Knowing your skin type can make a world of difference. If you’re not familiar with your skin type and its needs, you’re likely buying trendy and popular skincare products that don’t even work for your skin! Evaluating your skin before buying products and treatments is the key to dreaming up the perfect routine.

What’s My Skin Type?

The skin on your face can be much different and much more finicky than the skin on your body’s rest. While your body could have one skin type, your face could have another, so you will likely have to use different face and body products. 

You may also have a facial skin type that changes with the different seasons or with different climates. For example, your skin may become oiler if you move to a more humid place, and it may become drier if you move to a colder place. 

In Miami, popular skincare products are usually lightweight, mattifying, and sweat-proof for those hot days we have all year long. 

However, not everyone in Miami or other tropical places has oily skin, so it’s important to know your actual skin type despite the weather. 

Knowing your skin type will help you get the most out of your skincare routine and help you avoid the wrong products for your type. 

To accurately determine your skin type, it’s best to ask a dermatologist for a more thorough examination; he or she will be able to recommend products and ingredients that are right for you. Here are the most common skin types and their symptoms.

Dry Skin

Those with dry skin will likely experience feelings of tightness on the face and have flaky/rough patches of skin. 

You also may have red patches, itchy and irritated skin, a dull complexion, and visible fine lines. 

Naturally, the key to overcoming these dry skin problems is to moisturize, moisturize, moisturize! 

The best face moisturizer for dry skin that we recommend is the Enriched Moisture moisturizer from our custom Dr. Longwill skincare line. 

With squalene, vitamin E, and red algae peptides, this is the best face moisturizer for dry skin because it hydrates and restores your skin’s suppleness. It also supports your skin’s collagen production and helps with firmness, so this product is excellent for minimizing those visible fine lines.

Oily Skin

If you have oily skin, your face will overproduce sebum, making you look and feel shiny. This overproduction of oil will lead to frequent acne flare-ups and blackheads, and you’ll likely have large, visible pores. 

The T-zone of your face (your forehead, nose, and chin) will get the oiliest. To combat this, dermatologists recommend incorporating active ingredients that will chemically exfoliate your skin and/or fight acne-causing bacteria. 

Our Porefect Cleanser is a skincare product that combines two chemical exfoliants, salicylic acid, and glycolic acid, to gently unclog pores, remove impurities and even skin texture and tone, without over-drying.

This cleanser’s unique combination of medical-grade, acne-fighting ingredients works to regulate oil production and effectively clear problematic skin sensitive to irritation. 

Our Benzoyl Peroxide Acne Wash comes in two different strengths and provides antibacterial activity against Propionibactrium acnes. 

This powerful acne-fighting treatment dries up pimples and blemishes while keeping the skin’s moisture and pH levels at the normal level and keep future blemishes from forming.

Sensitive Skin or Combination Skin

Combination skin is exactly what it sounds like—a combination of two different skin types. If you have combination skin, it will be dry in some areas of your face, and oily in other areas. 

The T-zone may be more oily and prone to break-outs, while your eye area and cheeks may be dry and flaky. You also fall into the combination skin category if your skin changes according to the climate or season. 

Combination skin may be a little harder to treat. Still, generally speaking, it’s best to use products strategically in the corresponding areas that need more hydrating products or acne-fighting products.

Sensitive skin is a more subjective skin type because it can have a wide variety of symptoms such as stinging, itching, burning, and/or visible skin changes such as redness, dryness, scaling, peeling, bumps, hives. 

While sensitive skin can have similar symptoms to dry skin, the main symptom that people with sensitive skin experience is intolerance against many skincare products. They often have sensitivity towards harsh ingredients and/or fragrances, requiring more gentle products, like our Green Tea Cleanser. 

This Miami skincare product from Dr. Longwill gently cleanses while providing hydration for the skin. This soap-free cleanser is specially formulated with soothing antioxidants and botanicals to protect highly sensitive skin.

All of the products we mentioned are on sale for a limited time for the month of August as part of our Back to School Special! Browse through our online shop for the best selection of skincare products in Miami and check out our “Skin Concern” section at the top of our site for dermatologist-recommended products specifically for your skin type and its needs!