Sometimes our skin just can’t make up its mind: It is dry and oily at the same time. Because combination skin combines very different needs, its care often becomes a balancing act. We explain how to recognize combination skin and how to meet its needs.
Depending on how much sebum our sebaceous glands produce, the skin surface is drier or oilier. When dry and oily skin patches coexist on the face, this is referred to as combination skin. The so-called T-zone with forehead, nose and chin tends to look greasy. The cheeks and eye area, on the other hand, are drier.
Combination skin is nothing unusual, in fact it is a fairly common skin type. This is because we naturally have more sebaceous glands in the forehead, nose and chin area.
Combination skin can be recognized by the fact that your facial skin does not look the same everywhere: Some areas of skin are dry, others are significantly more oily.
If you are unsure, take a piece of paper and press it gently onto your face. Does the forehead area leave a clearly greasy imprint, while hardly any grease remains on the paper on the cheeks? Then you probably have combination skin.
Combination skin is caused by an imbalance in sebum production: in some areas, such as the forehead and nose, the sebaceous glands are very numerous and active, while their colleagues on the cheeks tend to take it easy. This is why some areas of the skin are oversupplied with sebum and others are undersupplied.
This is partly due to the completely natural, innate distribution of the sebaceous glands. But there are also a number of other factors that can increase your tendency to have combination skin:
If you have combination skin, you probably know that it can be difficult to meet the different needs of your skin. The rich skin care cream that is good for your dry cheeks makes pimples sprout on your forehead. The toner that helps against spots will in turn make your dry cheeks flush. If you are not very sensitive to your skin’s needs, skin problems can occur time and again.
In general, oily areas of skin tend to develop blemishes or even acne. Dry skin, on the other hand, often has a weaker skin barrier. This makes them more susceptible to skin irritations and even eczema. Typical signs of skin ageing such as lines, facial wrinkles and age spots often appear earlier with dry skin.
You should consider the following when cleansing combination skin:
So how do you go about it? If you have combination skin with a low tendency to blemishes, simply use a cleansing gel or a light cleansing milk – but not an oil-based product. The product should be mild and adjusted to the skin’s natural pH value. Cleanse your face with it twice a day, morning and evening.
If your T-zone is very oily and you struggle with blemishes, an additional product for oily skin may be useful. Good options include facial cleansers with additives such as salicylic acid, which have a mild exfoliating and anti-inflammatory effect. Make sure that you really only dab these products on where your skin produces too much sebum.
However, do not use products that are too degreasing, such as those with a high alcohol content. They can even intensify the extremes of your skin. This is because they dry out your cheeks even more, while oily areas of skin often become even more oily. The result: your skin becomes completely unbalanced.
Last updated: 02.06.2024
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