Proper skincare is the cornerstone of achieving a healthy and radiant appearance. However, to be effective, you need to know your skin type. Improperly chosen cosmetics or a lack of a consistent skincare routine can do more harm than good, leading to problems such as dryness, sebum overproduction, breakouts, or irritation. In this article, you will learn how to determine your skin type, how can you benefit from a proper skincare routine, what problems may arise from inadequate care, and why it is worth choosing natural cosmetics.
Skin Types Explained: How to Recognize Yours and Choose the Right Care?
To properly understand your skin’s needs, you must first know its type. In cosmetology, four main skin types are recognized: normal, dry, oily, and combination. Each has unique characteristics and care requirements.
Normal skin: Characteristics and Signs
Is the dream of many people. It is characterized by a balance between hydration and sebum secretion. It’s smooth, without visible pores or imperfections. If your face rarely reacts to weather changes or cosmetics, you probably have this skin type.
Dry skin: Characteristics and Signs
Is characterized by roughness, tightness, and a thin structure. It is a dehydrated skin, which often manifests as flaking or a feeling of tightness, especially after washing the face. Due to the lack of sufficient sebum, dry skin type cannot defend itself against external factors. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to avoid allergens in cosmetics, which further slowdown regeneration processes.
Oily skin: Characteristics and Signs
Is paradoxically also dry, with the difference that it defends itself by secreting sebum. This makes the face shiny appearance, very often characterizing with an oily T-zone (forehead, nose, chin). The sebum secreted by the skin is usually much denser and there is a lot of it, which causes enlarged pores. This skin type is difficult to exfoliate due to the small amount of water in the skin. The basis of care is thorough and gentle cleansing and moisturizing. It is absolutely necessary to avoid mattifying products, which increase sebum secretion. Oily skin type has deficiencies in linoleic acid in its sebum composition.
Combination skin: Characteristics and Signs
Is a combination of the characteristics of dry and oily skin. Usually, the cheek areas are dry due to a much smaller number of sebaceous glands. In those areas, not enough sebum is secreted for effective protection. On the other hand, there is too much sebum in the T-zone. Combination skin type requires gentle care, preferably without allergens, due to the dry areas.
Other Skin Types
In addition to this basic division, one can also talk about acne-prone, couperose, mature, and sensitive skin. Each of them requires different care. What are their characteristics and specific symptoms?
Sensitive skin: Characteristics and Signs
Sensitive skin is very prone to irritation. It can react with redness, burning, or itching to new cosmetics, temperature changes, or even tap water.
Couperose skin: Characteristics and Signs
Is characterised by delicacy and a tendency to broken capillaries, which are visible as red “spider veins” piercing through the thin skin, especially on the cheeks, nose, and chin. Couperose skin often reacts to temperature changes, wind, or harsh cosmetics.
Mature skin: Characteristics and Signs
This term refers to the condition where the first signs of natural aging processes appear. With age, the skin loses firmness, elasticity, and the ability to regenerate. Wrinkles appear, and the skin tone may become less even. Intensive hydration, anti-aging skincare, and cell-repair ingredients are essential for maintaining youthful-looking and healthy skin.
Acne-prone skin: Characteristics and Signs
Is characterized by visible imperfections: breakouts, blackheads, and excessive sebum secretion. Importantly, this type of skin can also affect adults.
How can you identify your skin type: A Step-by-Step Guide for Better Skincare
Not sure what your skin type is? Try this simple at-home test: after washing your face with a gentle cleanser, wait about an hour before applying any cosmetics. Beforehand, apply a thin tissue, patch or blotting paper to your face, paying attention to its different areas:
- No traces of sebum on the tissue and a feeling of comfort may indicate normal skin.
- Oily spots on the entire tissue, especially in the T-zone, indicate oily or combination skin.
- A feeling of tightness may indicate dry or sensitive skin.
Daily observations are also important. How does your skin react to changes in weather or humidity? For example, if you feel tightness and dryness in cold conditions, this may suggest dry skin. On the other hand, if the skin starts to shine quickly in the heat, it may be a sign of oily or combination skin. And again, sensitive skin can react negatively to all these factors. Remember that it may change over time.
What Determines Skin Type?
It is a result of many factors, both innate and external. Although genes play an important role in determining the basic skin type, daily habits, lifestyle, and environmental conditions can affect its condition and needs. Here are the main factors that determine skin type:
- Hormonal balance – hormonal changes can significantly affect skin type. Hormonal fluctuations during puberty, pregnancy, or menopause can alter sebum production.
- Lifestyle and diet – the saying “you are what you eat” works perfectly here. Your eating habits have a direct impact on the condition of your skin. A diet rich in fatty, processed foods and sugars can promote overproduction of sebum and breakouts. In turn, an adequate amount of water, diet rich in vitamins and minerals supports skin health.
- Skincare – daily habits can modify its condition. Using too aggressive cleansing products or unsuitable cosmetics can cause dryness, irritation, or overproduction of sebum.
- Environmental conditions – external factors such as climate, sun exposure, hot and cold weather or air pollution also have a huge impact.
- Genetics – the basic skin type is most often inherited from parents. For example, if your mother had dry skin with a tendency to acne, there is a greater probability that yours will have similar characteristics.
