Are Your Skin Care Products Doing More Harm than Good?

Do you have skin care products sitting in your bathroom unopened, never used? Wondering what you should keep, what you should toss, what will actually help your skin? It’s easier than you think! Just figure out your skin type, and the rest will fall into place.

Dry Skin

After you wash your face, does your skin feel tight all over if you don’t moisturize right away? Do you tend to have flaky skin? Do you have to use deep hydrating moisturizers all the time? If so, you have dry skin. And what products work best with dry skin? Water-based formulas! Water-based formulas include such ingredients as sorbitol, hyaluronic acid, glycerin, and even argan oil. All ingredients that will restore moisture to the skin, relieving that tight-skin feeling. A great pick is Geneva Naturals Advanced Anti-Aging Facial Moisturizer with SPF – it will keep your dry skin protected from the sun’s harmful rays, too!

What you don’t want to keep? Any products that are alcohol, sodium, or ammonium-based. You also want to avoid oil-based formulas. Now you may be asking, “Wait, don’t oily based products keep moisture on your skin?” No! If anything, oil-based products will only cause more problems. Dryness of skin isn’t an absence of oil, but an absence of water. Putting a layer of oil coating on your face would actually create a barrier that would prevent your skin from taking in moisture.

Sensitive Skin or Rosacea

Sensitive skin can be the worst! Your skin feels easily irritated, and products you use sting, burn, or itch. You skin is prone to redness.

The most important thing to remember? Less is more with sensitive skin. Avoid items with fragrance and anything targeting oil and acne. These ingredients are too aggressive. So be sure to trash anything with fragrance, retinal, coal tar, and ingredients that target oily skin. Hold onto the products with gentler ingredients, like products with oatmeal, green tea extract, honey, shea butter, licorice, and more.

Oily or acne-prone skin

If you have oily skin, you know it. A couple hours after washing your face, your skin looks shiny and feels slick to the touch. Pimples? They feel like a never-ending occurrence!

So what should you keep? Keep skin care products with retinoids, benzoyl peroxide, and salicylic acid, ingredients that will help remove oil. These ingredients will gently control oil, keep your pores clear, and loosen blackheads. And benzoyl peroxide is even better for treating acne, with its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, just what you need for clear, smooth skin!

This skin type needs to be treated gently. Don’t keep anything that lists oils, unless it’s one of the last ingredients. And be sure to trash products for made dry or mature skin, which could clog pores and retain oil.

Combination skin

You know you have combination skin if, after cleaning, you have an oily T-zone (forehead down to the center of your face) while feeling normal to dry everywhere else.

So what should you do? Not panic! Treat your t-zone like it’s oily skin. Treat rest of your face like it’s normal to dry skin. Which means using different products in different areas. Gentle cleanser should be used on your whole face, then use serums and lotions to hydrate the dry areas. When treating oily areas of your skin, use toners and more aggressive products. Keep gels, serums, and products with glycerin, urea, and sorbitol. Throw away products using aggressive ingredients, like benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid.

Remember: not all skin care products work for everyone. Make sure you know what your skin needs first before you decide which products to use on it!

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