We touched on this topic in Chapter 2, Skincare Facts Everyone Needs to Know, but now we’ll expand a bit on the critical types of ingredients that all skin types need. These substances occur naturally in skin, but due to sun damage, age, skin disorders such as acne or rosacea, and other issues, they gradually become depleted and eventually skin stops producing them. Providing these integral substances to your skin daily can make all the difference in the long-term health and appearance of your skin. Of course, to keep these vital ingredients protected sunscreen is equally important, just in a different way. (We talk at length about the need for sunscreen in Chapter 6, Sun Damage and Sunscreen Questions Answered.)
Antioxidants are a group of natural and synthetic ingredients that reduce free-radical damage and environmental damage. Why is this important? Antioxidants can prevent some of the degenerative effects in skin caused by sun exposure, and can reduce inflammation within skin. [13,14] Inflammation is deadly for skin because it causes the destruction of collagen and elastin, prevents the skin from healing, and thins the layers of skin. [5,6,15] Anything you can do to reduce inflammation is incredibly beneficial, and antioxidants are definitely one group of ingredients that are fundamental for doing that.
The best moisturizers (lotions for normal skin, creams for dry skin, and gels and liquids for oily/combination skin) are formulated with a potent blend of antioxidants that help your skin reduce inflammation and act younger. It’s also critical for these antioxidants to be housed in packaging that will ensure they remain effective, which means they should not be packaged in a jar or in clear packaging because antioxidants break down in the presence of light and air. [5,6,15]
Skin-identical and skin-repairing ingredients are substances between skin cells that keep those cells connected (think of mortar between bricks) to help maintain skin’s barrier. A healthy, intact barrier allows skin to look smooth, soft, and radiant. It also allows skin to repair itself, which is critical for healing breakouts and red marks and preventing environmental damage. There are many skin-identical ingredients, including such well-known substances as hyaluronic acid, sodium hyaluronate, glycerin, and ceramides. [16,17]
Cell-communicating ingredients are any ingredients that can tell skin cells or other types of cells in skin to behave in a more healthy manner by producing “younger” cells. Over the years, because of sun damage, acne, age, and hormone fluctuations, skin cells and genes involved in cellular formation and repair become permanently damaged. The result is that the new cells being produced are now irregular, mutated, rough, defective, and older-acting cells, whereas before the damage they were healthy cells. [5,6]
Cell-communicating ingredients are substances that “communicate” with these defective cells, helping reverse the damage by helping the skin to produce healthier, younger cells. [5,6] In effect, the defective cells receive a message to stop making bad cells and start making better ones! It is an exciting area of skincare! The key players in this group are niacinamide, retinol, synthetic peptides, lecithin, and adenosine triphosphate. [5,14,18,19,20]
Skin Type Determines Formula
We know we’re being painfully repetitive, but forgive us if we go over this one more time because it is so important. Once you know your skin type, you will have a clearer understanding of which product formulations and textures work best for you. If you have oily skin, you’ll want to avoid overly emollient or greasy formulations at all costs. Conversely, if you have dry skin, you’ll want formulations with a creamy, rich base. This is incredibly important to understand. So, while all skin types need antioxidants, skin-repairing ingredients, and cell-communicating ingredients, the texture of the products that contain those ingredients is determined by your skin type. It’s fine to layer multiple products with the same texture in your routine, or, if you prefer, and if it’s appropriate for your skin type, you can layer lighter-weight products under heavier, more emollient products.
What Influences Skin Type
Many people have no idea what their skin type is, which is completely understandable because skin type can be hard to pin down and because it can be a moving target. That’s because almost anything can influence skin type—both external and internal elements can and do influence the way your skin looks and feels.Things that affect your skin type that are generally beyond your control are:
Hormones
Skin disorders
Genetic predisposition
Medications (oral or topical)
Exposure to pollution
Climate (including seasonal changes)
Things that affect your skin type that you have some control over are:
Diet
Your skincare routine (using irritating products or products that are wrong for your skin type)
Stress
Unprotected/prolonged sun exposure or use of tanning beds
You May be Causing a Skin Type or Concern
It probably isn’t difficult to see how smoking, sun damage, diet, and genetics can negatively and dangerously affect your skin type and concerns. What many people don’t realize is that the skincare products they use can also be a primary factor in exacerbating, or even creating, the very skin issues you are trying to resolve. In other words, what you do to your skin via your skincare routine may be causing or intensifying a skin type or skin concern you don’t want!
You’ll never know your actual skin type or get your skin concerns under control if you use products that contain ingredients that create the very problems you don’t want.
If you’re using products that contain irritants, you can create dry skin and still make your oily skin worse (think dry skin on top, oily underneath). Products with irritating ingredients also cause collagen and elastin to break down, damage skin’s ability to heal, and make wrinkles worse. Alternatively, if you use overly-emollient or thick-textured products along with a drying cleanser, you can clog pores, prevent skin cells from exfoliating (which makes your skin look dull), and make your skin feel oily in some areas and dry in others. If you over-scrub, you can damage the barrier (surface), causing more wrinkles and dry skin.
Not surprisingly, the kinds of products you use make all the difference in the world when trying to reach your goal of having the best skin of your life now.
How to Determine Your Skin Type
Once you’ve ruled out the controllable factors that can affect your skin type (for example, sun exposure, smoking) and eliminated problematic products (poor formulations, jar packaging, irritating ingredients) from your routine, you’ll be able to more accurately determine your skin type.
A good thing to keep in mind is that almost everyone at some time or another has combination skin. That’s because the center area of your face naturally has more oil glands, so you are more likely to be oily or have clogged pores in the “T-zone.” Many people with dry skin often find their skin is less dry on the nose and center of the forehead than elsewhere. It’s also typical for some areas of your face (the eye area, around the nose) to be more sensitive.
Before you get out your mirror and have a close look, it’s best to wash your face with a gentle cleanser. Then, wait two hours to see what your skin does without additional products or makeup (you can apply a gentle toner after cleansing, if desired). You may see a combination of skin types—normal to dry in some areas, oily in others. It bears repeating that anyone’s skin can have multiple “types,” and that these types can change due to hormonal cycles, seasons, stress levels, and other factors.
How to Determine Your Skin Concern(s)
In some ways this is the easiest section of the book because most of us are painfully aware of what our skin concerns happen to be. Most of us already know what wrinkles, breakouts, blackheads, sagging skin, or brown discolorations look like. That’s the easy part. But there are some skin concerns that are far more difficult to identify, such as sebaceous hyperplasia (small whitish, crater-like