Cosme

Getting a skin analysis is the first step in skin care. But it is also the most overlooked.

Here is a story about my beauty conscious friend Gina. She went through a lot until she finally got it right.

To be honest Gina was a vain person. She was always wrapped up in her self and her looks. She would even spend hours in the bathroom applying ****** cleansers, toners and moisturizers.

Gina also avoided the sun, ate healthy and abstained from cigarettes and alcohol. But for some reason her skin did not always give her the results she wanted.

She wanted supple and soft skin. But most times her face felt tight, dry and blistered.

Gina thought she was doing something wrong. Maybe it was the brand name of the products she was using? Maybe if she switched to another brand her condition would improve.

So she turned on her television and looked at the beauty ads. She wrote down the different products and brands she saw and went out to buy them.

She bought the most expensive and popular products. She believed that the higher the cost, the better a product will work on her skin.

So what happened next? Did her situation improve?

Sad to say, but no. She still had skin care problems. Only this time she also had a collection of expensive, once-used cosmetics.

Gina was so disappointed that she was about to give up. She thought that beautiful skin was not for her.

It was at this point, however, that I stepped in. I decided to give Gina some advice.

I asked her about her skin type. And just as I suspected, she did not know.

So I explained the 5 different types of skin. They are oily skin, dry skin, sensitive skin, combination skin and normal skin.

Oily skin is a result of excess sebum. This skin type is often hereditary. But it is also affected by diet as well as hormone levels and lifestyle.

Dry skin is a result of lost moisture. The skin is simply unable to retain its moisture. This is due to a breakdown in the of the hydro-lipid system in the skin. This system is made up of sebum, natural oils and other moisturizing factors in the skin.

Sensitive skin is itchy, stinging and dry. Red patches on the skin are also common. Sensitive skin easily develops allergies towards skin products.

Combination skin comprises of both dry and oily skin. Some areas of the face are dry while other areas are oily. The oily areas tend to be the forehead, nose and chin. To treat combination skin requires a double approach. The oily areas should be treated separately from the dry areas.

Normal skin has a proper balance of oil and moisture. The only thing to be done here is to maintain this balance.

As it turned out, Gina had sensitive skin. And the beauty products she used in the past were irritating it.

Now Gina is working with her skin type. She understands what her sensitive skin needs as well as the appropriate treatments to use. Gina is no longer gambling when it comes to skin care.

This brings us back to my first point. A skin analysis is the first step in skin care. It is how we find out what works best. In other words a skin analysis is the key to having beautiful skin.