It is surprising that skin can be both oily and dry but problems do exist, such as “dry underneath and oily on top” or “oily underneath and dry on top”. Though there are several causes, they are often the results of wrong skin care regimens.
The explanation I heard is: your skin has too much oil, and you need to reduce oil and add water. I don’t agree. It is true that good skin looks as if you could squeeze water out but good skin is not obtained by adding water, as is explained in What Water Does to Your Skin. If anyone followed the above myth, she might use an oil control product, a lot of toner and a heavy moisturizer. To make things worse, the oil control product and the toner happen to be irritating. This will put her on a skin-damage-compensation circle. Just one example.
To solve this problem, you need to figure out what is going wrong in your skin care regimen. I listed the following possibilities for your reference.
-
Problem: You had oily skin and in fact didn’t need a moisturizer. But if you only used a gentle cleanser and a sunscreen, you would not support the cosmetic industry enough. So you were told to use a drying cleanser and an irritating toner to make your skin dry first, and then an emollient moisturizer to condition it.
Solution: Use a gentle water-soluble cleanser that doesn’t dry your skin out. Add nutrients to your skin by using a light-weight serum. Don’t forget your sunscreen in day time.
-
Problem: You had dry skin. You used greasy cleanser that left residue on your skin and emollient toner, serum, moisturizer and foundation. Too much for your skin to handle.
Solution: Use a gentle water-soluble cleanser that doesn’t leave residue on your skin. Condition your skin as needed but not too much. Don’t forget your sunscreen in day time.
-
Problem: You don’t do regular exfoliation. It is true that some people don’t need exfoliation. But if you see skin care products or makeups don’t contact your skin well, you should consider regular exfoliation.
Solution: After using AHA or BHA to do exfoliation, I never want to go back to scrubs. See Exfoliation – AHA and BHA.
-
Problem: You have been using irritating skin care products.
Solution: No-irritation is half done towards your best skin. Read the ingredient list before purchasing a skin care product. You can use A Complete List of Skin Irritants & Allergens as a reference.
Bottom line: Don’t throw too many things to your skin at the same time. Start with a simple regimen and find the best for you. If three products can do the job, why use four?