If you have combination skin, you will be able to relate to these issues about your dry-in-parts-but-oily-in-others face.
Every skin type has issues that you need to target. If you are lucky enough to have combination skin, then you usually have twice as many skincare concerns because you are dealing with dry and oily areas. Sometimes you might even have sensitive skin too. Your skin is complicated, and it takes a lot of work to figure out the right products for your face. If you have ever wondered why your complexion won’t just make up its mind, you aren’t alone.
(Related: These Products Are Keeping My Skin Moisturized Despite The Dry Climate In My New City)
If you have combination skin, you will be able to relate to this:
1. You wish the weather would never change more than five degrees.
You don’t care if it would be boring if it was always 65 degrees every single day because it would mean your face would hopefully cooperate. You dread when the seasons change because it completely throws off your regular skincare regimen.
2. You are suspicious of anything that says “for combination skin.”
There are some great products out there, but you have a hard time believing that anything is really 100% perfect for your combination skin. It might be good for your forehead and nose but not your cheeks, or vice versa. Sometimes, the products just don’t seem to do anything because they aren’t rich enough and don’t have the right oil-controlling properties.
3. Your bathroom cupboard is stocked with at least eight different products you never use.
Some of the used-once-and-then-put-in-the-back-of-the-cupboard products were things that were meant for combination skin and did precisely nothing. Others have been discarded because they used to work good, but then the season changed, and then they didn’t work so well anymore.
4. You dislike buying foundation as much as skincare products.
You like makeup, but you find buying foundation a chore. Whatever product you buy isn’t going to be perfect, and you can’t really mix two different types of foundation. (You’ve tried.) You know that whatever formula you buy may look great for a few days, but it won’t be long until your combination skin starts flaking underneath in some spots and migrating off the oily parts.
5. You wish for one product that would actually tackle all your skincare concerns.
Is it too much to ask to have one product that will balance out your skin? There are BB creams and CC creams that do so many different things, but they never quite solve every skin issue for you. They are close, but you always need at least two or three more products.
6. Multitasking isn’t a new beauty trend; it is a way of life.
When people started talking about the multitasking skincare trend, you didn’t see what the big deal was. It’s what you have been doing for years; you just didn’t have a proper name for it or post photos about it on Instagram.
7. Your skincare routine can be more complicated than the Korean skincare regimen.
People who are new to the Korean skincare craze are always surprised that it has so many steps. On the other hand, you find it no more complicated than your own routine. An eight-step routine is usually the bare minimum when you have to individually treat each area on your face.
8. You usually spend more on skincare products than on groceries.
It isn’t that you are buying crazy expensive skincare products; it is that you are buying a lot of them. You buy a mix of things for oily, dry, combination, and sensitive skin, and each area of your face has its own separate products. It adds up quickly, especially when you factor in the thought-it-was-great-but-really-wasn’t purchases.
9. You do not believe people who say that the only thing they do to their skin is wash their face.
You get that some people are low maintenance, but there is no way that people could get by with just using a cleanser. If you just used a cleanser, your cheeks would be flaking more than a crunched-up piece of baklava, and the rest of your face would be doing the extreme opposite.
10. You are adamant that you get a sample of a product before you purchase it.
If there is a new product that you are considering buying, you will not leave the store until the cosmetician has given you a sample. You don’t care what the packaging says the product will do; you want to see the proof in the mirror. You have been burned far too many times by the “balances out combination skin” line.
11. You sometimes feel like your face is a battleground with different parts constantly fighting.
Why can’t your skin just make up its mind? You wouldn’t care if your complexion was all dry; that would be easy to treat. What isn’t easy to treat is when part of your face is dry, then the next week, that spot is fine but somewhere is now in need of moisture.