How Your Skin Type Determines The Best Treatment for Acne
by Hector Morales
It's very important that you know what type of skin you have before treating your acne. Generally speaking, there are three basic skin types. They are normal, dry and oily. However, this does not mean you are prone to having only one of these skin types. You could have a combination of them (e.g. normal to oily or normal to dry). Learning about your skin type will help you determine the most beneficial product to treat your acne.
But how can you determine your skin type? Well, you can try to answer a few basic questions about your skin. For instance, do you have blackheads? Can you say how often you break out? How does your skin feel and look after washing it with soap? How about the look of your pores? Do you have facial lines? If you can get answers to these types of questions you'll have an idea of what type of skin you have. With this knowledge, you can then decide on the types of products you think will work best for you.
Among the general characteristics each skin type shares are its texture, oil production, and frequency of breakouts. Let's go over some common characteristics of each skin type so you have a more specific idea about the type of skin you might have.
Dry Skin Type
A dry skin has advantages and disadvantages just like the other two skin types. For instance, people with dry skin do not suffer many breakouts, and almost never have blackheads. The key reason why this is the case is less oil production. Blackheads are caused by oil and it also promotes breakouts by clogging the pores. So, if you are a dry skin type person, then you obviously are not producing very much oil and as such are not subject to suffer a lot from the above-mentioned negative effects.
Some of the disadvantages of having dry skin are nearly visible pores and the feeling of dry and tight skin after washing. In addition, people with dry skin often develop facial lines earlier in life and can suffer from burns much more easily.
Normal Skin Type
Something that characterizes most people with normal skin is the suffering from infrequent breakouts. Furthermore, they can also suffer from blackheads that normally appear in what is called as "the t-zone", the forehead and the area on either side of the nose. The pores in the t-zone often appear more visible. After washing their skin, people may often feel it tight however; the skin becomes more comfortable with oil in the t-zone.
Other attributes of normal skin include a fair to medium skin coloring and a few lines appearing early on around the eyes for the most part. Exposure to the sun causes this skin type to burn and become tanned afterwards.
Oily Skin Type
An oily skin can cause serious problems, as you might already know. The most common negative effects that people with oily skin often suffer of are frequent breakouts with blackheads. In addition, an oily skin often makes the pores enlarged and after washing the face may be oily, with both the forehead and nose quickly becoming shiny.
Unlike the normal skin coloring, the skin coloring for the oily skin type is often olive to dark. Among the advantages of having an oily skin are the very few to none facial lines that take place, having a skin that generally stays preserved longer. As such, oily skin does not age as quickly as do the other skin types and when exposed to the sun, oily skin rarely burns. It tans easily by the way.
So, there you have it: a quick overview on the three basic skin types. If you think you have determined your skin type, the next step would be to find products developed specifically for it. Fortunately, nowadays there are a number of products on the market for dealing with each skin type, even for a combination skin. Once you find the product that works for your skin type, treatment for your acne will be much more appropriate.
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