A good skincare regime for combination skin can be very simple and easy to maintain.  You should wash your face gently but thoroughly twice a day using a mild but effective cleanser.   If you wash your face less than twice a day then excessive oil and dirt can clog your pores in the greasier areas of your face and this will lead to breakouts.  On the other hand, if you wash your face more than twice a day moisture from your skin will be depleted and this can lead to skin drying out in the drier areas of your face and irritation and redness occurring.  

After cleansing you should apply a gentle toner or astringent, which is formulated for combination skin, on the greasier areas of your face.  On the drier areas of your face you should apply a moisture rich lotion or cream to keep the skin supply and nourished, such as Dermalogica’s Skin Smoothing Cream which is a medium weight cream that is free of artificial fragrance and colour.  It contains antioxidant vitamins together with soothing botanicals to maintain skin’s moisture balance, and it improves skin texture, helping to restore tone and suppleness.

Products containing Vitamin A, Retinols and Alpha Hydroxy Acids help to promote balance in the skin.  Vitamin A  nourishes the skin, counteracts inflammation and protects cell membranes and structures within the cells from damage caused by free radicals.  Retinols work on a molecular level and repair and rejuvenate the skin.  AHAs slough away dead skin cells so that new skin can appear.  Incorporating a gentle exfoliator into your skincare regime will also have the same effect - if dead skin cells aren’t sloughed away regularly skin can look dull and lifeless.    

The most essential factor in having good skin is having a healthy lifestyle.  Having a nutritious, healthy diet and drinking plenty of water so your body is well hydrated are vital to be healthy both inside and out.  Cut out the junk from your diet, hydrate your body, avoid smoking, limit your alcohol intake and get plenty of sleep and you’ll find that, together with a good skincare regime for your combination skin, your skin will be healthy, smooth and well balanced!

If you've ever been told that you have 'combination skin', it stands a chance that this could have been caused by irregularities in your skin care regimen.

Many of the extreme differences found can simply be down to to over cleansing or under moisturising in a particular area.

The first step is to first identify if you are actually doing this and if so, make some changes to your approach. For instance, you could apply a little less attention to moisturising the t zone (or areas that are more prone to oiliness) and apply a little more focus to moisturising the drier areas. We know this sounds obvious, but old habits tend to die hard.

You can then test products for 'normal' skin types, it's best to do this for about 30 days to give your skin some time to adjust. On completion of your revised regimen, we'd recommend a visit to a qualified therapist for a thorough review of your skin.

If in the past you have been using 2 different products for your skin (because you thought it was combination), you could end up using just one. That is, if you find the experiment a success. Chances are, you'll probably end up saving some money.

If you're struggling to define your skin type, here's a couple of quick pointers to help you along the way. Obviously oily skin is going to look aggravatingly shiny, whereas drier types can feel itchy and uncomfortable, especially if you make the wrong choice with your moisturiser. If either of these is difficult to categorise, combination skin is probably your type.

A quick and dirty way to determine which type you are is to try some of your regular cleanser and wait a while before moisturising. If after, say 15 minutes you get a 'tight' feeling, your skin is most definitely dry. Wait a little longer if you don't experience these symptoms, because the oily skin check is next. To perform this wait, say 30 minutes  then arm yourself with a good old fashioned piece of tissue paper and blot the nose and chin area. The results will speak for themselves, with oil showing up on the tissue.

Of course, you may have a mixture of the two skin types. In this case, you'll have to choose your products carefully, or have them professionally recommended by a trained therapist.

If you have an oily T zone and dry skin elsewhere, you are likely to possess combination skin. In case you didn't know, the 'T zone' is your nose, forehead and chin area.

Once you've identified it, the best way to deal with this type of skin is to make sure that you choose non-comedogenic products (also known as non-occlusive). This means products that don't encourage acne and oiliness because they are, well... oil free.

But care must be taken. Just because a product is non-comedogenic it may not produce the same pore unclogging results for every skin type. Why? Because the skin's natural oils can determine the effect a product has on the skin.

If your skin is oily, then a non-comedogenic product is very likely to help keep your pores clear. But dry skin has a different requirement, because it produces less oil.

Sufferers of oily skin, shouldn't be reluctant to use a moisturiser because this can cause irritation. Instead try an ultra lightweight product such as Dermalogica Oil Control Lotion. Oil control lotion helps to regulate oil production on the surface of the skin, it also has mattifying properties (reducing shine).