Skin Care and Skin Type

Lifestyles and habits affect your skin and while these may seem external to your body, the way you conduct daily activities such as diet, exercise, smoking and drinking habits influence your body and therefore your skin as well.
Other influences affecting your skin lie outside your body such as weather and climate as well as your skin-care regimen of choice. The climates of areas you spend prolonged periods in influence how your body reacts. Cold climates tend to cause dry skin and flaking where as humid areas cause excessive sweating and oil production.

The skin care products you choose also affect your skin condition. Using creams or moisturizers that have too much emollients will cause your skin to be oily whereas strong cleansers and exfoliates result in dry, sensitive skin.

Now that you know what influences your skin, it is time to know what condition it is in.

Skin Type Evaluation Test 

First of all, don’t evaluate your skin right after you’ve washed your face. This is because your skin is reacting to the water and cleansers you’ve put on it. Wait four to five hours after you’ve washed. This will give your skin time to recover from the cleansing and allow it to resume its “normal” activity. Also try to do this on a day you had not worn any makeup or put on creams so a more accurate evaluation can be made.

Take a piece of facial tissue and press it on different areas of your face. Hold the tissue against the light and if blotches can be seen, then you have oily skin. This is the reason why you should carry out this assessment when you are not wearing makeup or moisturizers since the oil may be caused by these substances.

If the general area of your face appears dry, feels tight and can see patches of skin flakes, then you are dealing with dry skin. On the other hand, if you observe that some areas are both dry and oily then you have combination skin.
Now that you know the degree of oiliness or dryness your skin has right now, you need to know whether or not your skin is suffering from some form of skin disease.