Skin Types: How to Know Yours and What to Use (AZOURANE Guide 2026)

At our store in SCC, when someone stops at the shelf, the first sentence is almost always the same: "I have sensitive skin" or "I think mine is combination." We sit down, I look at the face in daylight, I ask three questions. Nine times out of ten, the skin is doing something different from what the person thought.

Your skin type is not how your skin feels on one particular morning. It is genetics, barrier, and environment. A Sarajevo winter with central heating pushes every type toward dry. A summer on the coast pushes it toward oily. You find your real type only by watching your skin for several weeks in a row.

The four basic types

Dry

The skin does not make enough lipids. It looks matte, no shine, feels tight after washing, and in winter it flakes finely around the nose and cheeks. Pores are barely visible. Makeup clings to the dry patches and stays there.

What it needs: plant oils (argan, shea), squalane, a humectant to draw moisture in and an emollient to lock it there, and a gentle sulfate-free cleanser.

What to avoid: denatured alcohol in toners, foaming cleansers, hot showers longer than five minutes, exfoliating more than once a week.

Oily

More sebum than the skin needs. Behind it are genetics, hormones, and life stage: adolescence, the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, perimenopause. The shine is back a few hours after washing, pores around the nose are visible, blackheads and the occasional pimple show up, makeup slides.

What it needs: a gentle cleanser (harsh ones drive sebum up, because skin responds to being stripped by producing even more oil), light hydration (oily skin is often dehydrated too and should never be dried out), non-comedogenic ingredients, and niacinamide if you find it in a formula.

What to avoid: heavily occlusive creams, coconut oil (a comedogenic rating of 4 out of 5), cocoa butter on the face, aggressive scrubs every day.

Combination

The most common type among adult women in Bosnia. An oily T-zone, cheeks normal or dry. The same product behaves differently on different parts of the face.

What it needs: balanced hydration. One good cream that hydrates without clogging does the job. Split routines, mattifying the T-zone while replenishing the cheeks, are a marketing myth.

What to avoid: two separate regimens by zone, soap that strips too much, greasy balms on the forehead and nose.

Normal

Rare, and it usually lasts until about thirty. Even tone, small pores, a pimple now and then, tolerates most ingredients.

What it needs: maintenance. A gentle cleanser, hydration, SPF in the morning. Too many treatments can disturb a barrier that is already working well.

What to avoid: four actives at once (retinol, AHA, vitamin C, niacinamide), frequent exfoliation, viral routines from Instagram.

Conditions that sit on top of your type

Dehydrated

Often confused with dry. Dehydration is a lack of water, dryness is a lack of oil. It can show up on any type, including oily skin. The signs: skin looks tired, fine lines appear on the cheeks and under the eyes, makeup sits worse than usual. The full difference, and the two steps that cover both, are in a separate guide.

Sensitive

It reacts to ingredients normal skin tolerates: redness, stinging, small rashes. It is not a type but a condition, most often caused by a damaged barrier or irritating ingredients (fragrance, alcohol, harsh surfactants, essential oils).

The rule: a shorter ingredient list, no fragrance, no essential oils. If you have been diagnosed with atopic dermatitis or eczema, a cream is part of the routine, not a substitute for a dermatologist.

Mature (35+)

After age 35 to 40, collagen and lipid production declines. The skin needs stronger humectants and antioxidants: prickly pear oil (the richest plant source of vitamin E), argan (omega fatty acids, phytosterols), niacinamide. A hydrating cream works as the base. For an active treatment against signs of aging, add retinol or vitamin C separately.

Three tests for your own skin

Test 1. In the morning, before washing

Wake up, look in the mirror, touch your skin.

• Matte and tight: dry
• The whole face shines: oily
• Only the T-zone shines, cheeks stay matte: combination
• No shine and no tightness: normal

Test 2. Blotting paper in the afternoon

Around 2 p.m., press a paper tissue to your forehead, nose, cheek, and chin, each spot separately.

• Marks only in the T-zone: combination
• Marks everywhere: oily
• No marks: dry or normal (check with Test 1)

Test 3. Thirty minutes after a clean wash

Wash your face with a gentle cleanser only and wait 30 minutes without any cream.

• Tightness and discomfort: the barrier is damaged or the skin is dry
• Nothing: the barrier is working normally
• Redness, stinging: the cleanser is too harsh, or you have sensitivity

Your type changes through life

The cream you loved at 22 may not work at 35. That is not failure, that is biology.

• 12 to 18: hormones push almost everyone toward oily
• 18 to 30: the skin balances out, many people settle into combination
• Pregnancy: either distinctly oily, or dry and sensitive
• 30 to 40: sebum declines, skin gets drier
• 45+: estrogen drops, collagen drops, skin is often dry and thinner

AZOURANE by skin type

• Dry, combination, oily: AMAAN as your daily cleanser (or AMAAN Duo, two bottles). A hydrating cream on top, matched to your type.
• Sensitive: go fragrance-free, with a short INCI list.
• Mature: a hydrating cream as the base, with vitamin C or retinol as your dermatologist recommends.

What customers ask most often

If you are not sure

Send a message to Instagram @mi.smo.azourane with a few details about your skin. You get a personal reply, not an automated one.