- Age – with age, sebum production decreases, skin tone becomes less even, and the skin loses hydration and elasticity. Young skin may be oilier, while in adulthood it becomes dry, delicate, and more prone to wrinkles.
Effective Skincare Routine for Different Types of Skin
Now that you know how to determine your skin type, it’s time to adjust your care. It doesn’t really matter if it’s dry or oily. Every care routine should be based on thorough but gentle washing, i.e., one that does not tighten the skin. The face should be washed not only in the evening but also in the morning to effectively remove the dead skin cells. Keep track of time! The best option is to set-up a timer and look at it, washing your face for a minimum of 60 seconds. Then you can proceed to toning the skin, but modern high-quality cleansing cosmetics are so gentle that toning is no longer necessary.
The next step is care. No matter if it’s dry or oily, give up “light cream.” These types of products often contain mainly water with a small amount of fat and emulsifiers, which means that after their application, the water evaporates quickly, leaving only a minimal amount of the oily phase. This is too poor to effectively nourish and protect the skin.
Instead, it is better to use an oil or anhydrous cream/butter. These types of skincare products should be used in smaller amounts – about three times less than a standard “light” cream. When applying oil or cream, first apply it to the hollow of your hand and rub it to slightly warm the product, and then apply it to previously moistened skin (e.g., with tonic or thermal water). Massage until the water completely evaporates. The effect should be satin, not greasy.
How to Care for Normal Skin?
As already mentioned, normal skin type is balanced – it does not get oily or too dry. Its care aims to maintain this balance. How to care for it?
- Gentle cleansing in the morning and in the evening. Keep track of time. Massage for 60 seconds. It may seem like a long time, but you will see the effects immediately.
- Moisturizing with a serum or cream with omega 6 acids, which protect it against moisture loss, sealing its hydrolipid barrier and inhibiting inflammatory processes caused by UV radiation.
- Regular use of thermal water (instead of tonic), without allergens, but with a large dose of minerals necessary to maintain healthy skin.
- Sun protection – UV filter creams are essential.
How to Care for Dry Skin?
Does very dry skin bother you? What is missing in your care? Here are our tips:
- Use gentle cleansing cosmetics without alcohol, harsh chemicals and allergens.
- Choose creams with a rich composition that will nourish and moisturize it.
- Introduce oils with omega 6 acids and aqueous serum with hyaluronic acid into your care. Always apply oily cosmetics to aqueous ones, for occlusion.
- Finish washing with cool water to close the pores. This will make a smoother finish. Absolutely give up all cosmetics with allergens.
How to Care for Oily Skin?
This type requires regulation of sebum production, while avoiding dryness, which can exacerbate its problems. Our advice:
- Choose cleansing gels with gentle ingredients that regulate the work of the sebaceous glands and clean the clogged pores.
- Use care cosmetics with unsaturated fatty acids, e.g., linoleic acid (omega-6). This ingredient regulates the work of the sebaceous glands and does not dry out the skin. It will make it less oily.
- Remember that in the morning you should wash your face with a cosmetic, and the washing must last a minute. Do not apply care that is only splashed with water.
- Use low-concentration acid peels and ready-made clay masks. Avoid using powdered masks if you are not sure that they are properly preserved. Clay absorbs moisture from the air, which promotes the growth of bacteria, fungi, and mold, even though they are not visible to the naked eye. Therefore, only use clay in ready-to-apply form or one that has been properly preserved.
How to care for Combination Skin?
It is commonly believed that the routine for combination skin requires an approach tailored to the different needs of individual areas of the face, therefore this type is often considered the most demanding. You don’t need dozens of cosmetics. To effectively care for combination skin, proper cleansing is important. Washing with an allergen-free preparation will help avoid irritation and allergic reactions. Additionally, care with an oil or cream containing omega-6 acids can bring excellent results. Omega-6 acids are unsaturated fatty acids that regulate sebum secretion in oily skin (which has deficiencies of these acids), thinning the already secreted sebum, and in the case of dry skin, they reduce its tension by sealing the hydrolipid barrier. Due to their versatile action, preparations with omega-6 acids can be successfully applied to the entire face.
Natural Skincare Solutions by
Alexandra Kubas: Gentle Care for Every Skin Type
Natural care with cosmetics from Alexandra Kubas is an excellent proposition for people who want to take care of their skin’s health, regardless of its type. The offer includes four unique products based on carefully selected, unrefined plant ingredients that meet the needs of different skin types. Smoothing Cleanser is a gentle cleansing cream that effectively removes excess sebum and gently exfoliates without disrupting the hydrolipid barrier. This makes it suitable for both oily and dry sensitive skin, providing a feeling of freshness and comfort.
For the care of mature skin and dehydrated skin, we recommend the coenzyme q10 serum. Its rich formula supports cell regeneration and improves elasticity. An intensely regenerating Cream is also available, ideal for the daily care of normal, oily, dry, and acne-prone skin.
In turn, Cream Woody was created for relaxation and regeneration. It is perfect for massage, and its pleasant fragrance and moisturizing properties make the skin silky smooth and soft.
Alexandra Kubas cosmetics are unique, luxurious skincare products created for people who know what they want and want to take care of their skin protection consciously. It is an ideal choice for people who value minimalism and simplicity in ingredients and maximum effects. If you don’t know how to choose facial care, these cosmetics have universal properties that make them effective regardless of skin needs.