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EVALUATING SKIN TYPE AND CONDITIONS

Unlike skin type, the skin condition can vary greatly during the course of your life. The many internal and external factors that determine its condition include climate and pollution, medication, stress, hereditary factors that influence the levels of sebum, sweat, and natural moisturizing factors that your skin produces as well as the products that you use and the skincare choices that you make.

Skincare products should be selected to match skin type and address skin conditions. Dermatologists and other skincare experts determine a person’s skin type condition by measuring the following factors:

Signs of aging
Our skin type can evolve during our lifetime. Those with an oily skin type in their teenage years can find their skin becoming drier post-puberty and those with a normal skin type can find their skin getting drier as they age.

As all skin types age, skin loses volume and density, fine lines and wrinkles appear and changes in pigmentation can occur. Understanding and measuring these signs of ageing helps us to determine the condition of our skin. Read more about skin aging.

Skin colour
Skin colour and ethnicity influence how our skin reacts to external forces such as the sun, pigmentation disorders, irritation and inflammation. Basic skin colour is determined by the density of the epidermis and the distribution of melanin. Read more about skin ethics. The redness of the skin is also a useful measure of skin condition; it indicates how successful our circulation is and can be helpful in identifying conditions such as couperose and rosacea.

Skin Sensitivity
Sensitive skin is skin that is easily irritated by different factors, which is generally tolerated by well-balanced skin, such as skin care products or high and low temperatures. For some people, sensitive skin is a permanent condition, for others, sensitivity is triggered by certain internal and external factors. It occurs when the skin’s natural barrier function is compromised, causing water loss and allowing penetration of irritants. Symptoms are exacerbated by factors that facial skin is most exposed to, from the sun to some ingredients in cosmetics and cleansers.