What is it?
Combination skin, as the name suggests is nothing but a combination of both types of skin; oily and dry skin. Such combination is seen on one organ only. For instance, the face where there something called a T-Zone (the area of the face made by the nose, chin and forehead), is suppose to be oily and tend to blemish; whereas the cheek, eyes and mouth with lips remain dry. Such type of skin is the very common and hence, known skin type and nowadays, almost 70 per cent of women have it.
How you know this?
The testing is quite an easy task. To find out that one has combination skin, one can take a simple tissue test that requires simple tissue paper. Put a piece of tissue-paper onto the nose, forehead and chin and if gets or picks-up translucent oils, such parts of the face are then considered to be oily.
One should then try to stick the tissue-paper onto the cheeks and if the paper does not stick or pick-up oils, such parts of the face are then considered to be dry. Also, combination skin generally has medium-sized pores, goodish colors and smooth textures. Once it is confirmed that you have combination skin, there are many tips to keep in mind in order to take care.
The tips
One should understand that the face actually has a couple of types of skin that would be treated differently and it depends upon how dry or oily each part is.
One should wash the skin two times a day with a very mild but effective cleanser like a gel or foam, which can be used on the whole face. Avoid harsh and chemically made drying toilet bars.
It is advisable to go for some gentle toner that can be spread over to entire face. If oily area is particularly greasy, one might feel comfortable with a separate toner formulated for oily skin to terminate the problems in certain days when there is high level of sebum production.
Moisturizing the dry areas of the skin with an oil-free moisturizer two times a day gives favorable results.
One should treat only the oily areas and blemishes with some natural herbal product that inhibits oil production.
A person with combination skin should always note that he or she should exfoliate all areas of the facial-skin. For this, one can use two different masks for those two different types of facial-skin; for instance, a mask made up of clay for the oily parts and a mask made up of moisturizer on the drier one.
One should also use oil-free sunscreen lotions onto the whole face regularly. On daily basis, if this is used, it helps blocking harmful UV rays that damage the skin.
Make the most of the combination skin you are in by taking proper care of its unique differences so you can bring out the best in both its oily and dry areas.
One should balance the face by getting the products that can normalize the overall facial skin. Products that contain natural herbs and blood purifiers do great job. Also, products such as those that contain alpha hydroxy acids (AHA or fruit acids) or retinol, a vitamin A derivative are also proven to be having great results.
Another important thing is to cleanse the face daily, without any failure. And for this, again, one should use a mild cleanser on the whole face. Using such natural cleanser will help balancing the pH value of the face. This application is done preferably just before hitting the sack and after getting up in the morning because these are the times when the face requires to be cleansed anyway, but in case, the skin is combination type, is quite imperative.
