The Ultimate Skin Type Guide

The Four Skin Types

Dry skin often feels tight, rough, or flaky, with small pores and more noticeable fine lines. Normal skin is balanced, with even texture and little to no extreme dryness or oiliness. Oily skin produces more sebum, which leads to shine, visible pores, and a tendency toward breakouts. Combination skin brings together different zones: the T-zone is typically oily while the cheeks lean normal or dry.

Understanding Skin Modifiers

Skin modifiers add nuance to your profile. Sensitive skin reacts with redness or irritation at the slightest trigger. Acne-prone skin tends to clog easily and break out, sometimes flaring up during stress or hormonal shifts. Dehydrated skin lacks water rather than oil, which means it can look shiny yet still feel tight or dull. Aging skin reveals itself through fine lines, wrinkles, and loss of elasticity. Each modifier changes how you should treat your base type.

A Simple Way to Identify Your Skin

If you’re unsure where your skin fits, try the cleanse test. Wash your face with a gentle cleanser and wait a couple of hours without applying anything. If your skin feels tight or flaky, you’re likely dry. If it feels balanced, you’re normal. If your T-zone is shiny but your cheeks feel dry, you’re combination. If you notice shine everywhere, you’re oily.

Building the Right Routine

Once you’ve identified your type and modifiers, your skincare routine becomes easier to tailor. In the morning, keep it simple: cleanse, moisturize, and protect with sunscreen. At night, focus on deeper cleansing, treatments that address your modifiers—like a calming serum for sensitivity, salicylic acid for acne, or retinol for aging—and finish with a moisturizer that supports your skin’s balance. The key is adapting products to your unique needs: lightweight gels for oily or acne-prone skin, rich creams for dryness, and soothing, fragrance-free formulas for sensitivity.

Bottom Line

Your skin is a mix of your consistent type and your shifting modifiers. Once you understand both, you stop playing guessing games with products and start creating a routine that actually works. The more you work with your skin’s natural tendencies instead of fighting against them, the easier skincare becomes—and the better the results will be. Want to find out more and tailor your skincare routine to your skin type? Get The Ultimate Skin Type Guide here and start glowing!

Why Your Friend’s Routine Doesn’t Work for You

Have you ever borrowed someone’s skincare favorite, only to find that it made your skin worse instead of better? That’s because skincare is not one-size-fits-all. The reason products behave differently from person to person usually comes down to two things: your skin type and your skin modifiers.

Skin Type vs. Skin Modifiers

Your skin type is your baseline. It’s mostly determined by genetics and remains fairly stable over time. The four main categories are dry, normal, oily, and combination. Modifiers, on the other hand, are the shifting conditions that overlay your type. Sensitivity, acne-prone tendencies, dehydration, and aging are all modifiers. Unlike your type, they can change with the seasons, your lifestyle, or even stress levels. Think of your type as the house and your modifiers as the weather it’s exposed to—both shape how your skin looks and feels.