Skin Care Routine for Oily Skin—What Experts Recommend

While every skin type comes with its own fair share of problems, oily skin is hands-down one of the more challenging of the bunch. To minimize the perpetual shine on your face, you need to be extra cautious with your choice of skin care products.

On top of that, you also need to find a skin care routine that works with your oily skin and your lifestyle. Sounds difficult, right?

To make finding the right skin care routine slightly less daunting, we’ve taken the liberty of creating a science-backed routine for oily skin. Ready to achieve a healthy, shine-free complexion?

Here are three things you need to know to treat your oily skin:

1. For a shine-free appearance, use a gentle facial cleanser containing Salicylic Acid (or one of its derivatives, such as Willow Bark Extract) twice a day.
2. Never skip your moisturizer. Oily skin types need it just as much, if not more, than their normal and dry skin counterparts.
3. To avoid drying out your skin, go easy on your acne-fighting products.

Use an Acne-Fighting Face Wash

It’s just a fact that oily skin types are more likely to struggle with acne. To combat shine and prevent breakouts, use a hardworking facial cleanser for your skin twice every day—once in the morning and once at night.

Specifically, look for a face wash containing Salicylic Acid, or its derivative, Willow Bark. Both ingredients can help remove excess oil and bacteria to prevent future breakouts.

Willow Bark Extract, also known as Willow Bark Extract, is well-known for its anti-inflammatory properties that can help reduce redness and swelling caused by acne. According to a 2010 study published in Phytomedicine, the therapeutic effects of Willow Bark Extract stem from its ability to inhibit pro-inflammatory cytokines, which play a key role in regulating the body’s immune response (see claim: “…significant anti-inflammatory activity of willow bark water extract STW 33-1 and of its water-soluble fraction by inhibiting pro-inflammatory cytokines…”)

Stick to Oil-Free Moisturizers

Even the oiliest of skin can benefit from a daily moisturizer. Skipping your moisturizer can lead to dryness, which can cause your skin to produce more oil to counteract the dryness.

To keep skin hydrated without weighing it down, avoid heavy, petroleum-based moisturizers such as Vaseline and stick to dimethicone-based moisturizers instead. Dimethicone is a smoothing agent found in many of the best lightweight moisturizers on the market, including Tiege Hanley’s Daily Moisturizer with SPF.

It works by preventing moisture loss from the skin by forming a hydrating and protective barrier on the skin. The result is smooth, healthy skin that is neither too oily nor too dry.

Avoid Over-Scrubbing

Exfoliating your skin regularly is key to removing dead skin cells that can clog pores. However, it’s just as important that you don’t abuse your exfoliating scrub.

Over-scrubbing your face can damage the skin and cause dryness. As we just explained, your skin can respond to dryness by producing more oil, which is the last thing you want.

Scrub your face using a gentle exfoliator no more than twice a week. Your skin does an impressive job on its own to promote cell turnover and doesn’t need as much help as you might think.

Limit Your Salicylic Acid Products

On a similar note, you also don’t want to overdo it on your acne-fighting products for the same reasons we’ve explained above. Dryness is the enemy of all skin types, including oily skin.

When used in high doses, Salicylic Acid can have a drying effect that can lead to irritation and breakouts. For this exact reason, we added Willow Bark Extract in our face wash, saving Salicylic Acid for our dermatologist-recommended Acne Cream.

According to a 2005 German study published in the journal Arzneimittel-Forshung, Willow Bark Extract contains less than one-sixth the amount of Salicin than other Salicylic Acid derivatives (see claim: “…the extract contains less than a sixth of the amount of salicin as the amount of salicylate…”) This makes it tough on acne, yet gentle on the skin.

An Uncomplicated Skin Care Routine for Oily Skin

The best routine for oily skin should generally include a face wash, face scrub, moisturizer and perhaps an acne-fighting product or two. If you want to make your routine super simple, just order one of Tiege Hanley’s Skin Care Systems and choose the system that works for your acne-prone skin.

Need help choosing a skin care system? Get in touch with us at info@tiege.com and let us help you find the ideal products for your skin!