Combination skin is a blend of oily and dry skin. The T-zone of the face (the forehead and the nose) remain oily while the cheeks are dry. This type of skin needs a dual treatment – the T-zone requires oily skin care while the cheek areas require dry skin care.
Treating and taking care of combination skin is not an easy task. However, with proper care, it’s easy to survive with combination skin. One of the major concerns when treating combination skin is dealing with different areas of the skin individually with different skin care products. This is because if you treat your skin as oily skin, the dry areas will become drier and if you treat your skin like dry skin, the T zone will become all the more oilly.
Here are some tips to care efficiently for combination skin:
Cleanse Your T-Zone
Use a mild foaming cleanser to cleanse your face and focus more on your T zone when you lather. Ideally, do this twice a day - once in the morning and once at night. Wash your face in warm water in the morning and cool water at night. If you feel your skin is getting oilier around noon, then wash your face with a cleanser. Here are some popular products picks:
• Obagi Nu Derm Foaming Gel: An amazing blend of aloe vera, natural herbs and natural cleansers. It cleans the skin off all accumulated pollutants and removes excess oil residues without disturbing the natural moisture levels of the skin. It suits people with combination skin as it cleanses the skin without making it too dry.
• iS Clinical Cleansing Complex: A unique cleansing gel that deep cleanses the skin and resurfaces it. It is also anti-acneic and controls the acne inflammations. Unlike other cleansers, it does not leave the skin extremely dry but makes it smooth and soft.
• Obagi C-Cleansing Gel: It contains benefits of both a prescription strength hydroquinone as well as Vitamin C that cater to all the needs and requirements of your skin.
It’s better to use two types of cleansers- a foaming facial cleanser in the morning and a creamier or oil based cleanser at night before going to bed. Don’t forget to rinse.
More Toner on the T-Zone
Always apply more toner on your T-zone than on your your cheeks and apply it on your T-zone first. The toner keeps the excess oiliness in check and at the same time maintains the pH level of the skin. one amazing toner is:
Obagi Nu-Derm Toner – It is an amazing combination of natural ingredients and herbs along with a natural astringent called ‘alum’. It tones the skin, normalizes the pH balance and helps the active ingredients of the skin care products absorb efficiently into the skin surface. Not only this, it accelerates cellular turnover and boosts cellular function by penetrating deep inside the skin surface.
Its therapeutic benefits include skin becoming smoother and wrinkle-free, visible reduction in pigmentation marks and age spots, improved skin structure, accelerated production of collagen and elastin fibers and increased natural hydration and circulation.
Use Two Different Toners
Another way to take care of combination skin is by applying two different types of toners on different zones- a stronger one on the T-zone and milder one on the dry areas.
More Moisturizer on Dry Areas
Just like you should apply more toner on you T-zone, make it a point to apply more moisturizer on the drier areas of your face like the cheeks and neck. You can also use a lightweight oil-free moisturizer for the former and a creamier one for the latter. The point is to provide more moisture to the dry areas. Try NeoCutis Bio-Restorative Skin Cream and NeoCutis Bio-restorative Hydrogel respectively.
• NeoCutis Bio-restorative Skin Cream – It is one of its kind anti-aging moisturizer that contains PSP, a unique combination of human growth factors and cytokines that significantly reduces wrinkles and fine lines and heals sun damaged skin. Use this for your dry areas.
• NeoCutis Bio-restorative Hydrogel – An amazing hydrating gel that contains PSP that moisturizes the skin without making it oily or greasy. Because of the gel base, it is perfect to be used on oily areas of the face like the T-zone. Bio-gel is an oil free anti-aging product and is ideal for oily skin.
By Marilynn Syrett physician
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