If you have oily skin then you may think that you need to avoid moisturising or any hydrating products. This isn’t the case, all skin types need moisturization. Using a hydration mask on your oily skin will work wonders
Oily skin can be quite difficult to deal with sometimes, it’s more prone to getting breakouts and looking shiny. There are a couple of disadvantages to having oily skin but you can make the best of it. On the upside, because you have oily skin the chances of you getting wrinkles are much lower compared to someone with normal or dry skin.
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Why is my face oily?
Oily skin is a skin type. This is different from a skin condition. A skin type is something that you are born with, skin conditions are temporal and can be as a result of environmental factors, allergies, products, diet, weather, stress and many more reasons. You can still minimize the oil on your skin even if your oily skin in genetic.
The skin produces sebum (the natural oil found on the skin) this sebum is meant to keep the skin happy and healthy. If this is overproduced then you will get oily skin. Oily skin overproduces to much oil because the sebaceous glands are overactive.
In addition, when your skin is dried out from face washes, the skin tries to rehydrate itself by producing more oil. This is done in an effort to establish normal levels of hydration on the skin.
Can I use a hydrating mask on oily skin?
Yes, you can and need to use hydrating masks on your face if you have oily skin. Your face needs some pampering and a boost of hydration for time to time. The hydrating face masks are great at not only hydration but also at supplying your skin with nutrients that will keep your skin looking amazing. Don’t worry the mask won’t give you more oily skin. Because the mask is providing all the moisture your skin needs the skin it is not triggered to overproduce oil in order to hydrate and moisturise itself.
How to use:
- Be sure to wash your face before you use the mask, this will allow the mask to properly penetrate the skin and hydrate it with no barriers between the skin and the mask.
- After the cleanse and before the hydrating mask you can use Dead Sea clay. This removes dirt and oil from your skin prior to hydrating. The sea clay has a positive charge which pulls the negatively charged oils and dirt from your skin.
- Apply the hydrating mask and leave it on for about 10-15 minutes. If the mask instructions instruct you to leave it on for a different about of time then do that
- Remove the mask and don’t rinse off the excess residue. This residue is the mask serum and is very beneficial to your skin. You should rub this serum into your face to get the full effect.
Ingredients for a DIY hydrating mask:
If you plan on making your own hydrating mask then you can use a variety of ingredients together or one at a time you hydrate the skin:
Honey: Honey is a humectant and it called liquid gold for a reason. It will help you moisturise your skin very well.
Aloe: Not only is aloe great for treating sunburns on the skin but it also hydrates the skin well and helps with anti-ageing.
Vitamin E: You can get this in the form of an oil. Vitamin E is great at helping the skin retain moisture, this enables it to stay healthy and happy.
Face oils: You need to be careful not to use oils that are comedogenic. A good oil to use for oily skin is jojoba (this is the closest to sebum, using it prevents your skin from having to produce sebum for your skin). You should stay away from coconut oil as it is a known comedogenic ingredient.
Avocado: Not only is avocado delicious to eat, but it’s also amazing at hydrating the skin.
Brewer’s yeast: This might not be in most people’s home but if you want a hydrating ingredient that also supplies the skin with vitamins and minerals then you might want to get this ingredient
Is it good to hydrate oily skin?
Yes, it is good to hydrate oily skin. All skin types need hydration, they will all react slightly differently if they don’t get the hydration they need. In the case of oily skin, it will only get oilier.
When you don’t hydrate your oily skin after you wash your face it becomes dry. Face washes tend to dry out the skin and strip the face of sebum. Face washes contain sulphates which break down the sebum and leave your face stripped.
If you don’t hydrate after using the face wash then your skin will become dry and your oil glands will become triggered to produce oil. Your oily skin will overproduce sebum making you oilier than before. To avoid this you need to hydrate your skin
Do I need to moisturize my face if I have oily skin?
Yes, you still need to use a moisturiser if you have oily skin. Hydration entails adding water to the skin. This enables the skin cells to absorb the water and swell up making your skin softer. Moisturization entails using a sealant to lock in the hydration or using a moisturiser that contains a hydrator and a sealant.
You might be trying to avoid moisturisers in an effort to avoid the shiny look on your face but this isn’t how this problem should be approached. Because oily skin overproduces oil when it’s dry leaving it dry with no moisturiser will result in the skin overproducing oil in an effort overcompensate for the dry skin. Using a moisturizer will prevent this from happening.
In addition, there are many external impurities that can attack the skin’s moisture barrier. This can include UV rays, pollution, dirt and bacteria on the skin. These impurities result in a loss of moisture, this loss of moisture will make your skin dry and trigger overproduction of oils.
What should I use for oily skin?
All skin products are designed with a certain skin type in mind. If you have oily skin you need to use products that have been specially designed for people with oily skin. You need to be using products that don’t contain comedogenic ingredients, these ingredients have a high chance of blocking your pores and causing breakouts and blemishes.
If you have oily skin you need to use product s that are mattifying, these will help regulate the oil on your skin. You should also use oil-free products, these won’t make your oily skin worse. If you do want to use an oil you can use jojoba oil, jojoba oil is the closest oil we have to sebum. When used on the face the skin won’t become triggered to produce sebum in an effort to moisturise itself.
How can I control my oily skin naturally?
Eat correctly: Avoid foods that make your skin oiler, or at least eat them in moderation (more on this later)
Use blotting paper: if you feel that your skin is getting oily throughout the day then you can blot out the excess oil using blotting paper
Use mattifying products: these products are designed to prevent your face from becoming oily, they balance the oil levels on your face and keep the oil levels under control
Moisturise: as long as you’re using the correct moisturiser for your face your skin will stay hydrated and oil-free
Does drinking water help oily skin?
