A few days later, I noticed that my face was burnt out again. Groan. I went back to the shop and bought Himalaya Neem wash, because, well, the cream wash was finished, and the Neem wash is for all skin types, so that seemed like a much safer option until I figured out what exactly was what.

I had re-used the for-oily-skin gel wash because it was in a pretty bottle, felt deliciously cool on my skin, smelt fabulous … and because I wasn’t about to throw out a perfectly good tube of facial wash. My reasoning was ‘what’s the worst that could happen?’

I used it one morning, just once. By lunch time, my face was stinging and ’sunburnt’. It took me a week of mild exfoliant and soothing Neem wash to get rid of the burn effect.

Yeah, I’m not ever trying that again.

Then I went a-googling and found out a few things. Apparently, getting burnt by clay masks is more common than you’d think. Yahoo answers claimed it was a sign of allergy, at which point I decided that I have sensitive skin, since I am ‘allergic’ to mud masks and cinammon exfoliant, and since my skin is shiny and  patchy, and is both dry and sticky after cleansing. Continue Reading »

Skin type is the description and interpretation of how and why your skin looks, feels, and behaves as it does. It is the single most important factor influencing the decisions we make about the kind of skin-care routines and the products we buy.

Hardly anyone has just one skin type. This is because of the fact that the skin is susceptible to outside factors such as weather, diet, whether you smoke or don’t smoke, whether you live in an arid, humid or highly polluted climate. Medications you are currently taking will also affect the way your skin behaves. Genetic predisposition also affects your skin type. Your skin also changes with your period, if you are pregnant or when you are stressed.

A woman with oily skin may also have sensitive skin or someone with dry skin may also have acne-prone skin. Therefore, diagnosing yourself as one skin type is not an effective way of approaching skin care. It’s important really look at the way your skin behaves. Continue Reading »