Hello 
Today’s post is going to be a wee bit different. Fear not, for we are going to be hitting some sweet beauty tips in just a second, but first, I would like to talk a bit about beauty blogs in general. And while I don’t consider myself a beauty blogger, this is sort of becoming a beauty blog itself. And you guys know I love compiling delicious, natural recipes for you, and giving you beauty advice and all.
But.
But I would just like to ask you – before applying anything on your face/teeth/body, do you do your own research? Or do you just take my word for it? Or Cosmo’s word for it? Or anyone’s, really? And if the answer is ‘no’, I urge you to think again and change your ways.
I know, it’s fun and much easier to just read up on a cool recipe online and go do it, but you need to understand the research step as a vital and necessary part of the process. Some people recommend you stuff because they have an interest in promoting that specific product or brand. You need to be wary of those people. And even when it’s people like me, who stand to gain nothing if you make a honey face mask or whatever, you still need to be cautious. First, because (as I tell you a thousand times) what works for me might not work for you and might actually make your skin worse. And you need to be aware of how that particular product might affect your skin. It’s super important.
For example, what prompted this post was ~ I use vaseline (aka petroleum jelly) for a number of things. I use it on my skin to soothe itchiness when needed, I occasionally use it as a moisturizer… And I was just reading this article by a blogger I really like talking about how petroleum jelly might actually be really bad for you, how it might contain carcinogens… anyway, if you want, you can read the full post here. But the thing is, I didn’t know any of this and that’s on me. I am the only one responsible for what I put on my skin and for how that might affect my skin and my overall health. And I want you guys to try and take an active interest in that, too.
So, do your research, know your body and understand that everyone is different.
Right, now that we got the PSA out of the way, we can get to the rest of our post. And since we’re talking about knowing yourself, I figured it might be a helpful idea if we talked a bit about knowing your skin type.
You’ll see a lot of articles online saying things like ‘use X mask if you have oily skin’ or ‘for combination skin, do that...’ and the truth is, while in some cases oily skin is just obvious, often we’re just really confused. We sort of assume what type of skin we have, but we never bothered to find out, and maybe we’re using products for a completely different skin type.
Right, let’s roll.
So, I’ve searched far and wide for the best method of determining your skin type and what I have managed to come up with is fairly simple. You just wash your face with a mild cleanser (natural or store-bought is up to you) ideally at night and you don’t apply anything else. No moisturizer, no serum, no cream of any kind. And you wait. How much seems to vary, some say 30 minutes to an hour, some say sleep on it. So, figure out how much you can wait and then, when that time is over, examine your skin. Pat your face with (clean) fingertips.
And taa-daa! If your hands are oily, your skin type is oily. If not, then your skin is most likely normal/combination. And if it’s dry, then obviously, you have a dry skin type.
How do you know a mild cleanser from a rough one? Well, often enough, rough cleansers are more foamy and tend to strip your skin off beneficial oils. So, try to use a non-foaming cleanser.
While I’m sure this method works to some extent, it just doesn’t seem too accurate to me. So I went a step further and gathered some information about each skin type, to help you determine which one is yours.
This one is really easy to spot. While there may be some oiliness, it won’t be excessive or bothersome. Normal skin has really small pores, really hard to see, it doesn’t usually have any pimples or blemishes and overall has a smooth texture and pink color.
A much trickier one, this. Here, aside from the excess oil, your pores are much larger and often too-visible. Oily skin is also thicker (doesn’t have that rosy, healthy glow of normal skin, but tends to be more opaque and look more tired). And of course, oily skin is more prone to acne and skin problems, and also visible blackheads.
Now, if you happen to have oily skin, I know the first thing you’ll want to do is cover it up. The blemishes, the blackheads, the oil – everything. And you’ll want to use a lot of make-up to do that. While I get it, my advice would be not to.
Make-up tends to clog the pores more and thus, block them, which in turn, makes the skin even worse. Grime gets trapped inside and your face ends up with more rashes and problems than it had in the first place. Besides, heavy make-up use tires your face out, it fills it in a really unpleasant way. I used to use concealer and foundation and a lot of make-up on my face, particularly because it was problematic. But then, I read that maybe I shouldn’t, as all that make-up weighs you down and might even age your skin prematurely. So now, I use really light make-up on my face and am much happier with the way it looks.
What I would recommend, for oily skin, is use an oil-absorbing mask about twice a week. Something like clay or yogurt or lemon juice, if that works for you, can really help balance your skin. Another great thing you can do, if you have oily skin, is exercise. Vigorous exercise, like cardio, running, something that makes your heart beat fast and gets your skin to sweat. Oh, and baking soda, again!
And the most important beauty secret – wash your face! It’s super-easy, yet often overlooked. Find the right cleanser for you (stay away from oil-based ones, for obvious reasons) and wash your face religiously. Twice a day at least. Your skin needs to be clean and be able to breathe in order to thrive.
I know oily skin makes you want to crawl under a rock, but remember that skin type is is not forever. It can (and often does) change over time, so how you take care of yourself really plays a big part in it.
And then, there is dry skin, which is just lovely. No, not really. Dry skin is really really bad, actually. Perhaps even worse than oily skin, but this ain’t a contest. So, how do you know you have dry skin?
Well, this is pretty easy – your skin always feels tight and about to crack (or perhaps already cracked) and it’s possibly itchy. Often, dry skin will begin to flake off (making it look really unpleasant in the process), so that should be obvious.
What you can do for dry skin? Oils. Hydrate. Coconut oil and shea/cocoa butter, as I said in one of my previous posts, are amazing hydrators and might help your skin. Also, exfoliate. This might not sound like what you need right now, but a gentle baking soda or sugar scrub might do you the world of good. You need to get rid of that dead skin somehow, just be gentle.
Oh, and read up on your cleanser. In many cases, people use the wrong cleanser, which is too harsh for their sensitive skin. So, maybe try changing to a milder cleanser for two weeks and seeing how your skin feels?
Aah yes, the tricky one. I’m sure we’ve all seen the above words on something at the store and wondered – is that me? Could it be?
While combination skin is trickier to ‘diagnose’ than the other three, I’ll do my best to guide you. It seems that a lot of the combination skin thing is about the T-zone (nose and above eyebrows and sometimes even middle of chin). Remember the method I mentioned earlier? Well, if you check your face and find it’s only oily around your T-zone, than you may well have combination skin.
Another good indicator is, you apply moisturizer and it’s all good on your cheeks, but your T-zone is shiny and oily as hell. You might also have enlarged pores over your T-zone.
What to do? Combination skin is trickier to treat because some parts of your face belong to one category, some to another. A good idea would be to add toner into your beauty routine, since toner helps balance out the pH of the skin and redistributes excess oil, which can really help with combination skin.
A good natural toner would be rosewater or cucumber juice.
So, I hope I’ve helped you figure out your skin type a little. I noticed that in this post, the word ‘cleanser’ came up a lot and so, I figured next time, we’ll be talking about natural cleansers.
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