Are you dry or dehydrated? Why do you still have dry patches when the skin is oily? Seems like there are a million products on the market but none is suitable for your skin. You have tried the 2908554934th moisturizer now and it’s still not doing anything for your skin. How to find the right skincare for your skin type? What routine is best for your needs?

When it comes to skin type, it’s an oil vs water thing.

There are basically only 4 situations:

A simple experiment to determine your skin type (dry, need oil or oily, not need oil)-

• wash your face with your cleanser

• do not put anything on for 30 mins

• observe the 5 zones on your face: forehead, nose, chin, cheeks, around the eyes

• if it feels tight, you probably need to change your cleanser, it’s stripping your skin

• observe oiliness in the above mentioned zones. If it’s oily within 10 mins, it’s an oily zone

• if it’s slightly starting to get oily after 20 mins, it’s a normal zone

• if it’s still not oily after 30 mins, it’s a dry zone

A simple experiment to determine if you are dehydrated (need water or not need water) -

• wash your face with your cleanser

• don’t put anything on for 5 mins

• smile in front of a mirror, and observe the 5 zones, see if you see little lines. Not the deep creases on the forehead that we get when we raise our brows, those are made by squeezing muscles together. Not wrinkles or fine lines, but the small parallel lines that show up on the surface of the skin.

• if you do have those tiny parallel lines, you might be dehydrated, and most of us are

Now you have figured out your skin type and hydration, what will you need to target the concerns?

Remember our experiment observing the 5 zones?

• oily: requires oil control and hydration

• normal: requires simple moisturizing

• dry: requires hydration and moisturizing

• dehydration: requires hydration and moisturizing

All right, so what is the difference between hydrating and moisturizing? How does that translate into what products to use?

The following is only about the difference in textures and if the textures are generally hydrating or moisturizing. Often times these formulas have ingredients that do different things like exfoliate, or anti-aging, or pore refining etc. which we aren’t getting into right now. Only textures.

Ok, what products do I need then?

In the end, you know your skin the best. Try out different textures and let your skin guide you. Different seasons or even different times in the month could affect on how it behaves. If you are in doubt, go back to the two experiments. Try different textures from gel to lotions to creams to balms for moisturizers. If in doubt, go for the lighter textures first. If you start off heavy and it’s too much oil for your skin, you might breakout and have breakouts to deal with. Hydration is always great for any skin.

As my skin has gone through phases, I have experienced everything from dry to oily and normal to dehydrated. I started using skincare since age 11 and have tried a lot of products. I made my mistakes so you don’t have to. Below are products that I have personally tried and loved, and are available on the market.

Some of my favourites for hydration are -

• Superoxide Dismutase Saccharide Mist by NIOD as hydrating toner

• Water Elixir Skin Prep by Sonia Roselli* as hydrating serum

• Multi-Molecular Hyaluronic Complex by NIOD as hydrating serum

• Hydraluron Moisture Serum by Indeed Labs* as hydrating serum

• Hylamide Pore Control as oil controlling serum

Some of my favourite moisturizers in various textures are -

• Water Balm by Sonia Roselli* as gel moisturizer

• The Essential Creme Fluid by Amorepacific as lotion

• Skin Recovery Replenishing Moisturizer by Paula’s Choice as cream

• Water Oil Skin Prep by Sonia Roselli* as oil

• Creme de La Mer as balm

Hope that was helpful! What are some of your favourite products? Leave them in the comments!