Perhaps you have a hoard of the latest skincare on your dressing table or follow the best beauty bloggers for tips on bagging the latest and greatest in the skincare market. But how well do you really know and understand your skin? Do you know what it needs? Let's take a deep dive: 

The 5 Basic Skin Types

Dry Skin

If your skin feels tight and flaky generally (not just during winters), you might fall in the dry skin category. If that’s the case, your skin might require moisturising multiple times a day.

Oily Skin

On the other end of the spectrum is oily skin: you'll rarely feel the need to moisturise because of your active sebaceous glands. If you have oily skin you will generally experience enlarged pores and acne, especially around your nose, chin, and forehead. 

Combination Skin

If you have an oily T-zone area (forehead, nose and chin), and relatively dry cheeks, it's highly likely you have combination skin.

Things can often get confusing for you, especially if you find you have to use different products for different parts of your face. One of the most common combination skin problems is skin that's dry and itchy, while being acne-prone. 

Normal Skin

Aaah, dream skin! If you have normal skin you'll rarely face an excess or lack of anything. Not only is the normal skin type the easiest to identify, but it's also the easiest to manage.

Sensitive Skin

How do you know if you have sensitive skin? Although often categorised as a skin type, sensitive skin is actually a condition. You could have oily and acne-prone skin that's sensitive. Alternatively, your skin could be dry, along with being sensitive. If your skin is sensitive, it means it's highly prone to irritation and redness, be it from environmental factors or certain ingredients in skincare and makeup products. 

How To Figure Out Your Skin Type

The Blotting Sheet Technique

Invest in blotting sheets or paper (you can find these in cosmetics stores, pharmacies, and supermarkets). These are sheets that absorb excess face oil. Pat one sheet across your face starting with your T-zone, followed by the cheeks, and so on. (You can do this multiple times a day)

Check for oils absorbed by the paper: 

• Dry Skin – The blotting paper has absorbed little to no oil
• Oily Skin – Lots of oil has collected on the paper
• Combination Skin – Blotting paper only absorb oil when pressed across particular areas of your face.
• Normal Skin – You'll only see minimal traces of oil on the blotting paper

Bare-Faced Technique

Wash your face clean and pat dry. Without applying any skincare, let your skin breathe for 5-10 minutes. Examine your skin and notice how it feels and looks. 

• Dry Skin – Your skin feels tight and itchy when you smile or stretch your muscles
• Combination Skin – Your T-zone has a shine that stands out
• Oily Skin – All of your skin looks shinier than it did when you washed your face
• Normal Skin – Your skin pretty much looks as it did

Yet, while understanding your skin type is the first step to understanding your skin, the health of your skin is a direct reflection of your lifestyle and environment too, and all three must go hand in hand when figuring out what skincare will work for your unique needs.

At Yours, we take into account all of these extra factors and curate a personalised skincare regimen to suit everything about you. Curious as to how it all works? Get started with Minis trial set below.