Hello everyone, this week I’m going to talk to you about skin types. To introduce this subject, I’ll tell you a few things I hear regularly from customers on my counter when talking about how their skin feels:
“It’s dry. Yeah, really dry.”
“It’s really oily, I get really shiny here [points to forehead and nose] and it gets worse as the day goes on.”
“Oh it’s fine, just…normal. Doesn’t really feel like anything.”
“I don’t know, it changes all the time, I get really oily and shiny in Summer but now it’s Winter it’s gone all dry and flakey.”
“I have sensitive skin.”
So…Which one do you identify with? Which one sounds like you? Well one thing I can tell you about all the above quotes is that they’re talking about a mixture of skin types and skin conditions. They’re two different things…
Skin type: This is the type of skin you were born with and the type of skin you will die with, it doesn’t change. There are only 4 skin types – normal, combination, dry and oily.
Skin condition: this is what changes, due to hormones, environment, illness, weather, time of the month, etc. The most common skin conditions are dehydrated and sensitive, but it can also suffer from occasional breakouts of pimples (at that time of the month or when stressed out, but can also suffer from acne), and blemishes (when you’ve been ill, or had a reaction to a product, or eaten something that hasn’t agreed with you – although that can cause pimples too). Other skin conditions are eczema, dermatitis and rosacea.
So, how do you know what’s a skin type and what’s a skin condition and what type your skin is and what condition it’s in?! Don’t worry, help is at hand!
Diagnosing your skin type: You can have a go at diagnosing your skin type partly by looking and partly by touching. There is a little ‘touch test’ you can do – Rest the back of your fingers (the second section, just behind the joint after the fingernail) lightly in the middle of your forehead, then lightly stroke outwards towards the temple and downwards alongside the eye and down the side of the cheek. You might have to do this a few times to check what exactly you can feel.
Once you
Read my article series and find the solution for you. A new article about each skin type and advice relating to each type, is published everyday this week.
Feel free to ask me anything along the way and I’ll do my best to help you out 
– find me on twitter: @velvetfur
ARTICLE: by Vikki Velvetfur
This week, Vikki Velvetfur will share everything she knows about skin types and conditions with us. Everyday a new article on the subject will be posted and finishing it all off, Vikki will share some great skincare tips for each skin condition – from sensitive, normal to oily and pimply skin. So stay tuned this week for better skin!
