Knowing and understanding your skin type is highly important if you want to be rid of you body acne. In fact this knowledge can speed up your body acne treatment regime. Before you decide to take on a body acne treatment it is a good idea to know what type of skin you have. Skin types can be broken down into five categories, normal, dry, oily, combination and sensitive skin. Each of these different types of skin has to be treated differently. Here is a simple test to find out what kind of skin you have. After a good night sleep take a good look in your mirror at your skin, feel it and using a piece of cotton or soft tissue paper wipe your forehead and cheek area. These three simple actions and the results will determine your skin type.
NORMAL SKIN
If your skin feels soft, elastic like and looks vibrant this is a good sign of normal skin. Normal skin is clear, pimple free, soft, smooth and without any greasy or flaky areas. The skin is neither dry nor greasy and is a fine and supple surface. Take your cotton or tissue and wipe across your forehead and cheek area. Look at the cotton or tissue, it should be clean with no traces of oil or dirt. This kind of skin generally feels smooth and comfortable after a morning wash and by mid day still looks fresh. Persons with this type of skin will only have breakouts occasionally, yet it still requires care otherwise it might lead to wrinkling and aging. Note, applying make up on this type of skin lasts long and also looks smooth. The most important thing to be cared for is the premature ageing experienced under the eyes. This is because there is lack of moisture in this area due to the absence of the sebaceous activity.
DRY SKIN
Dry skin is more prominent and prone to ageing and other serious problems. Dry skin is fine-pored skin which looks dull, and feels tight after each wash. It has a shallow tone with a thin and papery texture and is easily irritated, this is because the pores are very fine. People with dry skin hardly ever break into spots and have the appearance of flawless skin, however flaky patches may occour by midday due to drying of the skin. To test for dry skin wipe your forehead and cheek with a cotton or tissue, it
will be clean of oil and dirt as with normal skin. This type of skin hardly breaks out in spots.
OILY SKIN
If your skin is shiny and greasy and prone to break out into acne quite often and even comfortable with frequent soap-water washes, then it is sure that you have oily skin. Large pores are the important feature of oily skin. After each wash the skin feels refreshed and by the midday it even looks shiny. But the texture of the skin can to be coarse and thick. To test wipe a cotton or tissue on your forehead and cheek area, it will have oil and dirt on it. This is a problematic type of skin and often breaks out. The good news however is that the skin ages slowly keeping you looking young. T
COMBINATION SKIN
If your skin feels taut and flaky on the cheeks but oily on the T-zone – forehead, nose and chin, you have what is known as combination skin. You will notice dry and oily patches throughout your skin simply because it is a combination of both. Usually the dryness is seen on the cheeks and the oily part to be on the T-zone. After each wash some areas would be smooth where as the other would be dry and rough. If your chin and nose are oily and the forehead is known to be drier, then it is defined as normal-to-combination skin type. To test, wipe your forehead and cheek area with a cotton or tissue, it will show the oily patches from your forehead, but will be clear when you wipe your cheek. This type of skin is difficult to treat since it requires different types of skin care in relation to the oily and dry parts of the skin. Many women often have combination skin.
SENSITIVE SKIN
Sensitive skin is a common type of skin and it is the most fragile type. It is easily irritated and often has a stinging, chafing and itching feeling. After each wash the skin feels dry and itchy in certain places and is also prone to break out into spots. Keep in mind that this type of skin is similar to dry skin and can be easily confused. To test, wipe your forehead and cheek area with a cotton or tissue, the cotton will most likely be free from oil but the skin itself will generally feel itchy with a burning or stinging sensation. This kind of skin will feel dry and itchy after a wash and by mid day will show flaky patches and some redness. This skin type is fragile and needs very special care.
Hopefully you have done you skin type test and you now know what kind of skin you were born with. Use this knowledge to choose appropriate products like cleansers and moisturizers for your body acne treatment.
