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Combination Skin
At this stage, we’re trying to create a foundation for your skin care journey, starting with understanding all aspects of your literal two-faced skin type, combination skin. As if it isn’t enough managing one skin type, but now you have to deal with two? We feel you.
However, most probably any frustration you’re feeling stems from the endless failed attempts at perfecting your skincare routine. It is true that there’s no “one size fits all” in skin care, but there are many things you can do to significantly shorten your testing phase, and find the perfect products to meet your combination skin’s needs.
The first step is to fully understand all aspects of your skin type, in order to choose the best products for your skin care journey.
What is combination skin?
It’s exactly what it sounds. It’s a combination of two skin types in which areas of the face such as the cheeks are dry, and others tend to be oilier and shinier, just like the T-zone, which is the forehead, the nose, and the chin. Many people share this type of skin, and it actually needs a slightly different kind of routine in different areas. This type of skin varies in intensity. Some people have an oilier, more-greasy T-zone than others, while other people can have normal to very dry skin in the rest of the facial area.
In short, there are two main types of combination skin, an oily-dry combination, and an oily-normal combination. We’ll get into detail about the exact products you need in each case later on.
How do I know that I have Combination Skin?
1- After washing your face, you will notice oiliness in certain parts of your face and not in others.
2- After using a moisturizer, your cheeks will feel good, but your T-zone will look like you accidentally spilled your highlighter all over.
3- Your nose’s pores are visibly larger than the other pores on your face.
4- The weather always determines the T-zone’s oiliness.
5- You may have a mix of dry patches, black heads, white heads, breakouts and more all at once!
What causes combination skin?
- Your genetics. It is what it is, but managing combination skin long term is a lot easier than it sounds. It might bring you comfort to know that this is the most common skin type out there!
- Hormonal Imbalance caused by pregnancy, ovarian cysts, menopause and more. Make sure to have a check up with your gynaecologist at least twice a year, and to visit if you notice a drastic change in your skin, breakouts, hair growth, etc..
- Hormonal Adjustment through medication! Yes, many medicines you take to adjust hormonal imbalances might be the cause of the sudden change in a part of your face, or in its entirety.
- Stress is a main cause in developing combination skin. What it actually does is produce an excessive amount of androgen hormones, which are linked with excess sebum production and acne breakouts.
How do I manage my combination skin?
It can be tricky to manage combination skin as you rarely come across products that can be truly hydrating for your dry parts and sebum regulating for the oily parts. These products do exist, but they might not be very beneficial in the case where you have excessive oiliness, excessive dryness or both! The solution ideally is to opt for two skin care routines, one for each part of your face.
But don’t panic! It is easier than it sounds and is actually just as economical as having oily or dry skin when it comes to your skin care routine. You might see it as double the price tag, but you’re only using every product in half of its intended amount. i.e. instead of buying a full routine once a month, you’re now buying two routines every two months. That’s not so bad now is it?
An example of the products you need:
- Oil-free and non-comedogenic (pore blocking) products for your oily zones.
- Sebum regulating products for your oily zone.
- Heavily moisturizing products for your dry areas. Regular Moisturizing products if you have normal skin in your cheeks and jaw line.
- Choose a sunscreen more suited towards your oily areas if you’re going to opt for one. As long as you moisturized your dry or normal areas properly, just look for a sunscreen that helps your oily skin on the condition that it doesn’t cause dryness or irritation.
- Don’t use the same kind of cleanser for your entire face unless you’re using an extremely gentle cleanser. If you wear makeup regularly and find that a gentle cleanser works well for you, try to double cleanse in order to remove all make up residue.
- Try exercising to give your skin the oxygen and nutrients that it needs.
- Try eating more salmon, mackerel, sardines, and walnuts to give your skin all the healthy fats needed.
- Hydrate, hydrate, and then hydrate some more! So many of the breakouts, excessive sebum production, excessive dryness and even slowed healing time is due to your body not receiving the right amount of water it needs to operate. Water makes up over 70% of your face and body, so treat it as such.
We at Embrace love to always be there for you in every step of your skincare journey and will try to keep you as informed as possible with all things skin care related.