What cosmetics?
The dermo-cosmetic treatment for oily skin involves the use of different products with synergistic action: the functional ingredients in a cosmetic for oily skin must be carefully selected to improve the disorder without being too aggressive towards the skin.
The main goals of a cosmetic treatment against oily skin are:
- Improve the appearance of the skin, making it visibly less greasy and healthier.
- Gently cleanse oily skin.
- Purify the skin and normalize / contain sebum production.
- Exfoliate the skin, encouraging cell renewal.
- Combat bacterial proliferation, responsible for papules, pustules and acne lesions.
- Encourage pore closure.
- Moisturize in depth.
- Protect oily skin from atmospheric insults.
Cleansing
Cleanse the Oily Skin
As we know, it is necessary to pay particular attention to the use of delipidizing and astringent products, since an excess of cleaning can act as a stimulus for a further increase in sebaceous production.
In fact, it is known that the use of excessively aggressive and excessively degreasing detergents leads to the appearance of a "paradoxical effect", so that the sebaceous glands respond to the insult suffered by the skin with the increase in sebum production.
For this reason, we recommend the use of delicate and easily rinsable products, such as light cleansing milks, delicate soaps, lotions formulated with extracts of witch hazel, burdock, chamomile or aloe vera. It is also recommended to prefer cosmetic products with a slightly acid pH: a pH of 4.5 - 5.5 contributes to controlling / reducing the exaggerated sebum secretion sustained by the sebaceous glands.
After cleansing oily skin, the tonic to be applied immediately afterwards should not contain alcohol: alcohol-based products, in fact, can be excessively irritating for oily, already sensitive skin.
To support the detergent action of a cosmetic, thus improving the general appearance of oily skin, face masks with a moisturizing and soothing action are particularly indicated.
DIY facial mask for Oily Skin
Masks for oily skin can also be prepared at home: simply blend a cucumber with a little white yogurt to obtain a completely natural, refreshing and purifying product. It is then possible to enhance the purifying effect of the mask by adding a spoon of white clay to the mixture.
When you want to prepare an exfoliating product instead, as a substitute for clay you can mix a spoon of muesli or oatmeal, with a gently abrasive action, to the cucumber and yogurt centrifuged.
For more information: Examples of DIY Facial Masks
Seboregolazione
Normalize Sebum Production
We have seen that oily skin is the result of an overproduction of sebum favored by the sebaceous glands. Starting from this assumption, it is understandable how cosmetic products for oily skin are made with the aim of normalizing - or at least controlling - sebaceous secretion. These products are obtained by carefully combining some specific ingredients that can interfere with the production of sebum, while adsorbing excess oil.
For this purpose, the most suitable ingredients are:
- Opaque (kaolin, betonite): these substances not only make the sebum less fluid, but visibly reduce the much-hated glossy-oily effect, characteristic of oily skin.
- Adsorbents and antibacterials (zinc salts and azelaic acid): they interfere with the activity of the sebaceous glands, thus reducing the production of sebum. Azelaic acid, a natural substance produced by Malassenzia furfur, is able to inhibit the production of sebum in the epidermis, at the same time exerting excellent antibacterial properties.
Purification
Purify the Oily Skin
Very often, patients with oily skin also suffer from acne, blackheads and skin impurities. In such circumstances, the cosmetic treatment should be more intense: it is in fact necessary to limit the bacterial proliferation at the level of particularly seborrheic areas. For this purpose, the ideal recipe for making a cosmetic against oily and impure skin provides for the generous use of antibacterial, bacteriostatic and sebum normalizing substances.
Sometimes, an extremely seborrheic skin requires the intervention of more powerful cosmetics, made with chlorhexidine or triclosan: these are synthetic chemical substances that possess antimicrobial, purifying, disinfectant and preservative properties.
To strengthen the action of purifying cosmetics such as creams or ointments, specific packs against oily skin are certainly very suitable: although they cannot remove the root problem, the regular application of purifying and refreshing compresses can significantly improve the disorder.
Pack for oily skin
A pack for impure skins must be prepared carefully: it is in fact necessary to know the properties of essential oils and plant extracts to obtain a surprising beneficial effect.
To improve the appearance of oily skin, a pack must be formulated with bioaromas with sebum normalizing, astringent and purifying properties. For this purpose, the most indicated active ingredients are: lemon essence, birch essence, green tea extract, burdock extract, mint and eucalyptus essential oil.
Exfoliation
Exfoliate the Oily Skin
To encourage cell renewal, stimulating the production of new collagen and elastin fibers, oily skin requires an exfoliating treatment, to be performed only when the skin conditions allow it.
An exfoliating cosmetic treatment restores radiance to oily skins, which are in fact grainy and opaque. Furthermore, the exfoliating products favor the escape of the sebaceous secretion trapped in the glandular ducts.
Depending on the severity of the disorder, oily skin can be exfoliated with two types of products:
- Physical exfoliating products (eg microspheres obtained from jojoba seed, silicon, rock alum crystals, powders obtained from the grinding of peach seeds, etc.): the exfoliating effect is encouraged by the mechanical rubbing of some applied microabrasive cosmetic ingredients directly on the skin.
- Chemical exfoliating products : the removal of dead cells on the surface of the skin is promoted by the application of chemical substances able to determine a controlled unraveling of the skin, followed by a desquamation and cellular turnover. The most commonly used chemical exfoliants are alpha-hydroxy acids (lactic acid, glycolic acid, mandelic acid, tartaric acid) and beta-hydroxy acids (salicylic acid).
Exfoliating products for oily skin can be purchased in perfumery, pharmacy or parapharmacy. Alternatively, DIY can be used. There are numerous recipes available for the production of physical exfoliating products (scrubs) for oily skin. Among the most well-known household scrubs against oily and impure skin, we find those based on clay and those based on sugar (for more information: Esfoliante Fai da Te).
Please note
The use of exfoliating products (household and non-household) on oily and acne-prone skin must not be contemporary with pharmacological treatments. It is always recommended to consult your doctor before proceeding with a similar treatment to ascertain the absence of any possible drug interactions or contraindications.
Hydration
Moisturize the Oily Skin
Hydration is another key aspect in the cosmetic treatment of oily skin. Many patients with oily skin tend to exaggerate with skin cleansing and exfoliation, in the mistaken belief that oily skin must be "cleaned" very often with powerful products. However, as we know, excessive cleansing and cleaning impoverishes the natural hydro-lipid film: consequently, the protective efficacy of the skin barrier is lost and the water present in the superficial layers of the epidermis tends to evaporate. The result? The skin, in addition to being increasingly oily and fat, appears even dehydrated. For this reason, in addition to using cosmetics with intelligence and moderation, it is necessary to use very light products with moisturizing properties. The creams with hyaluronic acid or formulated with plant extracts of Aloe vera, just to give some examples, are very suitable to restore the right hydration to the skin.
Therefore, a moisturizing cream for oily and impure skins must be easily absorbed, free of occlusive or excessively nutritious ingredients, but, at the same time, it must be able to give the right degree of hydration to the skin.
Protection
Protect Oily Skin
The sun, with its extremely dangerous UV rays, is one of the worst enemies of oily skin: let's not forget that in the list of causes of oily skin, prolonged and repeated exposure to the sun (or artificial lamps) visibly worsens the appearance of this type of skin. In fact, the UVB fraction of the solar rays aggravates the inflammation at the level of the seborrheic areas, worsening the clinical picture of an oily and impure skin. According to this, it is well understood that it is of particular importance to pay particular attention to photoprotection: for an oily skin, the advice is to prefer non-occluding sunscreens, not very oily and with a very high protection factor (SPF).
