How to balance combination skin

Combination skin is the crossover of two different skin types. A bit like having Real Madrid and FC Barcelona play in the same stadium. It consists of an oily skin section, covering the forehead, nose, and chin (aka the T-zone), and a dry skin section on the cheeks. Combination skin is an extremely common skin type.

What causes combination skin?

Combination skin is due to an unbalanced sebum production. The T-zone produces excess sebum, which leads to pore dilatation, shiny skin, and even spots and blackheads. The forehead, nose, and chin are among the skin zones with the most sebaceous glands, approximately twice as many as on the rest of the face. On the cheeks, the situation is quite the opposite: the skin produces less sebum and tends to get dry and dehydrated. This imbalance between both areas can be permanent or temporary, and is often worsened by the weather conditions, pollution, smoking, and stress. If you’re really unlucky, you might even combine all of the above.

How to take care of combination skin

With combination skin, the trick is to balance it out, in order to unify it. Instead of trying to fight off T-zone shininess with aggressive products, which would only result in your cheeks getting even drier, you’ll have a better chance of balancing out your combination skin by using gentle products. Thoroughly cleansing, purifying, and moisturising the entirety of the face will enable it to regulate and control its sebum production for a glowing skin tone.

On a daily basis

Step one: cleansing to remove excess sebum

Cleansing will create a clean slate upon which the following steps will be more effective. The idea isn’t to strip the skin off your face with a super aggressive product. This would result in the oily skin area producing more sebum, and the dry area being irritated and even more sensitive. We recommend using a gentle and purifying cleanser instead. It will be much more effective in limiting excess sebum production without drying your skin out. Aloe vera, glycerin, and allantoin are all softening agents that will soothe your skin while cleansing it, even on the dry parts of your face such as the cheeks. Binchotan (a Japanese activated charcoal) and zinc PCA purify the skin by removing any excess oil, which is extremely useful, in particular when it comes to the T-zone. A cleanser combining these two types of ingredients will be perfectly suited for combination skin to gently remove any excess sebum in the morning and evening.

Step two: regulating sebum production with tonic lotion

After you’ve rinsed the cleanser off, spray some tonic lotion on a cotton disc and wipe your face. This will help regulate sebum production. Once again, because you’re dealing with combination skin, mixing gentle and purifying ingredients together is your safest bet. Organic sage floral water tightens the pores, sanitises the skin, and regulates sebum production thanks to its astringent and balancing properties. Plant-derived glycerin and natural betaine moisturise, soften, and soothe the skin. Together, these ingredients form the ideal cocktail for combination skin, as refreshing in the morning to wake you up, as it is in the evening to provide your skin with a little comfort after a rough day. Cheers to that.

Step three: moisturising your combination skin to protect it

Moisturising is also a crucial step in caring for combination skin. It will prompt the T-zone to produce less sebum, and will soothe the dry parts of the face by moisturising and nourishing them. Prickly pear oil, provitamin B5, and shea butter all deeply nourish the skin, and protect it from dehydration. Silica works on absorbing excess sebum in order to prevent any shininess and ensure the skin stays matte. These ingredients are all gathered in our mattifying moisturiser, which will ensure you and your combination skin will have a healthy glow all day long.

On a weekly basis

Exfoliating to unify

Combination skin, both dry and oily, needs to be exfoliated with the right product. Small natural grains will help remove dead skin cells without being too hard on the epidermis. A nourishing ingredient will also make the exfoliation gentler. Our scrub contains seeds and butter extracted from Murumuru, an Amazonian palm tree, to nourish and gently exfoliate combination skin. Using a scrub once a week in place of a cleanser will help unify your skin tone and make it glow.

With its mix of dry and oily zones, combination skin requires just a little extra TLC and the right products to become healthy, glowing skin. Simply follow the steps detailed above to ensure your T-zone and cheeks play nice.