DETERMINING YOUR SKIN TYPE
While the state of your skin, good or bad, has much to do with heredity,
hormones and your lifestyle, keeping it clean and protected plays a very
important part in its surface condition and long-lasting looks. The human body
is made up of about seventy per cent water, and fifteen per cent or more of
this is in the dermis. The outermost layer of your skin the part you see and
skin care and beauty products work on depends for its youthful looks and
resilience on a constant supply of water from the lower layers and its ability
to retain that water without losing too much through evaporation. Also up
there on the surface, sebum (the fatty secretion of the sebaceous glands),
sweat and evaporating water mingle to form a slightly acidic, protective
emulsion called the hydro-lipidic film which in turn helps to prevent
excessive evaporation of water. It’s a perfect irrigation system when all is
working well, but so much can upset it.
Even a normal skin can dry out if it spends most of its days stuck in the dry
atmosphere of many air-conditioned buildings or goes through a long winter of
temperature changes from over-enthusiastic central heating indoors to icy cold
and skin-stripping winds outside. All the hormonal changing conditions such as
periods, pregnancy, menopause, and even the Pill, can throw out the natural
balance of your skin. Other culprits might be air travel, a holiday in the
sun, drastic dieting and over-harsh or poor cleansing processes. Illness, even
a relatively minor one that’s treated with over-the-counter medicaments, can
change your skin’s behaviour.
Sebum output and the skin’s natural moisture content diminish as we grow
older. And a down period at any time in your life when you’re short of sleep,
eating irregularly or living with negative stress can play havoc with your
skin.
Nothing remains static on the skin front and you may be weary of hearing talk
of dry, oily or combination skin when yours seems to vary from day to day, and
certainly from season to season. But you really do have a basic type, which
will naturally move to drier, wherever it starts, as the years go by. Skin
care companies spend a fortune researching ingredients that will help
counteract natural imbalances and adverse conditions, so when you’re buying
products, aim for the category formulated for your skin’s usual behaviour, but
keep a careful check for any changes.
