I struggled with oily skin for a very long time and it took me years to find the best skincare routine that suits my skin. My experience would definitely help you.
Oily skin is a major problem that will lead to many other skin problems like acne, blackheads, whiteheads, shiny face, and many more. Finding the right skincare routine is not easy like seriously. I believe we constantly try new products and sometimes it makes it worst. I feel you. I hope my experience with oily skin could help you find the right skincare routine.
When we have oily skin, the first thing we think is to make it dry where which will cause even more excess oil. Do you know that you can get oily skin because of dry skin? Yeah! So what you need is to balance your skin pH level. How do we balance it?
Toner usually helps on balancing the skin’s pH level when the cleanser has already dried off your skin’s natural moisture. I found that even hydration cleansers sometimes dried your skin off. So weird right? You’re supposed to hydrate my skin hellooo 😂
I have been skipping toner for a very long time and this is bad! We should always include toner in our skincare routine as it helps balance skin pH levels and it helps clear our pores. So I highly recommend hydration toner. Usually, hydration toner is based on rose or green tea. So far these are the best ingredients to hydrate the skin.
Pro Tip: Don’t use cotton when applying toner. Take a few drops of the toner on your hand and apply it to your face using your hand. In my experience, swiping using cotton will only make our skin dry and cause irritation. I always apply toner twice as I have oily skin because of dry skin. So I need to hydrate more my skin so that it will not be too dry. Got it?
Cleanser! This is the crucial part. I believe this is the hardest part. It took me years to understand cleansers. Like I said, never go for a cleanser that will dry your skin like a cleanser for acne skin especially. Acne skin cleansers usually will make your skin very dry. First, you will feel relieved not seeing the shiny face but after a while, your skin will be too dry and tiny bumps will start to pop because of lack of hydration.
Can you see something here? Our skin needs to be hydrated for it to appear clear, healthy, and not shiny. But guys, I didn’t found yet a hydration cleanser that suits me. As I said, even hydration cleansers dry my skin off. So I go for a very mild and gentle skin cleanser with no soap. Highly recommended Cetaphil. Yes, it may feel like it didn’t cleanseyour skin but it does. You are just used to soapy and thick texture cleansers.
I feel like that too so I add cleansing water before I cleanse my skin using Cetaphil. But I also tried without the cleansing water, and my skin is more hydrated! You can try and error this part to see what work. And please choose cleansing water that will still hydrate your skin after using it. I recommend green tea based. It will still lock the moisture.
Next, you may feel like oily skin doesn’t need to use moisturizer right? You are wrong. You still need to include them in your routine but find a moisturizer that is based on gel type. There are cream and gel-type moisturizers. Best use gel type as it suits oily skin more. The cream type suits people with dry skin as the texture is thicker.
I used to not be a fan of sunscreen because every time I used sunscreen my skin will be more oily and shiny. It feels very uncomfortable. Do know that sunscreen helps treat your skin. I can say that most sunscreens have treatment agents in them. The higher SPF the better to protect your skin but you gotta be careful with the texture. There are also 2 types, gel, and cream. I rather use the gel type with lower SPF than use the cream type as it will make my skin too oily and acne will start to pop up.
So let me simplify it again for you here:
- Use mild and gentle cleanser as it will not irritate and too dry the skin (too dry can cause more oil)
- Use hydration toner to balance the skin’s pH level
- Use moisturizer gel type if you have oily skin, cream type if you have dry skin that caused oily skin
- Sunscreen gel type if you have oily skin, cream type for dryskin that caused oily skin
The choice that worked for me:
- Cetaphil gentle cleanser
- Innisfree green tea hydration toner
- 5 in-1 Hada Labo UV protection + hydration
- Diamond Glow skin collagen supplement (15 ingredients to hydrate the skin)
My skin result
Before: Oily skin because of too dry and of course acne prone skin
The key here is hydration (water)! Our skin needs enough water to appear clear and healthy. Same with our body, lack of water will cause so many health problems.
If this has helped you, please share it with me in the comment section. I would love to know if you have new tips for me too! Much love 😘
