I Think I Have Dry Skin

Perhaps only a few areas of your skin are dry and others are not. Or maybe you have a few dry areas and other places that are oilier. You are not sure how to treat it because doing one thing for all areas of your skin may have bad results on certain areas while helping others.

So what gives?     It is most likely that you have both; you have dry skin and another skin type. This mix of skin types means you have one specific skin type. Combination skin. Tricky, because not only must you find good ways of treating your dry skin, but you must also tailor your skin care regimen to normal or oily skin.

Frustrating yes, but before you start stressing (as stress has never done anything good for anyone, especially the skin), take a deep breath and remember that not having overall oily skin can mean less acne outbreaks for you, and not having overall dry skin can mean less work in trying to get it to be soft and moisturized again.

The most common format for combination skin is to have an oily T zone, or the areas of your forehead, nose, and chin, and to have dry cheeks and eye areas. Take comfort in knowing at least your face is not a patchy battleground of confusing skin types and instead the areas are localized, which makes them much easier to treat. You may even be comforted to know that your T zone is probably not as oily as a person with overall oily skin, and that your dry skin is not as bad as some people with overall dry skin.

So what do you do with this combination of dry and oily skin types? You simply have to adjust your skin care routine to accommodate for both dry skin and oily skin. There are many products out there that tailor to each skin type, or you might even be interested in looking into products that are made specifically for combination skin.

As with any skin type, there are certain things you will want to perform whether you have dry or oily skin, so find the right product for each and begin treating your skin.

Cleanser. No matter if you have oily skin or dry skin, you still want to cleanse. Make sure that your cleanser will not remove all the moisture from your face, because then your dry areas will be worse off and your oily areas will only produce more oil, thus counteracting everything you have just tried to do for your skin.

Exfoliation. Dry skin means flakes of dead skin cells that can get caught in your pores. Oily skin means dead skin cells have a better chance of getting caught in your pores. A good exfoliate will help clean your pores and keep your skin free of dead skin cells.

Moisturize. This applies mostly to your dry skin, as it will more than likely need the moisture. You can leave your oily areas out of the moisturizer loop, as they do not need it. Be sure to give you dry skin all the moisturizer it needs, and use more if necessary.

Sunscreen. Whether you have dry skin or oily skin, the sun will do damage to your skin without a sunscreen to protect it. Find a good sunscreen that both your skin types will be able to handle and be sure to put it on at least 20 minutes before heading out into the sun in order to give it time to absorb into your skin.     Anti pimple cream. Both dry skin and oily skin can be prone to the occasional pimple or two, so have a cream or other anti-pimple product on hand to help zap blemishes before they get out of control.