Skincare Basics - Oily Skin Type

Oily Skin

Hello lovelies! This week I'm going to be talking all about a how to identify and treat Oily Skin. I actually suffer from Oily skin myself and I really wanted to discuss it on my blog at some point because it is very common and can be one of the hardest skin types to treat if you don’t know what you’re doing. It is seen as a common skin type among teenagers especially but it can affect anyone at any point in their life and don’t forget your skin type can change over time as well due to many different things! I always had very dry skin as a young teen but once I turned about 15 I started getting occasional oily patches here and there and even though I treated it accordingly over the years, due to several different factors, I now have very oily skin. 

What Causes Oily Skin?

Everyone’s skin produces a certain amount of oil to nourish the skin and keep it healthy. You experience oily skin as a result of those oil glands being overproductive. The excess oil secretion can be caused by a number of different things including stress, diet, weather and blockage-inducing cosmetics, just to name a few.

How Do You Identify Oily Skin?

People who have an oily skin type will more than likely have more than one, if not all, of these problems:

• Shiny/dull complexion
• Enlarged pores
• Blackheads
• Spots/Pustules
• Makeup may slide off

*Note that if you have some of these problems in some areas of your face and not others, you may have a combination skin type. It is common for most people to have an oilier t-zone than the rest of their face.*

How Can I Treat Oily Skin?

• Cleanse the face twice daily with an oil regulating/mildly exfoliating cleanser, foaming cleansers can be nice for oily skin. Here are some I like for oily skin: 

• Use a matte primer and/or matte foundations, concealers, powders etc to reduce shine when wearing makeup.
• Exfoliate once or twice weekly. When starting a regime always do this just once a week, especially if using an AHA/BHA exfoliant, but over time you will know whether or not your skin needs it once or twice weekly. You can read more about AHA and BHA exfoliators in my 'Basic Skincare Regime' blogpost in the exfoliator section. BHA exfoliators are brilliant for oily skin as they actually work within the pore as well as on the surface of the skin but due to these exfoliators containing active ingredients it takes your skin slightly longer to adjust to them and they have to be used correctly. When purchasing 'active' products it is usually best to attend a free skin consultation be it in a skin clinic or salon so you can be sure you are using suitable products for your skin. The reason people with oily skin have the option to exfoliate more than once a week is because oily skin is usually thicker than dry or sensitive skin therefore it is more resilient. People with oily skin usually find their dead skin cells build up quicker also once again creating need for that second exfoliation. Here are some I like for oily skin: 

• Apply a SPF daily, this is key to protecting your skin! Try to get an oil free formula.
• Moisturise twice a day using a lightweight, oil free moisturiser. Like these:

• Use non-comedogenic products as much as you can with your skincare and makeup as they don’t clog pores.
• Use a suitable mask once a week to regulate oil, unclog pores and smoothen the skin. Like these: 

What Ingredients Will Benefit Oily Skin?

Some of my favourite ingredients for an Oily skin type are: 

• Salicylic acid – This helps to dissolve excess oil on and beneath the skin’s surface. This is not suitable however for pregnant women or people allergic to aspirin.
• Kaolin clay – This helps to dry out oily/pustular skin and mattify skin. Preferably use this ingredient once a week in a mask as too much of it can cause dryness.
• Sulfur – This is a natural oil absorber and helps to pull dirt out of the pores. It can also have antibacterial effects to help the skin further.
• Glycolic Acid- This ingredient helps to remove dead skin cells, prevent pores from clogging and kick start skin renewal which in turn helps with spot prone skin.
• Hyaluronic Acid – This helps to draw moisture to the tissues within the skin. This is beneficial because a lot of products for oily skin may reduce the skin’s moisture. Oil and moisture are two completely different things and moisture is a must for healthy skin.
• Retinol - Also known as Vitamin A, this helps to unclog pores, increase cell turnover and boost collagen production. This ingredient is also not suitable for pregnant women unfortunately.

Always remember though what works for someone else may not work for you so do your research before buying products and don't forget to use this blogpost in conjunction with my previous blogpost "Basic Skincare Regime" for a better understanding of how to properly look after your skin! 

All of the products pictured in this blogpost are from www.beautybay.com solely because it is my favourite place to buy products from online! If you click on any of the pictures it should take you directly to that product on the Beauty Bay website incase you want some more information on any of them. 

I hope you enjoyed this week’s blogpost and got some helpful information from it! 

Initially for my next blogpost in this series I had planned to write about Combination skin types but I have decided against it purely because there are countless variations of Combination skin that you can have that all require different types of products and treatments. If you have a Combination skin type, once again, I would highly recommend attending a salon or skin clinic for a free skin consultation. In the consultation a therapist will cleanse and examine your skin, determine your skin type, discuss your main skin concerns with you and then give you information about how you can best look after your skin. They will also more than likely give you some free samples of products that they work with which will suit your skin so you can try them out. Of course you can do this with any skin type, it is always best to have a professional opinion but as I said I feel it is very important for a Combination skin type as you are dealing with several skin types at once. There are some ingredients such as Hyaluronic Acid, Anti-oxidants etc, that are beneficial to nearly all skin types. If you look back through my other blogposts in my "Skincare Basics" series you will see some ingredients pop up for more than one skin type. I just decided against doing a full blog post on it as I feel I wouldn't be able to fully explain it or give adequate advice due to the countless variations.

 With that said, next week's blog post will be all about Skincare Routine Add-ons for all of the skin types! Until then...

 All my love, 

SJL X