Identify your skin type

A person’s skin is the greatest indicator of good or bad health. Primarily, the one thing that every one should begin with when it comes to skin care is categorizing your skin type.

The prerequisites for all skin types are a well balanced diet and maintaining skin hygiene. When it comes to diet one must avoid excess of carbohydrates, sweets, fried and alcohol which cause blotchiness and blemishes on our skin. Always see that your skin is replenished with the basic vital vitamins like Vitamin B which aids in clearing acne, Vitamin C which is needed to purify ones skin, Vitamin E which keeps the skin glowing and youthful and lastly Vitamin A which aids circulation that stops skin from drying up.

Drinking 8 to 12 glasses of what is also a requirement for great skin. It keeps one skin hydrated and in turn improves one’s complexion.

Now, let’s come back to the focal aspect for today: Identifying one’s skin type.

It is an essential to know your skin type so that you can choose a skin care routine as per your skin type. There are 4 basic, broad skin categories and the point to know here is that each one of us belongs to one of these categories. They are…

Normal Skin

A normal skin type is one that is unblemished, smooth and supple. It is by far the best skin type with the least problems, but also requires skin care to maintain its normalcy. This skin types suffers from no problems like enlarged pores or flaky dead cells. Of course, normal skin also has its occasional pimple problem due to hormonal change but it is not acne prone. All you need to do is cleanse your skin with rose water the first thing in morning and keep your skin moisturized all day. Apply a mild sunscreen through out the day as it will protect your skin from environmental evils like UV rays, dirt and pollution.

Dry Skin

This skin type is flaky, dull especially around ones eyes and cheeks. Dry skin has a tendency for flakiness, red patches and sore skin especially in cold weather. This skin type needs special care. To begin with one should have plenty of water and fruits to keep the skin hydrated. One needs to cleanse tone and moisturize this skin type regularly twice a day or else one will see wrinkles and fine lines very soon. Besides the CTM routine one needs to scrub this skin type once or twice a week depending on severity of the dry skin.

Greasy Skin

A person with this skin type has a shiny oily face which is dull colored. A person with this skin type also suffers with enlarged pores and is prone to acne and blackheads. One aspect that needs to be looked into with this skin type is it requires a lot more cleansing as the enlarged pores get clogged with dirt and grease from the environment. Make sure you splash your face with water at least three times a day if not more. Using toner is also essential on this skin type, but it should be a mild one. Moisturizing this skin type is not really necessary.

Combination Skin

This skin type is usually a mixture of dry and greasy skin. Usually a person with this skin type has dry cheeks and a greasy t-zone which is forehead, nose and chin. You need to take care or treat this skin type as a person who has two individual skin types. The t-zone will need loads of cleansing and toning whereas the cheeks would need moisturizing.

These are the skin types and each of us belongs to one of these categories. Once you have identified your skin type we can tell you how to treat it. Even the most flawless of skin has problems such as dry and oily areas, oily patches, clogged pores, uneven color and allergies. Skin constantly undergoes changes depending on weather conditions, artificial conditions, environmental pollution, nervous tension, insomnia etc and all these factors accelerate to a great extended skin problems and the process of skin ageing. Thus, our next column will be a three part column on the basic skin ritual, which each of us should follow to keep our skin health in check, that of Cleansing, Toning and Moisturizing. Part one of this column is coming up next Tuesday: Cleansing your skin naturally.

Tip of the Day:

Milk is one of the biggest skin care essential it makes for a great cleanser, toner and moisturizer.