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Cleansing is the most basic yet most essential step in your skincare routine. Every day, your skin accumulates dead skin cells and buildup of oil, dirt, and grime. Twice-daily cleansing is necessary to keep pores unclogged and nurture fresh, healthy skin. Choosing the cleanser that’s right for you depends on your skin concern and skin type.

Everyone’s skin is different, so not all products are beneficial for all skin. Cleansers for dry skin contain different ingredients than cleansers for combination skin. Combination skin is highly common, yet one of the more challenging to maintain. For this reason, it’s important to recognize the needs of your particular skin issues and find the products that work best for you.

Key Takeaways

• Learn to identify your skin concern and skin type to understand which cleansers work best for you.
• Understand what it means to have combination skin.
• Discover ingredients that combat the issues associated with combination skin.
• Consider using multiple products to meet the needs of your skin type, but avoid cleansers with artificial fragrances.

Know Your Skin ID

Before you can find the products that best meet your specific needs, you must first understand what those needs are.

There are four main types of healthy skin:

• Normal: Well-balanced with small pores, smooth texture, healthy circulation, and isn’t overly sensitive.
• Dry: Doesn’t have the lipids required to keep moisture in, so it loses hydration through sweat and natural diffusion.
•  Oily: Produces an abundance of sebum through large pores and is more prone to breakouts.
• Combination: The nose, forehead, and chin (T-zone) are oily while the cheeks are normal to dry.

The Baumann Skin Type classification system further categorizes skin into 16 distinct types and measures four barriers in our skin:

• Dehydration: oiliness vs. dryness
• Inflammation: resistance vs. sensitivity
• Pigmentation: pigmentation vs. non-pigmentation
• Wrinkles: tightness vs. wrinkling

All of these factors play an important role in identifying your skin ID and determining the best skincare routine for combination skin. If you’re not certain whether you have combination skin, this quick skin analysis quiz can help you determine your specific skin care needs.

Understanding Combination Skin

With combination skin, your face essentially has two skin types that need special, individualized treatment. Using a cleanser to reduce sebum in your oily skin can irritate the dry areas of your face, while a cleanser that adds moisture can cause oily skin to break out.

Combination skin is extremely common and is affected by several factors. From genetics and hormonal shifts to stress and the environment, your skin reacts to what’s happening both inside and outside your body.

People with combination skin experience the following issues:

• Pores appear larger: When pores are blocked by dead skin cells, the sebum that is being overproduced by sebaceous glands beneath the skin build-up and enlarge pores.
• Skin is shiny: Excess sebum creates a shine, usually on the T-zone.
• Blackheads and whiteheads are prevalent: Trapped oil mixes with dirt and dead skin cells to create a blockage.
• Breakouts and dry patches occur simultaneously: Since you’re dealing with two skin types at once, the dry areas of your skin become flaky while the oily parts of your skin can experience acne issues.

To keep skin healthy, balanced, and youthful, it’s important to identify products that are specially designed for combination skin.

5 Ingredients to Look For in Cleansers for Combination Skin

When it comes to finding an effective cleanser for combination skin, you want to be careful not to remove too much of your skin’s natural moisturizers, like ceramides, cholesterol, and amino acids. You also don’t want to strip your skin of its normal sebum levels. All of this can lead to a disruption of the skin’s barrier that can result in sensitivity, dehydration, and a prevalence of fine lines and wrinkles.

The key to finding products that effectively treat combination skin is balance. You want products that provide moisture to dry areas while avoiding pore-clogging buildup in oily areas. Here are five ingredients to look for in cleansers for combination skin.

1. Salicylic Acid

When pores are clogged with dead skin cells, dirt, and oil, you’ll experience acne breakouts. Salicylic acid helps to dissolve dead skin cells and remove the dirt causing these blemishes. By penetrating the skin and eliminating the pollutants blocking your pores, salicylic acid leaves your face feeling fresh, clean, and healthy. If your skin is sensitive, you should be careful to slowly introduce this ingredient.

2. Lactic Acid

This gentle exfoliant breaks up dead skin cells to clear pores and uncover a smooth, even complexion. It helps to make skin look more firm and minimizes the appearance of wrinkles, sun spots, and fine lines for a more youthful look.

3. Hyaluronic Acid

Hyaluronic acid is great for combination skin because it hydrates the dry areas of your skin without adding greasiness to the oily parts of your face. It can help reduce wrinkles and help skin maintain its moisture below its natural barrier.

4. Antioxidants

We receive most antioxidants from the food we consume, but antioxidants can also be accessed through our skincare routine. Vitamin C (especially Vitamin C derivative, such as sodium ascorbyl phosphate, ascorbyl palmitate) is good for overall skin health and offers anti-inflammatory benefits. Vitamin E has moisturizing and healing effects. Even honey can nourish skin and yield positive results.

5. Emollients

These are smoothers that help soften rough, dry skin cells and fill in cracks with lipids for a smooth, even surface. Emollients contain oils that help create a seal on your skin’s surface, trapping in moisture to help hydrate dry areas.

Additional Tips for Approaching Cleansers for Combination Skin

It can be difficult to find a single product that effectively meets the needs of your combination skin. If you find that one product irritates your dry skin or causes breakouts for your oily skin, consider using two separate cleansers in your skincare routine. Apply a moisturizing cleanser to the areas of your face that are dry, and use a sebum-reducing astringent for the areas of your face that are oily.

Whatever products you choose, be sure to avoid cleansers with artificial fragrances. Artificial perfumes often contain allergens and carcinogens that are too harsh for dry skin, leading to breakouts and other skin issues.

Create a Tailored Skincare Routine with Snowperk

Combination skin requires special attention and care to maintain the right balance of the skin’s moisture and oil. Snowperk’s personalized product line can help you find the right products to meet your specific skin care needs. We can show you how to know your skin type and guide you in choosing the right cleansers for combination skin.

Find the right cleansers for your skin today!