What do we know about our skin?

29.09.09 / skin type / Author: admin

At the beginning of nineghteen century skin care pioneer Helena Rubinstein realized that her one and only favorite face cream Valaze wasn’t suitable for everyone. After she noticed a difference in skin in different people, she proclaimed different skin types as dry, normal and oily and started production of various skin care products. The era of skin type had begun.

For very long time this first classification of skin types didn’t change except more categories were added: combinational and sensitive. We used this basic classification for more then 100 years, and skin care companies were producing skin care lines: normal, oily and dry-sensitive.

Despite that skin care chemistry had changed dramatically and skin care formulations represent now a long list of chemical names we can’t even read, basic skin classification was still the same. 

Now when skin diagnostics could be done digitally using special device like Visia, we realized that there are more skin types than basic 5. 

In her book “The skin type solution” Dr Baumann had differentiated 16 (!) skin types from 4 main categories: Oily/Dry, Sensitive/Resistant, Wrinkled/Tight and Pigmented/Non-Pigmented. She claimed that very often people misunderstand  their skin type and use unsuitable cosmetic products. She tried to classify existing skin care products into different categories so it would be easier to choose the right one after you find your own skin type and recognize it’s main problems. 

“The skin type solution book” is great, but the majority of population is still looking for a “dream in a jar”, reading advertising columns in fashion magazines and asking advice from girlfriends and cosmetic consultants. Chasing fading beauty and youth we are buying numerous jars and tubes, throwing them away half-finished, without giving them a real chance to produce a result on our skin, because we think we found a better one.

Today with our knowledge and understanding of skin physiology and chemistry we absolutely capable to suit everyone skin needs. The only difficulty  lies in finding what those  needs really are – or in proper Skin Diagnostics. After you understand your own skin better, and learn to prioritize your problems,suitable products and perfect skin care regimen will be very easy to find.