Building a skincare routine for combination skin can feel like a balancing act. On the one hand, you need enough moisture and hydration to balance out your drier areas. On the other, you don’t want to go overboard with the heavy creams and lotions, which could leave your oilier areas looking (or feeling) greasy. Like we said: a balancing act. The good news is that caring for combo skin isn’t difficult once you understand what your skin needs. To help you in your skincare journey, we’ve created a guide full of tips for creating a balanced, effective skincare routine for combination skin. Read on for all the details and discover some of the best cleaners, toners, and moisturizers for combination skin to add to your cart.How To Determine If You Have Combination Skin Before you start putting together a skincare routine for combination skin, it’s a good idea to make sure that’s actually your skin type. So, what is combination skin? It’s a skin type characterized by the presence of both oily and dry areas on different parts of the face. To figure out whether you have combo skin, wash your face with a gentle, non-stripping cleanser, then pat your skin dry and wait anywhere between half an hour to an hour. Then, examine your face in the mirror. If your T-zone—in other words, your nose, chin, and forehead—appear shiny and your cheeks look dehydrated (or feel dry and tight), there’s a good chance you have combination skin. You could also try the blotting paper test. After cleansing your face (and waiting a bit), grab a blotting sheet and gently dab it onto different areas of your face. If the sheet becomes translucent, it means it has soaked up oil. Those with combination skin will typically see the most oil absorption around the T-zone, with little to none appearing on the blotting paper after dabbing it onto the cheeks.
