If you ever wonder what your skin type is and chose as dry, sensitive, oily, combination or congested –
think again! Our skin is porous, which means that it is constantly being affected by environmental,
psychological, emotional, and chemical stress from the stuff we put into our skin. Environmental
pollution plays a huge role for people living or working where there is smog, radiation, string winds,
debris, or humid climates. While psychological and emotional stress have a direct impact on our skin,
believe it or not. When we are under emotional stress (be it a sad news, or stressful work environment,
or being a caretaker, or a new mom as a few examples), there is a physical and chemical change in our
bodies with shortening of our telomeres, and signs of aging including premature graying of hair,
wrinkles, dark circles, dull complexion, acne, rosacea, atopic dermatitis, cellulite, weight gain, or weight
loss, hair loss, brittle nails. Chemical stress can be a result of using too many harsh chemicals on your
face and body including the hand soaps. Our skin likes products at a pH of 5-7. When we use sulfate-
based shampoos, hand soaps, bar soaps on our skin, we are stripping moisture from or skin which can
have an adverse effect leading to dry, and sensitive skin more prone to atopic dermatitis, acne, and
rosacea.
So, going back to the question about determining our skin type. You must know your current state of
physical, emotional, psychological and environmental imbalances on your skin. In my next blog I will be
talking about how to determine these imbalances. Stay tuned!