Yes, drinking water does help with oily skin. The skin produces sebum in an effort to moisturise and hydrate itself. If you drink water the water will hydrate the skin so the sebum doesn’t have to. This is how an increase in water intake helps to balance the sebum levels of the skin and avoid excess oil production. The increase in water intake also helps to keep your skin soft and supple.
Should I wash my face after the mask?
No, you shouldn’t wash your face after using a mask. After you use a hydrating sheet mask you should squeeze the excess sebum out of the mask and rub it into your skin to get the maximum benefits out of the mask.
Your face wash or cleanser contains sulphates which break down dirt, grime, debris and sebum. The sulphates will also strip the skin of the hydration you’ve just added from the face mask. Only wash your face before you use the mask. This will remove all the external irritants off of your skin and allow the mask to work on the skin properly.
Does oily skin need sunscreen?
Yes, oily skin needs sunscreen. You may try to avoid sunscreen if you have oily skin to avoid making your skin look even oilier but the way around that oily skin look isn’t cutting sunscreen out, it’s using a sunscreen made for oily skin.
Sunscreen will protect you from the UVA and the UVB rays of the sun, unfortunately, your oily skin does not protect against the UV rays of the sun. You’ll find that if you use the correct sunscreen it will mattify your skin, a good sunscreen for you will be lightweight and non-shiny but still protect you against the harmful rays of the sun. Here is how to make your sunscreen not look oily.
Is serum is good for oily skin?
Yes, serum is good for oily skin, that is if you use the correct serum for your oily skin. For the best results, you need to use a lightweight water-based serum on your oily skin. If you use a serum that contains too many heavy and rich plant oils you can end up clogging up your pores and making your skin look more oily.
When looking for a serum make sure you use one that contains lightweight hydrators like hyaluronic acid and glycerine. Other beneficial ingredients you may want in your serums include vitamins A, C and E. If you have breakouts as a result of oily skin you can use a serum that contains tea tree oil, this will help balance the skin and control breakouts.
What foods cause oily skin?
Oily skin is caused by genetics or the environment, the environment includes what you choose to eat. These foods are what may be causing your oily skin.
Dairy: unfortunately animal diary isn’t the best for the skin. The high concentration the hormones found in dairy products will affect the hormone levels in your body. This can result in an increase in sebum production and thus oilier skin and eventually more clogged pores. If you cant kick dairy then I recommend you swap animal dairy for almond or soy dairy products
Friend foods: you are what you eat and the more you consume foods fried in oils that contain omega 6 fatty acids the oilier your skin will look. The heavy oils that we use to fry foods contain omega 6 fatty acids. These fatty acids will negatively affect your skin and give you oiler skin. These fatty acids should not be confused with the good omega 3 fatty acids found in salmon and flaxseeds.
Alcohol: alcohol affects the skin in a similar way that sulphates in facial products do. They strip the skin of moisture and make it dry. When your skin is dry it becomes triggered to produce sebum and this sebum causes your skin to become oiler
Salty foods: not only does salt retain water and make you look bloated but it will also negatively affect your skin. When we consume too much salt the skin becomes dehydrated and is trigged to overproduce sebum.
Sugar rich foods: sugar is addictive and not good for your health in general, it’s also bad for your skin. If you consume too much sugar this will result in inflammation in the body and will make your skin oilier.
Which acid is best for oily skin?
The best acid to exfoliate oily skin is a chemical exfoliator like salicylic acid which is a BHA. This chemical exfoliator not only exfoliates the top layer of your skin, but it also exfoliates the pore lining. When the skin and pore-lining is exfoliated the oil can exit the pore and thus won’t cause clogs and pimples
A good hydrating acid that you can use on your oily skin is hyaluronic acid. This is a lightweight hydrator that penetrates deep into the skin to deliver hydration, it does not clog the pores. One part hyaluronic acid can hold 6 parts water, it delivers hydration to the top layers of the skin as well as the deeper layers to provide deep hydration.
Does oily skin age better?
Oily skin ages better in a particular way. There are many skin changes that affect how old we look, these include wrinkles, sunspots, loss of elasticity and loss of volume. Oily skin is thicker because of the excess sebum, this thicker skin makes wrinkles look less apparent.
If you only have oily skin on your forehand you’ll still get wrinkles on the lower part of your face just as people with normal or dry skin would. People with dry or normal skin have thinner skin, they don’t have the extra padding in their skin which would otherwise help minimize the appearance of wrinkles. All skin types can develop sunspots, loss of elasticity and loss of volume and this will show your age.
Does exfoliating help oily skin?
Yes, exfoliating does help oily skin. Oilier skin is more prone to the build-up of dead skin cells. There’s a thicker layer of dead skin cells on oiler skin than other skin types. In addition, oiler skin has a thicker pore-lining than other skin types.
For this reason, you need to exfoliate more if you have oily skin. People with oilier skin need to exfoliate because this is the only way to get rid of the build-up of dead skin cells. If you don’t remove the dead skin cells you can develop clogged pores which can form pimples.
Can I apply moisturizer after a face mask?
Yes, you can apply a moisturiser after the face mask. The face mask is simply a serum soaked into the cotton mask. Serums have a thin lightweight consistency, they easily penetrate the skin to deeply hydrate the skin.
Unfortunately, they can evaporate out of the skin as easily as they penetrate into the skin. You need to seal the serum in with heavier products such as a moisturiser, this will ensure that the hydration stays packed the skin. Whenever you apply products you need to use the lighter products first the pack them into the skin with heavier products like moisturisers.
I hope you enjoyed this article looking at hydration for oily skin. If you enjoyed this article please share it.
