What is oily skin?
Oily skin is a skin type characterized by excess sebum production, also called “seborrhea”. At the end of the day, does your skin look shiny and feel heavy? Is your first desire to clean your face in the evening?
If this sounds like you, you may have oily skin. So how can you be sure? It is essential to recognize the signs of oily skin, understand its causes and apply the appropriate type of beauty treatment.
How to recognize oily skin?
Sebum is produced in the sebaceous glands mainly located in the T zone of the face (forehead, nose and chin) or the armpits. The skin secretes this fatty substance to create the hydrolipid barrier: this fatty film slows down dehydration by reducing the phenomenon of transepidermal water loss at the origin of dehydration and protects the skin from external aggressions.
The symptoms of oily skin mainly appear on the face and body, or even on the scalp. The major signs are:
- Dilation of pores in the T zone
- The shiny appearance of the skin upon waking up or at the end of the day
- Quite pale and rather thick skin
Oily skin often has a tendency to imperfections, such as blackheads - open comedones - or more classic acne with small spots, white spots, red spots, cysts... Don't worry though! Having oily skin does not necessarily mean acne, and vice versa.
Mask acne , common lately, doesn't mean you have oily skin either. With COVID, wearing this airtight accessory leads to stagnant humidity and heat. These conditions are conducive to the proliferation of bad bacteria responsible for acne, hence the birth of maskne. Choosing the mask, facial cleanser or treatments to apply are where you can make the difference for your skin.
What factors promote oily skin?
Several causes can cause abnormal functioning of the sebaceous glands, including:
- Hypersensitivity of the sebaceous glands to hormones, hence hormonal acne.
- Too frequent or poorly adapted skin cleansing. This causes the hydrolipid barrier to dry out. The skin therefore produces more sebum to compensate, which makes the problem worse.
- Hot air also promotes overproduction of sebum, which explains why pores are often dilated in summer.
The active ingredients to favor for treating oily skin
The effectiveness of a treatment for oily skin is essentially based on the presence of certain active ingredients including these:
- Niacinamide is one of the three forms of vitamin B3, a sebum regulator. In addition to its function of regulating sebum production, it has antibacterial properties. It evens out the complexion and refines pores by reducing sebum production.
- Exfoliating acids, namely AHAs, BHAs and PHAs . They also help eliminate impurities and dead skin.
- Antibacterial ingredients such as tea tree oil, geranium or rose water... Also known as tea tree oil, tea tree oil is renowned for its benefits on the oily skin prone to imperfections.
The best treatments to combat the overproduction of sebum in oily skin
We now know that double cleansing is the best possible cleansing technique for healthy skin. In this way, the skin is deeply cleansed of impurities without drying out the skin's natural oils. This double cleaning includes two phases, namely the oily phase and the aqueous phase:
- An oil is first applied to dissolve excess sebum and any other fatty substances while nourishing the skin.
- An “aqueous” cleaning gel is then used to ensure perfect cleaning.
Among our cosmetic products, the universal hydrating mist has been designed to hydrate the skin and tone it without adding emollients. Its composition based on aloe vera hydrates and soothes the skin. Rose water plays the role of antibacterial.
The anti-imperfection trio treatment has been formulated to help oily skin on a daily basis and reduce excess sebum. It consists of a purifying lotion, an imperfection serum and an SOS Spot:
- The purifying lotion contains aloe, niacinamide and cucumber to hydrate, regulate sebum and soothe the skin. The objective is to prevent skin imperfections by purifying it regularly.
- Blemish serum contains niacinamide, lactic acid, bakuchiol to reduce seborrhea, gently exfoliate dead skin with an AHA and accelerate cell turnover.
- The SOS Spot includes geranium and tea tree to soothe and prevent pimple infections.
