the forehead, down the nose and on the chin only, you have a combination skin. This is also called T-zone skin because the oil appears in a T shape on the face.
Combination skin can have normal or dry cheeks to accompany the oily T-zone. If your cheeks are normal, it is best to treat your skin with oily skincare products. If your cheeks are dry, it is best to mix your products using oily skincare products on the T-zone and dry skincare products on the cheek area.
2. The only other factor you need to be aware of is whether your skin is sensitive or not.
If your skin tends to react within the hour to certain products, you have sensitive skin. A reaction can be a burning sensation that doesn’t go away, redness or bumps, and sensitivity to extreme hot or cold weather conditions. It is important to include in your skin type whether you are sensitive or not. Once again, only you know whether your skin is sensitive or not, and it is your responsibility to tell the cosmetics salesperson helping you exactly what your skin type is.
Once you know your skin type, you can approach any cosmetic line and ask what products they have for your particular needs. With this knowledge, the line person will focus only on products that fit your skin type, and you won’t feel overwhelmed with a counter full of bottles staring you in the face.