Trying to read a skincare label can be as frustrating as deciphering a nearly impossible code. As consumers, we all want to be as knowledgeable as we can about making certain purchases. While it’s not necessarily imperative to know what ‘Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose’ or ‘Polysorbate 20’ translate to, there are a few household names out there that are easy to look for.
Here’s a quick guide to help you find the best ingredients, according to your skin type.
The Best Skincare Ingredients for Oily Skin
If you have an oily complexion, you'll notice larger, more visible pores, predominantly in the forehead, nose, and cheek areas. Your skin rarely feels too tight, and you typically feel like you need a little degreasing halfway through the day. Oily skin types are also more prone to breakouts. Let’s look at some prime ingredients to keep in mind if you are an oily skin type.
Salicylic Acid
A classic! Salicylic acid is a beta hydroxy acid and is lipophilic, which means it’s attracted to the oil on your skin and in your pores. Because of this, it’s drawn right to your pores and breaks up all the gunk inside, allowing it to be cleared out. It may help reduce oiliness and safely balance out the skin.
Clay
A prime mask ingredient for oily skin types! Clays help to absorb excess oils and impurities that lead to breakouts. Some lovely clay types you might look for in your ingredient labels include Bentonite clay, Kaolin clays and French Green clays. Try masking full face or use clay as a spot treatment for those stubborn little blemishes.
Hyaluronic Acid
Just because you have oily skin, this doesn’t exempt you from keeping your skin super hydrated!
Hyaluronic acid has been gaining lots of popularity lately - even outside the aesthetics world - and for good reason. Hyaluronic acid molecules can hold up to 1,000x their weight in water, making them an invaluable ingredient to help bind hydration. Follow with a nice light or gel formula moisturiser to lock everything in and soak in all that moisture.
Vital Proteins offers a handful of products that contain hyaluronic acid, like our Beauty Collagen™.
The Best Skincare Ingredients for Dry Skin
If you have dry skin, your biggest concern probably has less to do with pore size and more to do with combatting flaky skin. Skin feels tight, especially in the winter months, and will usually feel tight pretty quickly after washing your face if you don’t immediately follow with an emollient moisturiser.
Dry skin types are not out of the woods regarding breakouts, as the depleted skin barrier has difficulty keeping out blemish-causing bacteria.
Check out these key ingredients to look for if you have dry skin:
Hyaluronic Acid
Same exact thing as for oily skin types! We all need this hydration. Well-hydrated skin will help to ensure overall skin health.
Lactic Acid
This is a beautiful, gentle alpha hydroxy acid that offers a fabulous exfoliation, skin toning and smoothing.
This form of exfoliation is different than salicylic acid in that it helps to topically shed the skin layers vs. working to clear the pores.
Regular gentle exfoliation like this helps to keep the skin prepared to absorb your other hydrating products as well, rather than them just sitting on top of your dead flaking skin.
Ceramides
Ceramides were all the rage a few years ago, before the world started raging about the gloriousness of hyaluronic acid. But ceramides are still superstars when it comes to helping alleviate dry skin!
When your skin is super dry and dehydrated, it reflects that your skin’s barrier is depleted, not able to hold in moisture or keep out pollutants and irritants. In healthy skin, you have a very nice lipid layer helping to keep everything intact. It’s the depletion of this layer that causes major stress to the skin. This lipid layer is comprised of ceramides, fatty acids and cholesterol.
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Written by Hannah Hartz
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