Many of us do not know the right use of moisturiser. We often tend to over moisturise or under moisturise our skin because we do not know about our skin type. Knowing what type of skin you have is important to choose the right moisturiser for your skin.
To be on the safe side, you can start by assuming that you have dehydrated skin because there is a likelihood of some degree of dehydration in every skin type. Search moisturisers with humectants. These are the ingredients in skin care products that prevent the loss of moisture from your skin such as Propylene glycol, PEG, hyaluronic acid, aloe vera, honey, glycerine etc. Nowadays there are lots of skincare brands that use synthetic or natural humectants so you can find them easily.
To determine your skin type you can either analyse the general skin characteristics including size of pores and extent of shine on your face or can refer to FitzPatrick skin type scale which will easily help you to determine your skin type. After you are done with this step, you can move forward to choosing a right moisturiser for your skin type.
• Normal to dry skin: for this type of skin you need to choose moisturisers that are rich in lipids. This will help to strengthen the barrier function of your skin and will slow down the loss of water making your skin softer and smoother.
You can also choose to have facial rejuvenation treatment such as chemical skin peel once in a while to slow down the loss of moisture from your skin.
Most of the over-the-counter moisturisers already have lipids in them unless ‘oil-free’ is written on them. If you choose creams they have more lipids and again these are not hard to find.
• Oily skin: for those who have oily skin are better off with three options.
I. You can use oil free moisturisers for oily skin that are generally water-based and manufactured without the use of lipids. These ingredients usually have oil-absorbing or oil regulating ingredients so they control the production of oil on the skin.
i. These moisturisers are suitable to use when the air is not fully dry. If you are in an environment where the air is too dry such as indoor heating or air-conditioning then it is better to use regular moisturisers that are not completely oil-free. An oil-free moisturiser allows quick evaporation of water from skin surface which is not suitable for the dry environments as it will completely dry your skin.
II. Oily skin does not mean that you cannot use regular moisturisers at all. You can still use regular moisturisers that have lipids as they are a vital component of the skin. These lipids are naturally lost due to cleansing as well as due to harsh environmental conditions so it is necessary to replace them.
The lipids help in nourishing skin barrier and make it stronger which results in less water loss and moisturised skin for longer.
i. You need to choose a moisturiser that does not have too much of lipids, that do not feel too heavy or greasy on your skin and is lightweight.
III. You can take benefit of face oils for oily skin. You can use this either in place of moisturiser or can mix a drop into your regular moisturiser. You might be thinking that adding oil to already oily skin may cause more oil but natural face oil like plant oil or essential oils strengthen your skin’s barrier function.
i. When your skin become dry and loses its surface oil due to harsh weather conditions or excessive cleansing, it needs something moisturising to maintain its moisture content.
ii. The addition of face oil that has essential fatty acids keeps the barrier function of your skin strong and intact.
There is a variety of plant extract oils available in the market. Some are suitable for oily skin while others may not be so you need to do some experimentation if you choose to apply it on your skin. Therefore, always do some prior patch testing before regularly using any oil. Just take 1-2 drops on your fingertips and gently press the fingers on your skin without rubbing. Remember that it is oil not a cream and you need its much smaller quantity to moisturise your skin as compared to a cream.
• Combination skin with oily T-zone: If your skin is not completely oily but only have an oily T-zone or nose and area around the nose or have excessive blackheads in the area you need to adopt a different strategy. For the t-zone, choose an oil-free moisturiser while for the rest of the face; choose regular lipids based moisturiser which adequately nourishes your skin.
If you have congested pores with stubborn blackheads then using lipids based moisturiser will further worsen the condition. For the blackheads removal, you can undertake facial rejuvenation treatment such as chemical skin peel to improve the condition.
• Very dry or mature skin: If your skin is extremely dry then you need extra moisturisation. Look for the moisturisers that have at least few plant oils in them. For this, you can check out their ingredients list. You can also choose to use face oil which should be a combination of antioxidants and other skin-nurturing nutrients. The use of moisturiser can be combined with face oil to achieve better moisturisation and to strengthen the skin barrier function as a very dry skin is prone to cracking and peeling due to extreme dryness. Besides, facial rejuvenation treatment from an expert skin care clinic can also help in restoring moisture of your skin.
No comments:
Post a Comment