Skin care products
Choosing skin care products can be a daunting experience with thousands of products on the market, treating everything from childhood acne to sun damage and the inevitable signs of ageing. With myriad informational websites, blogs and cosmetic advertising within this multi billion dollar industry it can be difficult to know where to begin.
This section will help you find the basic information you need to understand your skin type and the skin care routine. You will also be given the opinions of dermatologists and cosmetic experts on cosmetics and cosmeceuticals to help you make up your own mind on what products to use and what ingredients to avoid.
Know your skin type
Finding the right skin care products depends on many factors, including your age, whether you have specific conditions, such as acne, and your skin type. Generally, however, skin can be broken down into five types:
Combination skin. Combination skin is neither too dry nor too oily. This is also known as the normal skin type, with oil in the “T” zone and drier on the cheeks. The “T” zone area includes all of the forehead, the nose and the chin and is generally as wide as the mouth.
Dry skin. Dry skin has little to no oil flow and has a fine texture. Dry skin can show the first signs of aging earlier than oily and combination skins if it is not cared for with good quality oil-based products.
Oily skin. Oily skin has heavy oil flow down the “T” zone and milder oil flow all the way to the cheeks and can be prone to acne and breakouts.
Sensitive skin. Sensitive skin is susceptible to irritations, rashes and redness or itching (known medically as pruritis). Sensitive skins can be oily, combination or dry.
Mature skin. Mature skins are showing signs of aging (such as wrinkles) and sun damage (photodamage). It can be a combination of the above skin types such as dry and sensitive or a combination/normal skin type.
Cosmetics
A cosmetic is: A preparation applied externally to change or enhance the beauty of skin, hair, nails, lips, and eyes.
There are six basic product ranges in the cosmetic skin care routine. These are:
- Cleansers;
- Toners;
- Exfoliants;
- Masks;
- Moisturisers and;
- Suncreens
In addition to this basic range, there are specialist products used to target specific areas and problems such as: around the eyes, acne, scarred and sun damaged skin, to name just a few. The eye area should be treated with specific products as it produces little to no natural oil and the skin is thinner than on the rest of the face. This requires greater care to keep the skin healthy and to slow the effects of sun damage and aging.
