Best Way to Treat Different Kinds of Skin Problems

One of the biggest beauty headaches is problem skin so, if you are suffering from breakouts, excessively dry or upset skin, here are a number of solutions to help you return badly behaved skin to normal.

Dry, flaky skin

Excessively dry skin that feels rough and may even flake or peel, can be caused by cold weather, central heating or may simply occur because the sebaceous glands are not producing enough oil.

Treatment – As water can be dehydrating, using a thick, wipe-off cleansing cream, lotion or milk is preferable to the less rich facial washes and cleansing bars. Exfoliate regularly, and after cleansing, nourish skin with a rich moisturiser: try products from ranges that have been specially formulated for dry skin, such as Helena Rubinstein’s H20 and Dior’s Hydra Star. Consider treating your skin to a special-treatment serum, vitamin-E oil or a moisturising mask. Furthermore, ensure you drink plenty of water and lubricate your skin from within by sprinkling vegetable oils (which contain essential fatty acids) on salads, eating plenty of oily fish and taking such supplements as evening-primrose, borage or cod-liver oil.

Upset skin

Such varied factors as stress, fatigue, hormones, cosmetic-product overload, drugs, washing powder, caffeine, alcohol, illness, climatic change and certain foods can play havoc with your skin, causing it to become sensitive. According to dermatologists, as many as eighty per cent of women complain of red, itchy and inflamed skin, but with a little care and the right products, such skin can be calmed down and desensitised.

Treatment – Try using preparations based on natural ingredients or products designed for sensitive skin, such as Aveda’s All Sensitive range, Estee Lauder’s Verite range, Clinique’s Exceptionally Soothing Lotion For Upset Skin or Johnson’s pH 5.5 range. If your skin suddenly flares up, use nothing but aqueous cream – a basic cream that dermatologists recommend for cleansing and moisturising ultra sensitive skin which is available from pharmacies. If you are product-sensitive, always patch-test a preparation for at least three days and avoid such irritants as AHAs and highly fragranced products.

Confused skin

Your T-zone (forehead, nose and chin) is greasy yet your cheeks are on the dry side – sound familiar? Combination skin plagues many of us from time to time, but because we are dealing with two conflicting problems we rarely get it right, tending either to dehydrate the dry zones further or to accelerate sebum production in the oily areas even more.

Treatment - Don’t treat your skin as if it is oily: ideally, you should use gentle, balancing products that control the oily areas yet keep the rest of the face well moisturised, such as YSL’s Visible Energie For Combination Skin, La Prairie’s Cellular Balancing Complex, Virgin Vie’s Well-adjusted For Confused and Superficially Dehydrated Skin or Vichy’s Adaptive Skin Balancing System Moisturiser.