What Is Your Skin Type?
It helps to know your skin type when using a skincare regime as it will assist you in selecting the most appropriate products for your skin.
Common skin types include normal, oily, dry, sensitive and combination.
Your skin type can change over time. Some common factors that can affect your skin type are age, health and climate. For example, sickness can also deplete your skin of oils, or produce excess oil.
Your skin type can be defined by a variety of characteristics, including:
- Water content - affects your skin's comfort and elasticity.
- Lipid (oil) content - affects your skin's softness and nutrition - the glue that holds the dead skin cells together and traps water.
- Level of sensitivity - affects your skin's tolerance to certain substances.
Here's what you need to know about what skin type you have and how to care for your skin.
Normal skin type
If you have a normal skin type, you're fortunate to have skin that has a good balance and the right amounts of water and lipids. Normal skin has:
- No or few imperfections
- No severe sensitivity
- Barely visible pores
- A radiant complexion
Combination skin type
A combination skin type can be dry or normal in some areas, and oily in others, such as the T-zone. The T-zone is the nose, forehead, and chin area. A common skin type, combination skin is more common in younger people.
Combination skin can produce:
- Overly dilated pores
- Blackheads
- Shiny skin
This type of skin results from genetic or hormonal factors that cause an imbalance in how much and where lipids are produced. It can also vary, depending on the weather.
Dry skin type
Dry skin can produce:
- Almost invisible pores
- Dull, rough complexion
- Red patches
- Less elasticity
- More visible lines
When exposed to drying factors, skin can flake, crack, peel or become itchy, irritated or inflamed. If your skin is very dry, it can become rough and scaly, especially on the backs of your hands, arms, and legs.
Dry skin may be caused or worsened by:
- Genetics
- Ageing or changes in hormones
- Chemotherapy
- Weather such as wind, sun, or cold or ultraviolet (UV) radiation
- Indoor heating
- Long hot baths and showers
- Harsh ingredients in soaps, cosmetics or cleaning agents
Sensitive skin
Sensitive skin can present in a wide variety of ways with:
- Subjective symptoms such as stinging, itching, burning.
- Visible skin changes such as redness, dryness, scaling, peeling, bumps, hives.
- While there is no dermatological definition for sensitive skin, the term is used to describe the skin condition of people who easily break out in rashes and get blotchy, itchy, or stinging skin in response to products or the weather.
Knowing your skin type and using the correct products for that skin type can help to improve your skins appearance and repair it from unpleasant skin conditions that you may be experiencing.