Skin used to be dry now it's oily/combination. Help!

[Jey1jin]

Hello, 

I'm fairly new to skin care and for a long time, i only used soap and non-scented lotions on my face and it was good enough for my dry-very dry sensitive skin. 

I now use the fresh soy face cleanser and lotus youth preserve face creams and lately i've noticed that i'm oily around the t-zone and i've had the or four pimples on my forehead this past month which is very unusual. I've thought about whether it's the products, the birth control or if my skin is just changing. I stopped using the face cream and any moisturizers all together for my t-zone but i still get oily after a few hours. 

What's going on with my skin and how do i control the oil? 

[cynthiajane]

I switched to facial oils a few years ago and I am OBSESSED.  It seems like they'd be bad, bc you think oil you think acne, but our skin is actually supposed to have some natural oil on it so every time we wash it, it strips it of its natural oils and our pores over produce oil to compensate.  Also, oil is naturally occurring on our faces but lotion is just a bunch of manmade chemicals that clog your pores most of the time. I use my face oil at night after washing my face, then in the morning I skip washing it (since washing dries it out more) and just use a dry washcloth to gently exfoliate and redistribute any oils that accumulated while I was sleeping, since I have combination skin. Boscia Tsubaki Beauty Oil is a great intro oil for all skin types, and there are a bunch of others if you want to address more specific concerns, like aging, brightening, overnight repair, etc.!

[cynthiajane]

(I still use the cleanser I've always used, which is Clearasil Redness Solutions cleanser with salicylic acid, bc you've still got to deep clean so you need a clear -- not cream-based -- cleanser with some salicylic acid in it to treat breakouts.)

[GraceAndLace]

I was having the same issue, an employe at Sephora told me that it could be because I still have dry skin and my skin is trying to take care of it naturally and counter act the oiliness and was overcompensating and getting very oily. She recommended clinical concentrate hydration booster by Dr. Dennis Gross. I almost didn't purchase it because it's $82.00 but I am so glad I did!! It lasts a long time and I don't need to use it as much anymore in between I have been using the Clinique Moisture Surge Hydrating Supercharged Concentrate and LOVING it!!! Good luck, I hope you find what works best for your skin!

[GraceAndLace]

I 100% percent agree with this!!! My personal favourite is Dr. Dennis Gross Clinical Concentrate Hydration Booster, I swear by this stuff! It’s a bit expensive but lasts a while (I go through it faster in the wintertime) and worth every penny

[carybear]

Look,  almost all of the cleansers available to us on the market with the exception of Korean brands and French pharmacy brands are owned by four companies. That's Unilever, L'Oreal, Procter & Gamble, Johnson and Johnson.  For instance L'Oreal now owns Estée Lauder clinic benefit Smashbox… L'Oreal owns a lot of cosmetic companies. So let's think of a cleanser:  first aid beauty for instance is owned by one of these companies and the ingredients of their cleanser is almost exactly the same as those in Dove bar soap. Same pH is Dove bar soap nearly identical ingredients with a few added things. Do you see what I'm saying? It's all the same chemical crap. 

[carybear]

 Just go back to what you were doing before. You see the world is full of cleansers and people who market those things to those of us who are insecure about the state of our skin when in fact your skin is fine. Less is more just go back to what you were doing before 

[IZ95]

I know this is solved already but it's possible you dehydrated your skin too much so it produced more oil. When you over strip your skin of moisture, your skin creates more oil production to compensate. It's something to keep in mind when finding the root cause of oily skin. I have oily skin but when I hydrate super well, I find my oil production lessens over time. Hope this might help!

[Jey1jin]

Thank you both. My skin did start to calm down. I stopped using the cream to see if that was the problem and i stopped getting the pimples i was getting. I started using two different face cleansers and two different moisturizers for my cheeks and my t-zone. Idk if that's weird or unnecessary 

[greenchilli · Accepted solution]

@Jey1jin

Skin type and condition can change with age - cause is hormones

Soap is no good on the face - even if it worked once

Any pill is capable of affecting your skin negatively or positively.

Your diet and lifestyle in the past few years might have changed.  Perhaps more junk food, sugar, starch, or fried items?

You might be wearing more makeup now than before.  Improper cleansing of face/brushes can be the worst on skin.

And finally, your skin NEEDS hydration.  Dehydrated skin gets oily even quicker.  Your skin is most likely dehydrated as well - and you are avoiding moisturising your Tzone.

Controlling oil should not consume you.  Oil is good.  Drying your skin out will cause more harm than good.  Cleanse well, use good products, hydrate your skin, and it will balance out a bit.

Address your skin on all fronts.

[wheeeee]

Google your birth control and see if this happened to other people. 

Also, your age.  Skin changes with age. 

I don't suggest blasting your skin with products  if you can find out if a remedy working from the 'inside-out' will bring you back to before. 

Another thing I am not sure if you follow is that people don't want to wash their hair regularly since they don't want to dry it out.  Well, having this dirty hair around your face (and, especially sleeping on it) is my first suspicion why people have skin problems.  Sleep on your back.