Care for combination skin

Owners of combination skin have to constantly balance between care products “for dry” and “for oily”. Our rules will help you make the right choices to maintain balance.

First of all, you need to decide on which skin is considered a combination. And here everything is quite simple – if the areas in the middle of the face are shiny with sebum, and on the sides, they suffer from dryness, then you have a mixed skin type.

In order to be sure, it is enough to conduct a simple test: cleanse the skin and do not apply any products to it. After two hours of “virgin purity”, firmly press a sheet of tissue paper to your face and look at the prints. A shiny T-zone and a tight feeling in the cheek area will answer the question.

Nature has foreseen everything. In places where the face is most exposed to the sun, winds, and bad weather (forehead, nose, chin) and needs enhanced protection, the sebaceous glands are denser. Accordingly, the problems are specific here: enlarged pores, acne, and Sensitive skin.

The rest of the zones, on the contrary, suffer from dehydration, which means they are prone to dullness and premature wrinkles.

The main strategy for the care of combination skin is to restore and maintain balance.

Individual choice

Treat different areas of your face in different ways. Accept the fact that you will not be able to find one universal product that will “dry” where necessary and moisturize where necessary.

Some brands periodically announce the creation of smart drugs, which themselves decide on the way how to act and release the right components in the right places. As a rule, this is a marketing ploy, and everything ends with the usual moistening and matting over the entire surface. 

Therefore, for the T-zone, choose the lightest moisturizer, preferably with an additional anti-acne function. The rest of the “spaces” require deep and serious hydration. Agree – two tools are not so much.

Gentle cleansing

Use only gentle facial cleansers. Those who suffer from acne, try to choose the most active cleansing, but with combination skin, this becomes a mistake. Powerful formulas irritate dry cheeks while stimulating the oily T-zone to produce even more sebum.

Let your hand always reach for a gentle water-soluble product: it can be a gel or a cream – it doesn’t matter, the main thing is that the product effectively removes makeup and impurities without leaving a tight effect.

Washing with warm water

Hot water destroys the hydro-lipid layer of the skin, which leads not only to a weakening of the protection, but also causes itching and even peeling. Room temperature water is what you need. And after washing, it is imperative to apply a moisturizing serum to your face: unlike a cream, it is suitable for all areas of the face.

Tone up

Oily and dry skin have different pH balances and need to be balanced to maintain balance, and using a toner after you wash is a big step towards that goal. Just make sure your product is alcohol-free, which means it doesn’t dry out your skin or stimulate your sebaceous glands.

Exfoliate

Do a light exfoliation at least twice a week. You can properly cleanse and moisturize your skin, but if you don’t exfoliate dead skin, it will look dull and tired. This mini ritual will help prevent clogged pores and breakouts. Some dermatologists advise using a gentle scrub even four times a week to remove sebum, dead cells, and deep impurities.

Use SPF

This rule of skincare applies to everyone, without exception, but it is for mixed skin that non-comedogenic sunscreens are needed. Then the rashes on the T-zone will bypass you. If you still think that traditional Sanskrins add shine where it would be quite possible to do without it, pay attention to mineral filters.

Connect the clay masks

Don’t forget about clay masks. Their global beauty expansion has been going on for a year now, which definitely benefits our skin. Whether it’s bentonite clay, which is composed of minerals (iron, sodium, calcium, potassium, and magnesium, or French green clay, which contains magnesium and other plant-based minerals).

They are perfect for the T-zone: they will cleanse pores, absorb excess sebum, relieve irritations But you need to act according to the principle of multi-masking (since the clay does dry out), using moisturizing or nourishing masks for the rest of the face.

Add vitamin A

Because vitamin A is a powerful antioxidant that helps fight free radicals and bacteria, it becomes increasingly difficult for acne to grow and break out. In addition, vitamin A helps speed up the cell renewal process.

After exfoliation and removal of dead particles, young cells move upward faster, leaving skin glowing and healthy. Look for ingredients like retinol or tretinoin on the labels – these are different forms of the much-needed vitamin A.