Dear Paula,
I was happy to see some new articles on the skin-care page. But I'm confused! How can you have an article on determining skin types when an excerpt from The Beauty Bible says to forget about skin types? You state the following in Chapter Four of your book: "Some women are quite aware of their skin type; for other women it's a complete mystery..." and "What I'm really saying is to forget about skin types...." Why the contradiction, or was it change of heart?
Marlene, via email
Dear Marlene,
Thank you so much for your feedback and the opportunity to elaborate on this potentially confusing topic. If you continue reading from where you left off, you'd see that what I really said is to forget about skin type as the cosmetics industry defines it. The rigid categories you find described at cosmetics counters and the information about what your skin needs as analyzed by a salesperson are often wrong or at best incomplete. Skin type does strongly influence our decisions about our skin-care routines, but the problems consumers can have when their skin type is matched with inappropriate products can make matters worse and create multiple skin problems.
In other words, skin type is critical, but not in the way the cosmetics industry explains it or determines at some fixed point in time. Skin type is not static; it changes seasonally and hormonally, and can be negatively affected by the wrong skin-care products. Identifying your skin as "combination" without establishing whether or not your skin-care products are causing that problem is futile. A greasy cleanser, drying toner, and the wrong moisturizers can produce an undesirable skin type that has nothing to do with the way your skin really is. Those personal factors for understanding skin type are vital for helping anyone take the best possible care of their skin.
Source: Paula Begoun
Should You Forget About Skin Type?
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