Skincare for Oily Skin

Test your skin at home to see if it is truly oily, or just temporarily saturated with sweat and oil from your environment or the skin products you've been using. Buy a bar of gentle skin soap and use it for a week. Wash your face, pat it dry and wait for half an hour. Then take blotting paper or eyeglass tissues, and blot your face. If you are getting spots that are almost translucent, that is oil picked up off the skin. If the only oily spots are from the T zone along your forehead and down the nose, you have combination skin.

Basic care starts with cleansing. Use a gentle soap formulated for oily skin type. Wash in the morning and before bedtime. Frequent washing does not cure oily skin or acne, and can actually stimulate the glands into producing more oil. The same can be said for astringent, which should be limited to using once a day, if at all. You may accomplish as much, and with less damage to your skin, by carrying a package of blotting tissue, or specially powdered papers that will pick up the oil and dry the skin off at the same time.

Next, eliminate oil-based products, from soaps, to bath oils, to lotions, creams, sunscreens and more. Switch to powder makeup instead of creams. A long, hot soak in the tub is not only relaxing, it helps to "sweat" the oil out of your skin! Use a scented bath milk instead of oil in order to keep your skin's balance.