Skin Types
Before you can select skin care products, you need to know what type of skin you have. Although women often learn these differences as soon as they can hold a bar of soap, many men find the question perplexing. Skin is skin, right? Wrong! Your skin can be normal, oily, dry, sensitive, or a combination. Here’s a primer for men on deciphering your skin type.

Normal Skin:
If you’ve never had problems with oily skin or dry skin, it’s likely that you have “normal” skin. The pores of normal skin are small and the overall skin tone is even. If you’ve never given a second thought to your skin before, your skin type is probably normal.

Oily Skin
As its name implies, oily skin is slightly to moderately greasy. If you have oily skin, your pores are medium to large in size and prone to blockage. You probably have problems with pimples, blackheads, whiteheads, and acne cysts. Oily skin is usually thicker and firmer than normal skin and it’s less sensitive to environmental damage.

Dry Skin:
Dry skin characteristically feels tight and itchy. Winter is especially rough on this skin type. Dry skin is usually thinner than normal skin and may even be slightly rough to the touch. If you have dry skin, you may have noticed that your skin is also easily irritated.

Sensitive Skin:
Men with sensitive skin are usually the ones who actually know their skin type. Sensitive skin is prone to rashes and breakouts from any kind of irritants such as sun, perfumes, shaving cream, temperature extremes, and even soap. Be very careful about the skin care products you choose if you have sensitive skin. Avoid products with dyes, perfumes, or unnecessary chemical ingredients that may irritate your skin.

Combination Skin:

This skin type is used to specifically describe facial skin that has both dry and oily patches. Most commonly, combination skin exhibits an oily “T-Zone” (forehead, nose and chin) with dry skin on the cheeks and around the eyes. It is not uncommon for these oily zones to be reversed. If you have this skin type, you will need to purchase skin care products made especially for combination skin.