Beauty Note | Differences Between Skin Type & Skin Condition
What is my skin type? My skin condition? So many people, especially those who just getting involve in skin cares will firstly come up with these two common questions when they are looking for skincare products to be used. Some of them may just buy any of skincare products without considering these 2 important things. Then they end up with frustration as the products turn their skin into the bad one or the products did not benefit their skin as they wish. Are you one of them? Let's dive into it.
Skin type is totally different from skin condition. Skin type is what you get genetically and it cannot be changed but we can control its appearance to be the best as you wish. Skin condition is what you get temporarily due to some internal and external factors which can be changed by monitoring the factors involved.
So, let's taking a look at various types of skin first. Basically, there are 5 basic types of skin.
📍 5 Basic Skin Types:
- Normal Skin
- Dry Skin
- Oily Skin
- Combination Skin
- Sensitive Skin
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📌 Normal Skin
What is it?
- Well balanced skin
- Neither too oily nor too dry
- Skin with balance production of sebum by sebaceous gland
- Skin with balance moisture - optimum water loss
- Skin with healthy stratum corneum layer - enough of epidermal lipids and natural moisturizing factors (NMFs)
- Known as Eudermic
How to characterize?
- Fine pores
- Good blood circulation/fresh look
- Velvety, soft and smooth texture
- No blemishes
- Not prone to sensitivity
📌 Dry Skin
What is it?
- Skin with less production of sebum by sebaceous gland
- Skin with low moisture - high water loss
- Skin with unhealthy stratum corneum layer - lack of epidermal lipids and NMFs
- Skin with high possibility of impaired skin barrier
- Prone to sensitivity
How to characterize?
- Dry - feel tight, rough, brittle and dull
- Very dry - mild scaling or flakiness in patches. rough and blotchy feel, tightness, possible itchiness, sensitive to irritation, redness and infection risk
- Extremely dry (commonly on body skin) - roughness, cracks, calluses, scaling, frequent itchiness
Why it happens?
- Skin is lacking of water as it losses water constantly via perspiration and trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL)
- Perspiration - active water loss from sweat gland
- Tran-epidermal Water Loss (TEWL) - natural passive flow of water from hydrated layers of the dermis and epidermis toward upper layers with a decrease in water content and evaporates of moisture from the surface of skin
- Skin is lacking of NMFs and epidermal lipids
- NMFs - collection of naturally-occurring humectants that keep the corneocytes (skin cells) within stratum corneum moist
- Epidermal Lipids - mixture of lipids (fatty acids, ceramides, cholestrols, cholestrol esters) in stratum corneum to occupy the intercellular space between corneocytes (skin cells)
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📌 Oily Skin
What is it?
- Skin with high production of sebum
- Known as seborrhea
How to characterize?
- Oily all over the face
- Enlarge and clearly visible pores
- Bad blood circulation/pale look as the sebum barrier is thicker than it should be
- Glossy shine look
- Prone to acne
- Prone to blemishes
Why it happens?
- Overactive of sebaceous gland producing excess sebum than needed for skin
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📌 Combination Skin
What is it?
- Skin with two different skin type at T-zone area and cheek area
- T-zone can differ substantially from a very slim zone to an extended area
How to characterize?
- Oily T-zone (forehead, nose, chin) **refer to oily skin type**
- Normal to dry cheeks **refer to normal/dry skin type**
- Enlarged pores in T-zone
- T-zone prone to acne, blemishes and shiny look
- Bad blood circulation/pale look at T- zone as the the uppermost layer of the skin is thicker than it should be
- Cheek area prone to sensitivity if dry **refer to dry & sensitive type**
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📌 5. Sensitive Skin
What is it?
How to characterize?
Why it happens?
As skin type is genetically passed down, it definitely cannot be changed. It is influenced by the amount of oil secreted from skin, size of pores and skin layer texture which have been embedded in your DNA since born. Do not be upset if you do not own normal skin type. The skin still can be managed and controlled with the use of correct skincare products. Hence, when you are looking for the best skincare regimen for your skin, you must consider your skin type first so that the products chose soon can fulfill your skin basic needs.
Let's move on to skin condition! Skin condition refers to the temporary occurrences of any skin type. It is affected by various kinds of internal and external factors it is subjected to including pollution, climate, medication, stress, hereditary factors which turn out influences the level of sebum, sweat and NMFs that your skin produces as well as the skincare products you use and skin cares that you made. Skin condition luckily can be changed by using the skincare products with the specific ingredients according to the skin condition.
Just like skin type, skin condition can also affect the choosing of skincare products to be used in your skincare regiment. Basically, every skin can have one or more than one skin condition.
What is it?
- Skin with very weak protective skin barrier or stratum corneum barrier layer and immune function to fight against external harms
- It can happen to dry skin, oily dehydrated skin and skin with very thin, disrupted or broken down skin barrier or stratum corneum barrier layer
- Prone to asthma and allergies
How to characterize?
- Thin skin texture with translucent appearance
- Feeling of tightness
- Redness and blotchiness
- Flaking, peeling, cracking
- Flushing, irritation, burning, stinging, pain
- Small, rash-like bumps
- Dryness, itchiness
Why it happens?
- Protective skin barrier or stratum corneum barrier layer is easily irritated, letting external harms to pass through deeper skin layers
- It is easily irritated because it is thin than it should be or it is disrupted or broken-down
- Lower amount of pigment and condition where blood vessels close to the thin skin surface trigger skin redness appearance
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As skin type is genetically passed down, it definitely cannot be changed. It is influenced by the amount of oil secreted from skin, size of pores and skin layer texture which have been embedded in your DNA since born. Do not be upset if you do not own normal skin type. The skin still can be managed and controlled with the use of correct skincare products. Hence, when you are looking for the best skincare regimen for your skin, you must consider your skin type first so that the products chose soon can fulfill your skin basic needs.
Let's move on to skin condition! Skin condition refers to the temporary occurrences of any skin type. It is affected by various kinds of internal and external factors it is subjected to including pollution, climate, medication, stress, hereditary factors which turn out influences the level of sebum, sweat and NMFs that your skin produces as well as the skincare products you use and skin cares that you made. Skin condition luckily can be changed by using the skincare products with the specific ingredients according to the skin condition.
Just like skin type, skin condition can also affect the choosing of skincare products to be used in your skincare regiment. Basically, every skin can have one or more than one skin condition.
📍 Skin Conditions:
- Acne
- Aging
- Blemish
- Dehydration
- Dull Skin
- Large Pore
- Pigmentation
- Rosacea
- Sensitization
- Sun Damage
- etc.
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