What is combination skin?
When it comes to skin types, we’re all just as beautifully different and diverse as the many different and diverse skin tones.
There are many skin types, just as there are many skin tones and skincare for all skin types. Generally speaking, our skin type can be classified as normal, oily, dry, sensitive, acne prone or combination. How we look after our own personal skin type is also unique – what works for one person’s skin may not work for another and vice versa, but there are general rules to follow.
In this Article
What Are the Characteristics of Combination Skin?
How Will I Know if I Have Combination Skin?
Causes of Combination Skin
What's the Best Skincare Routine for Combination Skin?
Skincare Products for Combination Skin
How to Take Care of Combination Skin in the Winter
How to Treat Combination Skin Naturally
Here, we’re discussing combination skin – what it is, what causes it and how to treat it to get the best from it.
So here’s how to know if you have combination skin, and what to do about it if you do.
What Are the Characteristics of Combination Skin?
The combination skin type is a common skin type and on the most basic level, it means having areas of skin on your face that are prone to oiliness and other parts that are prone to dryness.
But when it comes to the question of what are the characteristics of combination skin, as a general rule, you will have the following distinctive characteristics of combination skin.
Your T zone – your forehead, nose and chin – will be oily and prone to shine throughout the day, and the other areas of your face – your cheeks, temples and the sides of your face – will be prone to dryness and flaking. You may also find that your oily areas are more prone to spots, breakouts and acne and have visibly larger pores.
The skin is covered in tiny holes, or pores, and within these pores sit the sebaceous glands. These sebaceous glands are responsible for producing sebum, a wax like substance that is naturally produced by the skin.
Sebum helps to protect the skin from outside elements and also helps to prevent too much moisture escaping from the skin. In people with oily skin, their pores tend to be larger, which means they can produce more sebum, leading to oilier, shinier skin. In people with combination skin, their T zone tends to have larger pores and a shinier look.
How Will I Know if I Have Combination Skin?
To truly know if you have combination skin, wash your face using your usual facial cleanser. Then wait. Don’t apply any moisturisers, serums or makeup and instead maintain a completely naked face.
After 20 minutes, look for traces of shine. You can do this in the mirror, or use one ply of a facial tissue and press it gently onto your whole face. The chances are, if you have combination skin, the area of the tissue that was pressed against your T zone will be oily, and the rest won’t be.
Causes of Combination Skin
Like most skin types, combination skin is largely caused by our genes. If we have parents with combination skin, we’re more likely to also have this skin type.
Hormones
Our hormones also play a role in our skin type. As we go through puberty, we tend to have a surge in the male hormones, in particular testosterone (whether we’re male or female). These male hormones, or androgens, cause the skin to become oilier (and more prone to acne). This may happen all over the face or in certain areas.
In women, hormonal imbalances during menstruation, pregnancy, breastfeeding and the menopause can also lead to oilier skin, either all over or in areas such as the T zone.
Also using products designed for the wrong skin type can cause our skin to become dry or oily in certain areas.
Stress
Stress, either on a relatively temporary basis or a long term basis, can also affect our skin, in particular, making it oily all over or in certain areas, contributing to combination skin.
When we’re stressed, we produce the stress hormone, cortisol. Cortisol then signals to the pores to release more sebum from the sebaceous glands, causing oiliness and potentially acne breakouts and spots.
Immobility and a Lack of Exercise
When we exercise, our heart beats much faster than when we’re at rest. This pumps blood around the body more quickly, bringing with it oxygen and nutrients to the surface of the skin.
This increase in blood flow and important skin nourishing nutrients benefits the skin, helping to keep oil production more regulated and encouraging cellular repair.
UV Sun Damage
Exposing our skin to the sun feels nice. But if we overdo it, or our skin gets too hot for other reasons, the skin can lose moisture through sweat and become dehydrated. The skin then goes into overdrive to replace the lost moisture, and in turn creates more sebum, leading to oiliness and shine.
Eating an Acidic Diet
Eating a diet high in animal protein, such as from meat, poultry, fish, eggs and dairy, is considered an acidic diet. An acidic diet can also cause a rise in androgens that then leads to an increase in sebum production.
