How do I find out my skin type?

Cleanse, put nothing on, and wait an hour. Tightness everywhere points to dry skin; shine across the forehead, nose and chin points to oily; shine only in that central strip with comfortable cheeks points to combination; comfortable skin that reacts easily to products points to sensitive. Repeat the read in a different season, because weather shifts the result.

What is the difference between dry and dehydrated skin?

Dry is a skin type that lacks oil and tends to be consistent. Dehydrated is a temporary state that lacks water, and any skin type can be dehydrated, including oily skin. The fixes are different, which is why telling them apart matters.

Five questions that tell you your skin type. Cura

Skin type is simpler to read than the marketing around it suggests. You do not need a device or a clinic. You need a clean face, an hour of patience, and five honest questions. The point of knowing your type is not to buy a different shelf of products. It is to use fewer, better-chosen ones.

1. How does your skin feel an hour after cleansing, with nothing on it?

This is the single most useful test. Wash, apply nothing, wait an hour. Tight and uncomfortable all over suggests dry. Comfortable but shiny suggests oily. Comfortable and unremarkable suggests normal or combination. The hour matters, because skin rebounds right after cleansing and the immediate feeling misleads.

2. Where does shine appear by midday?

Look at the forehead, nose, and chin. Shine concentrated in that central strip, with cheeks that stay comfortable, is the classic combination pattern. Shine spread evenly across the whole face is closer to oily. No shine, and a matte or papery look, leans dry.

3. How does your skin react to a new active?

Reactivity is its own axis, separate from oily or dry. Skin that stings, flushes, or reddens easily when you introduce something new is sensitive, and that matters more for your routine than whether you run oily or dry. Sensitive oily and sensitive dry are both real, and both want gentler choices.

4. What happens in winter versus summer?

Type is not perfectly fixed. Most skin runs drier in cold, dry air and oilier in heat and humidity. If your answer to question one changes with the season, you are reading a real shift, not an error. A good routine flexes with it rather than fighting it.

5. Are you reading type, or a temporary state?

Dehydration is the great impostor. It is a lack of water, not oil, and it can sit on top of any type, including oily skin that feels tight and shiny at once. Before you decide you are dry, rule out dehydration, because the fixes are different.

Knowing your type should change your routine, not your spending.

What to do with the answer

Once you have placed yourself, the routine follows quietly. Dry skin wants richer moisture and gentle cleansing. Oily skin still wants moisture, just lighter, and benefits from not over-stripping. Combination skin can treat the two zones slightly differently. Sensitive skin wants fewer actives, introduced one at a time. None of this requires a large collection. It requires the right few.

Five questions that tell you your skin type