The products you use and your skincare routines depend on knowing your skin type. We all know that what may work for one person (who's skin is ORPW) may not work for another (who's skin is DSPT). However, how do you avoid unnecessary purchases? 

Dermatologist Leslie Baumann, the creator of The Baumann Skin Type Indicator, addresses the wide variety of skin needs and concerns. Knowing your skin type helps you determine the best skin hacks. Furthermore, this knowledge helps you to bring out the glow and suppleness of your skin. Unfortunately, the process of determining the category your skin falls in is not as easy as you may think.

Read our guide to find out how to determine the right skincare products for your skin from ANY brand.

The Four Skin Types (The Baumann Skin Indicators)

The amount of sebum the skin secretes and the state of the skin’s stratum corneum determines if the skin is dry or oily. Usually, dry skin determined by the tightness, dull color, and rough texture. Whereas, an oily skin has an increase in sebum secretion, resulting in acne.

If you have dry skin, make sure you have skin soothing and moisture-retaining ingredients. Use ingredients like green tea, carrier oils (evening primrose, borage seed oil, sunflower seed oil, or cranberry seed oil), butter (shea butter, jojoba butter, or cocoa butter), antioxidants, and humectants (glycerin). Stay clear of essential oils in large quantity and ingredients, like alcohol, which dries the skin. Check out our Honeydew Matcha Green Tea Moisturizer Here.

For oily skin, avoid high comedogenic ingredients like coconut oil, cocoa butter. Try to use ingredients like shea butter. Due to the high probability of acne breakout, you should have retinol, benzoyl peroxide, and/or salicylic acid in your product formulation. Check out our Flawless Charcoal Facial Scrub Here. 

Sensitive or Resistant: (S) or (R)

The presence of inflammation is the primary determinant of resistant or sensitive skin. When the stratum corneum is impaired, sensitive skin is the result.

Sensitive skin readily reacts to skincare products with acne, burning, stinging, and redness inflammation. However, a resistant skin has its stratum corneum intact. This means it shields the skin from absorbing irritating ingredients. Hence, a resistant skin shows little or no negative signs to almost all skincare products.

The 4 Subtypes of a Sensitive Skin

• Allergic – Develops flaking, itching, and redness
• Stinging – Develops burning and stinging of the skin
• Rosacea – Usually experience hot sensation, redness, and flushing
• Acne – Develops flaking of the skin, itching, and redness

For (S) Types:

You should always conduct a patch test on any skincare products before using them if you have sensitive skin. 

Look for products containing shea butter, honey, oatmeal, sea buckthorn oil, and calendula extract. Check out our DejaVu Acne Control Serum Here or our Float Hand & Body Butter Here.

Pigmented or Non-Pigmented (Refers to Sun Sensitivity, not Skin Color)

The pigmented and non-pigmented skin attributes are measured by the skin’s ability to form unwanted pigments. This can be due to injury in the form of post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, or due to sun exposure (solar lentigines, melisma, and freckles).

For (P) Types:

Therefore, avoiding the sun should be the first remedy to a pigmented skin. Use products formulated with glycolic acid, azelaic acid, retinoids, and alpha arbutin. These will get rid of a pigmented skin condition.

Also, you can help reduce hyper-pigmentation naturally with ingredients, such as, Turmeric, Lemon Essential Oil, and Honey. Check out our Glow Facial Scrub Here.

Wrinkle-prone or Tight: (W) or (T)

Lifestyle habits, ethnicity, and age determines if the skin is tight or wrinkle-prone. Sun and smoking are the primary cause of skin aging which damages the elastin and collagen. However, there is still a genetic component that determines wrinkle-prone or tight skin.

For (W) Types:

People that are likely to wrinkle should have a potent moisturizer with hyaluronic acid. Vitamin c, retinol, grape seed extract, tea extract, and niacinamide.

For (T) Types:

So, look for products rich in antioxidants that keep the skin looking young and hydrated. Ingredients that may be beneficial are Green Tea Extract, banana extract, rosehip extract, and mango butter.

It is possible to be a combination of different skin types. Therefore, know your skin type to avoid costly skincare purchases. Find what works for your skin.