Making your diet more alkaline, by eating more plant based foods will help to manage oil and shine.
What's the Best Skincare Routine for Combination Skin?
Getting rid of combination skin is perhaps an ask too far. Of all the problem skin types to have, combination skin is perhaps one of the least troublesome anyway.
The trick instead, is to use a skincare routine for combination skin. The best combination skincare products will help to control oiliness as well as dryness.
But before a skincare routine, taking the following aspects into account will help you on your journey:
- Exercise - this gets the blood flowing an increases nutrients being delivered to the skin
- Meditate - stress can cause increased oil production so meditation can help ease this
- Drink plenty of water as this will help keep the skin hydrated. Oily skin can become dehydrated.
- Have a balanced, alkaline diet that avoids simple carbohydrates such as white bread, refined sugar, fizzy drinks, alcohol and high quantities of animal proteins
- Use oil-control paper to blot away excess oil
Once you have this mastered, you can go onto the best skincare routine for combination skin.
Skincare Products for Combination Skin
Treating combination skin is all about the right products. Always use products designed for combination skin as they’ll help with how to look after dry skin along with being the best products for oily skin management without upsetting your skin.
Our article on skincare for combination skin goes into much more detail on the best products for combination skin. It’s also full of tips on how to deal with oily and dry skin and useful information on what’s best to use in a skincare regime for combination skin.
But in a nutshell:
- Cleanse your face twice a day - the best cleanser for combination skin is a creamy cleanser, such as our Rebalance and Reset Cream Cleanser to remove dirt, makeup, sweat, oil and dead skin cells
- Use a non astringent toner to help remove excess oil without stripping your dry areas
- Apply a lightweight oil free hydrating serum, especially to your T zone
- Use an oil free moisturiser for combination skin all over, paying particular attention to your cheeks and other dry areas
- Only ever use oil free makeup, which is the best makeup for oily skin and look for foundations for combination skin that contain hyaluronic acid - we always recommend a powder foundation instead of a liquid one to help mattify the skin
- Use a mix of hydrating and oil absorbing face masks on the relevant areas of your skin at least once a week
- Exfoliate using a product containing salicylic acid once or twice a week
The best skincare products for combination skin will depend on how much time you have to spend on skincare. Aside from the basics of cleansers and moisturisers, if you have spare time, you can also use a combination of exfoliants, masks, primers, toners and serums.
How to Take Care of Combination Skin in the Winter
During the colder months, our thoughts turn to cosy jumpers and thick, woolly scarves. The same can be said for our skin – we tend to switch to heavier products such as moisturisers and foundations to smother our skin in a thick layer of cosiness. Both to protect us from the cold, wind and rain but for some of us, also to hide the fact our skin hasn’t seen sun for months.
However, coating combination skin in heavy duty products can cause excess oil production and shine.
So the trick is to still use products designed for combination skin, but you may be able to go slightly heavier. For example, you could use a heavier night cream to help nourish your dry areas overnight, and a full coverage, oil free foundation during the day.
See our article on the best makeup for combination skin for more makeup tips for your skin type.
How to Treat Combination Skin Naturally
Combination skin, particularly in those with sensitive skin too, is best treated using products that contain natural, gentle products.
Harsh astringent ingredients such as alcohol based ingredients may be good at stripping away excess oil, but they’re very drying and won’t do your dry areas any favours. Likewise, oil based moisturisers and makeup may help to nourish dry skin, but won’t help you combat oil and shine in your T zone.
Instead, look for products that contain gentle hydrating ingredients such as hyaluronic acid. Hyaluronic acid is an ideal ingredient for combination skin as it helps the skin to retain moisture, leaving it hydrated and plump, without stripping away or adding oil to the skin.
Having combination skin doesn’t have to mean being a slave to dryness and oiliness in equal measures. Get your skincare and if you wear it, makeup, right, and you can be confident in your own skin.
At Sönd we fully understand what it is to have problem skin, as we have first-hand experience. We developed our range of alkalising skincare with skin like yours, and ours, in mind and we have countless happy customers who have transformed their skin. So why not give us a try!