Women who have had oily skin, or an oily T-zone for the most part of their lives could as well be part of a support group, they have a common problem that infuriates them all. If you’re one with overactive oil glands, I know how hard it must be for you to get a natural glow! The extra wipes/blotting sheets you need through the day, the need to powder your nose all the time, battling the unnecessary shine in all the wrong places can get exhausting through the day. The endless ‘I could use the oil on your face to fry samosas’ jokes aren’t funny either.
Also Read About Makeup Tips For Oily Skin
But honestly, glowing skin is in, and with a few preventive measures and basic hacks, you could rock your natural skin type without even thinking about any of the problems that I just mentioned above! Before we get into the tips, hacks and home remedies for oily skin, let’s get down to brass tacks, what does it mean when we say ‘I have oily skin’ and what causes your skin or a certain area of your face to get oily. Let’s get one thing straight though, acne-prone skin is almost always oily but oily skin isn’t ALWAYS acne-prone.
We don’t really go into the depths of understanding why we have oily skin. It is just one of those things that happen to you either from the beginning or after you’re over your teenage acne phase. Of course, you have the basic idea that it is because of your overactive sebaceous glands or simply genetics — overproduction of the hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT) is often passed down generations. But I am here to tell you that you might, unconsciously, be doing things to your skin that is making it more oily than it would otherwise be! So here are a few other (curable) causes that might be adding to your already shiny face.
Stress and anxiety basically lead to your body producing more cortisol, the main side effect of which is the extra oil on your face. Obviously, this oil factory will also cause breakouts because it will be clogging your pores! This is not even just for us with oily skin, but also for the ones without. I know I can’t ask you to keep calm, but we will get to how you can combat this in a bit.
Not all anti-acne, anti-oil face washes are good for you! Actually, some of them might be a little too harsh, which would dry out your skin making your skin produce more oil to cover up for that. I know, the skin is a weird thing, right? Anyway, sulphate-free, paraben-free, oil-free, and perfume free, are some good keywords to look for when you pick a cleanser.
Now that we have discussed the face wash, let’s also discuss the number of times you wash your face. Ideally, you should be “washing” your face just once a day with a good quality cleanser. But we know that never happens, we all have the latent need to want to cleanse more. So if you want to clean your face twice a day, use a mild cleanser for the morning and then use the heavy duty one, that’s specifically made for oily skin, at night. Ideally though, if you can, try and just splash your face with cold water in the morning. TRY, that’s all I’m saying.
A lot of milk, milk product consumption MIGHT be playing with your hormones causing more oil production. While I am not saying to cut it out completely, you might want to stick to black coffee for a while.
Okay, you knew I was going to bring this up at some point right? I know you loved the BB cream your friend had on and you bought it but your skin types are not the same. You need to be careful and pick out make-up that is made for your skintype. Most make-up, will clog your pores, making your glands go into overdrive to produce more oil. Go with something light, oil-free, and non-comedogenic. On the plus side, the right choice in make-up will actually stay on your skin for MUCH longer, because you won’t be wiping and dabbing it off all day!
Repeat after me: WE ALL NEED MOISTURISER. Okay, now that this is drilled in your brain, understand, that if your skin is not properly hydrated it will feel like it isn’t doing its job and then your oily nose and chin won’t go away at all. So you need to pick a light, water-based, oil-free moisturiser to keep your skin from drying up.
While there are amazing beauty products that you could get to combat oily skin, going au natural is the fad today, and it just might be what your skin needs. Here are a few ingredients and packs using those ingredients that will help you deal with your woes right at home.
Tomatoes are rich in Vitamin C and come packed with cooling, clarifying and astringent properties. And this helps suck up the excess oil.
Banana is rich in iron, potassium, Vitamins A, B, C and E, and fights oily skin like no other ingredient. The lemon helps you get rid of that tan!
Avocado comes packed with minerals, Vitamin E and unsaturated fats. Oatmeal, on the other hand, forms a protective layer on your skin while also removing dead cells.
Apply this once in 15 days!
Cucumber helps keep your skin oil free, and egg is great to subtly moisturize your skin.
Papaya is great for every skin type and it sure does work wonders for oily skin. It helps remove excess sebum from the skin while also helping in exfoliation.
Multani mitti serves as a fab ingredient to soak oil and dirt off the skin surface. It also has oil reducing properties and will help reduce redness and greasiness on the skin.
Green tea helps control sebum production and rice flour help absorb excess oil while also getting rid of dead skin cells.
Coconut oil and honey are enriched with antibacterial and antifungal properties to help you fight oil.
Almond meal is fantastic for your skin when used in face and body scrubs for removing dead skin cells, repairing damage while moisturizing dry dehydrated skin. Almonds are high in B Vitamins plus Vitamin E, all of which are important for protecting and supporting skin function.
Rice powder and corn flour help remove the dead skin cells present in the upper skin layer. The natural bleaching properties of lemon help reduce dark spots and breakouts.
When you have oily skin, the toner becomes really important. This homemade one with rose petals and essential oils is great to combat the oilyness.
Mud or clay packs help remove the excess oil while restricting oil production and getting rid of impurities.
Cornstarch dries up excess oil, leaving skin soft and clear.
Oily skin isn’t the end of the world, there are a lot of benefits of that extra shine. So chuck the inhibitions along with that blotting sheet you just used, and dazzle like a superstar!