How do you tell what skin type you have? The answer isn’t straightforward for some people. For others it’s easy. They know they have dry skin or they may have a fairly easy skin type that doesn’t have any problems and consider themselves to have normal skin.
But for some of us it can be confusing. You may have oily skin but feel dry at times, you may feel really dry but breakout if you apply moisturiser or you may have very reactive skin that is hard to manage.
So what is going on here? Well the simple answer is that it most likely you have a dehydrated skin surface. This lack of water in the upper layers places your skin under stress and all sorts of confusing things start to happen.
Firstly your skin will lose its protective ability as the surface skin cells curl up creating gaps and allowing irritants to get in. In extreme cases this can makes your skin sensitive and over reactive. For other people, the lack of water stimulates an over production of oil. This is your skin’s desperate and often not very effective way of sealing in water. This skin is called an Oily Dry Skin because it’s producing too much oil but it is in response to water dryness.
For yet other skins the dehydration makes their skin’s surface tight, the pores more likely to block and this leads to breakouts.
So my advice is to focus first of rehydrating your skin’s outer layers. Once you have achieved this, your skin will calm down and strengthen and then the true nature of your skin should show. In the end it should be easy to tell if you have a dry, normal, normal combination or oily skin simply by how much oil you tend to produce and how shiny you get during the day.
It is interesting to note that most skin’s in New Zealand are either dry, normal or normal combination. True oily skins are less common and in most cases are a response to water dryness.
To learn how to rehydrate and rebalance your skin, check out the Janesce skin soaking ritual. If you are still confused about your skin, pop in and see your local Janesce therapist for some expert advice. It is always worth knowing your true skin type so you can ensure you are using the correct skin care products.
