A little ditty on Skin condition vs. Skin type

A lot of people come to me with concerns of their “oily skin and breakouts” and usually I’m their last resort. It’s a shame it happens like this because I probably could have saved them a lot of frustration and money. Being in the skincare industry, I find that I rarely see true oily skin anymore. It occurs a lot more in the prepubescent/teenage demographic, but that’s to be expected. Most of my clients range between 30 and 60 and by the time they get to me, they’ve scrubbed, scraped and depleted their skin of any natural normal oil production. Why? Because they breakout.
When someone has a big fat pimple on their face, it doesn’t mean that person has oily skin, it means they have a big fat pimple on their face. But when a person sees that pimple, they mentally go right back to their teenage years with the acne and the oily and the shiny. The problem is a person’s skin is not the same as it was 15 or 20 years ago.
Each person has a skin TYPE, whether it’s oily, dry, combination, normal or even sensitive. What happens to that skin type is a CONDITION such as acne, redness, flakiness, eczema, rosacea, sun damaged, etc. The way a person treats their skin type should be completely different than how they treat their skin condition. Yes they go hand in hand, but a person with dry skin could have breakouts because of stress, hormones, food allergies and environment just to name a few. Treat the skin type FIRST, and then the condition. For example if a person has dry skin and blemishes/clogged pores, they should have a skin care routine similar to this:

AM
Creamy cleanser
Antioxidant/Moisturizing Serum
Eye cream
Moisturizer with SPF 30-55

PM
Hydrating foaming cleanser
Exfoliating serum such as retinoid products or AHA/BHA products
Spot treatment for the blemishes – I like products with glycolic acid and/or salicylic acid 2% in them
Eye cream
Slightly heavier moisturizer for night WITHOUT sunscreen

As you can see, this person’s skin regime is based around their skin type (dry) but also has a part in treating the skin condition (breakout). If this person used a line made for someone with oily problematic skin, they would only exacerbate the condition, the breakouts wouldn’t get better and their dry skin would probably develop another condition: sensitive skin. If we can figure out our TRUE skin type, base our skin care routine around that and then treat any conditions that may arise, the skin will naturally balance itself. The body is a well-oiled machine, it is nearly perfect and if we take more of a “hands-off” approach, whatever problems that are popping up will most likely give up. Give me a shout if you can’t figure out which skin type is yours and we’ll also treat any conditions as well.