The skin on your face is the most sensitive part of your body. Your face skin reacts quickly to products and different conditions, so you must put more effort into taking care of it. First and foremost, you need to know what your skin needs before you even determine a proper skincare routine. It’s essential to do a skin type test, especially before you start buying your skincare products. You will need at least one hour to do a generic skin type test.

Preparing Your Skin

To accurately examine your skin type, you need to prep your face. Make sure that you use a mild foam cleanser that doesn’t irritate your face or make it react a certain way. Be sure that you do the testing on a day that you’re not too busy, or you’re not exercising too hard. Take note that acne is not indicative of skin type since anyone can get acne at any age.

Here are the ways to prep for the skin type test:

1. Remove products from your face

First, you need to take the products off of your face. If you have been wearing makeup, you need to use a makeup remover or oil cleanser.

2. Wash your face

Much like the double cleansing, you need to wash your face after removing makeup. This process helps in thoroughly removing any leftover products on your face. You can use a mild moisturizer like Benton’s Honest Cleansing Foam. Get the wash from this website.

3. Leave your face alone

To make sure that you get the best results, leave your face alone for at least one hour. If you wear glasses, don’t wear glasses during that hour. Don’t touch or scratch your face so that you won’t mess with the natural sweating process of your face.

Checking Your Skin Type

After preparing your skin, you can check for the type. There are ways to conclusively determine what your skin type is and what kind of products used in a proper skincare routine.

Here are the ways to test for your skin type:

1. Check your T-zone

The T-zone is the part of your face that exudes the most oil. It’s the area from your forehead to your nose, and it forms a T with the nose bridge as the vertical line and the forehead as the horizontal line. Using a clean tissue or oil blotting paper, wipe the T-zone and check for oil. If the blotting paper has too much oil, you may have either oily or combination skin.

2. Feel your skin

At the same time, you have another option. If the T-zone test doesn’t work, or if you’re still indecisive about your skin type, you can try to touch your face. Here are some simple indicators:

  • Dry skin – your face feels tense
  • Oily skin – your face feels cleaner. Your skin will feel more greasy as the day passes
  • Combination skin – your T-zone will seem fresh, but your cheeks will feel dry or tight
  • Sensitive skin – you may have allergic reactions to specific cleansers like rashes or redness

If you don’t experience any of the above, then you may have a normal skin type, the skin that needs the lowest maintenance.

3. Look in the mirror

If none of the two previous options work, you can do an ocular check. You will need a clean mirror for this purpose. Here are some simple indicators:

  • Dry skin or sensitive skin – if you have flaky or red patches all over your face
  • Oily skin – if you have a shiny look
  • Combination skin – if you have a bright T-zone but dry cheeks

4. Check your pore size

While you’re in front of the mirror, you can check the size of your pores. Here are the indicators based on pore size:

  • Normal skin – pores are not large, but they’re visible
  • Oily skin – pores are still visible even if you’re standing farther away from the mirror
  • Dry skin – pores are not visible
  • Combination skin – you have more than one pore size on your face

If you’re still unsure about your skin type, you can consult a dermatologist.

Conclusion

You need to know your skin type so that you can use the appropriate products and anticipate your skin’s needs. Prevention is better than cure, but there’s no harm in slowly progressing through your skincare taking your approach. Make sure that you personalize your proper skincare routine instead of following something that your favorite influencer or celebrity is using.