How To Banish Shiny Skin

Indeed, one in three women complain about having shiny skin. Under certain conditions (stress, heat, humidity, sports, starting/stopping the pill) all skin types can suffer from too much shine. But it's generally combination skin - with its infamous T-zone - that gets the worse deal. Shiny skin can also make an unwelcome comeback during menopause, when hormonal changes cause our sebaceous glands to go haywire. Finally, shiny skin can be aggravated by smoking, booze and a poor diet. Fortunately, you can banish shiny skin using a few techniques:

Treat you skin with care:

The golden rule is to not boost sebum production, as this will cause shiny skin. So go easy on the face scrubs. Your skin needs gentle loving care! In the morning, cleanse your skin with a lotion and in the evening wash off any grime with a soap-free foaming gel. As for your day cream, it should moisturise without leaving your skin oily. To avoid the shiny look during the day, opt for a cream that will balance out sebum levels on your T-zone, close your pores and moisturise your skin. Active ingredients favoured by dermatologists include salicylic acid to unclog pores (where impurities tend to build up), zinc to regulate sebum production, glycolic acid to even out skin tone and perlite to absorb sebum and mattify the complexion.

If your T-zone tends to shine during the day, don't reach for the nearest face powder, as this will just clog up your epidermis. In the morning, apply a mattifying blur cream to zap shine and Photoshop away any imperfections. And do as Japanese women do - keep a mattifying wipe on you at all times!

Keep your fingers away

Constantly touching your face increases the chance of perspiration transfer from your fingers to your face. This leads to the skin becoming shiny and greasier. The habit can cause further damage as it clogs up the skin and makes it acne-prone. Thus, stir away from touching you face at all.

Shiny and greasy skin is no fun. Not only is your skin prone to undesirable conditions but also messes up makeup application. Fret not! The above stated tricks will help keep the unwanted sheen away.