Alot of skin care products offer alternative products depending on your skin type, however, very often there exists little difference between the formulas for combination or oily skin and their dry skin alterntives.

Because of hormonal changes that occur during puberty, it is very common to have an oily skin type as a teenager, but it can also be quite common in our 30?s and 40?s as well. The skin generally tends to dry out as we get older, since the production of sebum reaches its peak during adolescence and then slowly starts to decrease with age. This latter point means that for people who suffer oily skin, your skin may start to improve as you get older because of the reduction in oil production. During pregnancy and the menopause, hormonal imbalances also usually trigger activity in the skin’s sebaceous glands, which can in some women result in an increase in the level of sebum oil produced.

Many people have skin that is oily in certain regions of the face, generally the facial area we refer to as the T-zone (forehead, nose, and chin), and dry or normal in others. This skin type is generally referred to as combination skin.

The main factors influencing oily and combination skin types are: Heredity skin type factors Levels of hormones that influence the skin Cosmetics and skin care lotions Pregnancy Birth control Weather and Humidity

Cleansing your Oily Skin Try and avoid cleansing creams since they are often too harsh and dry out the skin. Choose pure soaps that have few or no artificial additives, or try a lightly medicated lotion. Oil-based products, although seemingly a bit ironic to use on oily skin, do actually prove to be quite effective in reducing and removing excess sebum from the skin.

As part of your oily skin care routine, wash oily skin gently in warm water and avoid products that leave the skin feeling overly dry since this can result in a reaction known as reactive seborrhoea, where the sebaceous glands increase oil production in response to the reduction in the level of oil. Alcohol-based products since be avoided since they can take away too much oil and you should reduce the number of times you wash daily since this can cause reactive seborrhoea. Products that dry the skin out too much sometimes cause the upper layers of the skin to shrink, restricting oil flow through the pores which can exacerbate pore blockage.

Oily skin treatment When cleansing, massage your face with your fingertips, using an outward and upward motion, and take care not to rub soap into the skin since this can increase the risk of clogging. If your skin is also scaly as well as oily, then you might want to try a deep-cleaning exfolient a couple of times a week. Choose an oil-free moisturizer for a shine-free complexion.

Use an antiseptic day cream before applying makeup and use a foundation for oily skin. Look for those oily skin care products that have active ingredients such as benzyl peroxide that help reduce sebaceous secretions.