There may not be many skincare concerns as confusing as having oily to combination skin, with oiliness and dryness coexisting simultaneously. Your skin may look oily on forehead halfway through the day, yet your cheeks may feel tight after cleansing. While your skin appears oily, it still feels uncomfortable or dehydrated beneath the surface. All of this can lead one to question, ‘Should you choose products that control oil or provide moisture?’ Don’t worry, it’s normal for dryness and oiliness to occur simultaneously. This imbalance often occurs due to a combination of modern-day living, changing weather, overly complicated skincare routines, and external factors. And the first step in creating an effective skincare routine for your skin is to learn the reasons behind your oily and dry skin.
Here are some reasons why your skin may feel oily and dry at the same time.
Dehydrated Skin
Dehydration is one of the main contributors to getting oily and dry skin at the same time. Dehydrated skin has less water and no oils, thus people with oily skin can also experience dehydrated skin. When your skin doesn’t receive enough hydration from water, it may feel flaky and irritated while producing an abundance of oil and causing confusion between dry and oily skin. Because we live in such a fast-paced world, dehydration continues to become more common. Air conditioning, long indoor hours, frequent air travel and various skincare products can all contribute to moisture loss from your skin. However, the solution for this is not to use harsh cleansers and oily products as it will exacerbate your current skin condition rather than support hydration levels. Therefore, it’s important to not only focus on reducing oil but also understand how to maintain adequate levels of hydration for both dry and oily skin so you’re your skin feels balanced and comfortable throughout the day.
Over Cleansing
People tend to scrub oily skin too actively in order to keep it clean. However, over cleansing, especially if you are scrubbing off oil with harsh products or too frequently, can result in a skin problem that also feels and looks dry. This process creates a cycle of having dry skin underneath but having acne-prone or oily skin on top. The end result? Oily skin that still feels dry and dehydrated. Therefore, it is often advised to move towards promoting healthy skin barriers and limiting aggressive and frequent cleaning methods. A cleanser should be used in such a way that it allows for thoroughness, but it should still leave you with a clean, moisturized feeling without causing loss of moisture to the skin.
Damaged Skin Barrier
The skin barrier, essentially the outermost layer of our skin, has become more important in the world of skincare because of how crucial it is to healthy skin. The skin barrier serves to both retain moisture and protect our skin from external factors that can cause irritation. When the skin barrier is disrupted or damaged, it will find it challenging to maintain a normal level of hydration and oil in the skin. As a result, your skin may feel both oily and dry at the same time. The moisture content in your skin can escape easily, thus leading to a feeling of dehydration while your oil production continues as usual. This may be due to over exfoliating, using too many products with active ingredients, and changing products way too often. Thus, if your skin feels oily, dry, irritated, and tight simultaneously, you may need to focus more on maintaining your skin barrier by using products that maintain a strong skin barrier.
Environment and Climate
While many individuals attribute irregular skin conditions to the skincare products, they often don’t realize that environments often have more influence than the products do. Spending multiple hours in an air-conditioned work environment, heated indoor environment, or in a low-relative-humidity environment will impact how your skin behaves. These types of situations tend to promote moisture loss, which leads to dryness.
Fluctuations in weather can also contribute to temporary imbalances in your skin. For instance, when it is warm outside, your skin may appear greasy as a result of an increased production of oil. However, the air conditioning in your home or office may concurrently dehydrate your skin. In contrast, in colder temperatures, your skin may feel dry. Therefore, the products that work perfectly for you in one season may not work the same as the seasons change. When you understand the effects of environment on your skin, you can create a suitable skincare routine.