Cart Combination skin
"For the ultimate blackhead-buster, turn to pore strips - little sticky pads that you place over blocked pores band then pull off, gunk and all"
What are the characteristics?
Combination skin is normally a mix of oily skin in the center of the face (an area commonly called the T-zone) plus dry or normal skin on the cheeks. Exactly which are affected often changes with age - teens find the forehead and nose are big problems and this tends to be caused by the hormones flying around in puberty; older women find chins sometimes break out, too, and this is often linked to increased stress levels.
Outside the oily zone the state of the skin tends to depend a lot on your skincare. Using products to tackle the grease dramatically dries out the cheeks, chest, and eyes. Tackling combination skin is therefore a matter of balance.
How to care for combination skin
Your aim should be to treat the problem on one area of the face without harming the skin of the other areas. Your first step is cleansing. Its best to avoid harsh cleansers that are formulated for oily skin or milky cleansers formulated for dry skin and instead use a moisturizing cleansing bar or facial wash. The foaming action of these will help strip through the oil on the greasier parts of your skin but won't dehydrate the cheeks at the same time. After cleansing, use a gentle exfoliator. Many women with combination skin find they tend to get pimples around their nose as the dry flakes of skin from their cheeks stick to the oily areas and so cause blockages. Gentle exfoliation will go a long way to helping reduce this.
Exfoliation will loosen blackheads, but for the ultimate blackhead-buster turn to pore strips - little sticky pads that you place over blocked pores and then pull off. There are perfect for combination skin as they allow you to focus your treatment on the affected area. For best results use the strips every day for three days, then reduce it to just once a week.
The final step in your skin care program is your moisturizer., and here you do need to pander a little to your different skin types. During the day, when beating the shine is what counts, you should use mattifying products to soak up the sebum produced in your T-zone without drying out your cheeks.
Many companies now sell mattifying products using ingredients like witch hazel, talcum, or cornstarch to soak up oil without irritation. At night, choose oil-free creams or light moisture lotions that will supply your cheeks with extra hydration without overstimulating the oil in your T-zone.
Top 5 Tips for combination skin
What are the characteristics?
Combination skin is normally a mix of oily skin in the center of the face (an area commonly called the T-zone) plus dry or normal skin on the cheeks. Exactly which are affected often changes with age - teens find the forehead and nose are big problems and this tends to be caused by the hormones flying around in puberty; older women find chins sometimes break out, too, and this is often linked to increased stress levels.
Outside the oily zone the state of the skin tends to depend a lot on your skincare. Using products to tackle the grease dramatically dries out the cheeks, chest, and eyes. Tackling combination skin is therefore a matter of balance.
How to care for combination skin
Your aim should be to treat the problem on one area of the face without harming the skin of the other areas. Your first step is cleansing. Its best to avoid harsh cleansers that are formulated for oily skin or milky cleansers formulated for dry skin and instead use a moisturizing cleansing bar or facial wash. The foaming action of these will help strip through the oil on the greasier parts of your skin but won't dehydrate the cheeks at the same time. After cleansing, use a gentle exfoliator. Many women with combination skin find they tend to get pimples around their nose as the dry flakes of skin from their cheeks stick to the oily areas and so cause blockages. Gentle exfoliation will go a long way to helping reduce this.
Exfoliation will loosen blackheads, but for the ultimate blackhead-buster turn to pore strips - little sticky pads that you place over blocked pores and then pull off. There are perfect for combination skin as they allow you to focus your treatment on the affected area. For best results use the strips every day for three days, then reduce it to just once a week.
The final step in your skin care program is your moisturizer., and here you do need to pander a little to your different skin types. During the day, when beating the shine is what counts, you should use mattifying products to soak up the sebum produced in your T-zone without drying out your cheeks.
Many companies now sell mattifying products using ingredients like witch hazel, talcum, or cornstarch to soak up oil without irritation. At night, choose oil-free creams or light moisture lotions that will supply your cheeks with extra hydration without overstimulating the oil in your T-zone.
Top 5 Tips for combination skin
- Don't scrub oily areas - this irritates the ski8n and increases oil production.
- Don't treat your whole face the same. Your T-zone requires cleansing twice a day, while the cheeks need doing only once. It's vice versa with moisturizing.
- Sfter using pore strips, apply tea tree oil to your nose. It will reduce redless and cut bacteria levels in the pores.
- Avoid leave-in hair conditioners. Ingredients in these can block pores on the forehead, making greasy skin worse.
- Don't forget eye creams: you may need to avoid rich moisturizers on your cheeks, but you shouldn't skip them on the delicate skin around your eyes.
- Cleansing bars
- Pore strips
- Exfoliating scrub
- Oil-free moisturizer
- Eye cream
- 1 rose
- 1 tbsp rosewater
- 1 tbsp natural yoghurt
- 1 tbsp honey
By "The beauty book" by Helen Foster
