What's Your Skin Type? A Simple At-Home Test

Why knowing your skin type matters

Your skin type is the foundation of every good routine. It determines which textures feel comfortable, which ingredients your skin loves, and which ones might tip it out of balance. Everyone needs the basics — cleanser, moisturiser and SPF — but the best formulas for each type can differ a lot.

There are five widely recognised skin types: normal, dry, oily, combination and sensitive. Here's how to work out which one is yours.

The bare-face test

This is the method skin experts recommend most, and it takes about 30 minutes.

1. Wash your face with a gentle cleanser and pat dry.
2. Leave your skin completely bare — no serum, no moisturiser.
3. Wait about 30 minutes and look closely in the mirror.

What you'll see:

• Normal: Balanced and comfortable — neither tight nor shiny.
• Dry: Tight, possibly flaky or rough, with barely visible pores.
• Oily: Shiny all over, especially the T-zone, often with more visible pores.
• Combination: Shiny through the T-zone (forehead, nose, chin) but normal or dry on the cheeks.
• Sensitive: Prone to redness, stinging or reacting easily to products and weather.

A quicker version is the blotting-sheet test: press a blotting paper on different areas mid-day. Lots of oil everywhere suggests oily skin; oil only from the T-zone suggests combination; little to none suggests normal or dry.

Dry vs dehydrated — an important difference

Dry skin lacks oil and is considered a skin type. Dehydrated skin lacks water and is a temporary state that any type can experience, even oily skin. If your skin feels tight and looks dull but still gets shiny, you may be oily and dehydrated at once — a common mix-up. The fix for dehydration is water-binding hydration (like hyaluronic acid), not stripping away oil.

How to care for each type

• Normal: Keep it balanced with gentle cleansing, light hydration and daily SPF.
• Dry: Reach for creamy cleansers and richer moisturisers with humectants and nourishing plant oils.
• Oily: Use gentle, non-stripping cleansers and lightweight, gel-textured moisturisers. Don't skip moisturiser — stripping oil often makes skin produce more.
• Combination: You may need to treat zones differently — a lighter touch on the T-zone, richer care on the cheeks.
• Sensitive: Choose gentle, fragrance-conscious formulas with soothing botanicals, and introduce new products one at a time with a patch test.

Your skin type can change

Age, hormones, climate and season all shift how your skin behaves — many people are drier in winter and oilier in summer. Re-check every so often and adjust. When you know your type, choosing the right natural cosmetics becomes far less of a guessing game.