What Skincare Ingredients and Products to Avoid for Your Skin Type
Sensitive Skin
Sensitivity usually comes from weakened barriers and skin immunity, making it easily reactive to harsh chemicals, environmental stressors or irritants. If you have sensitive skin, focusing on rebuilding your skin’s strength & tolerance should be the main priority – be wary of using products meant for normal skin, especially those that may strip or clog pores.
Avoid
- Exfoliators such as acids, scrubs, peels and handheld scrubbing devices – these work by removing dead cells and debris from the most surface layer of the skin, which can strip already weakened barriers for sensitive skin users.
- Fragrances and Dyes – skincare manufacturers are allowed to label “fragrances” on their ingredients list without actually divulging what’s in it. Chemical fragrances and dyes tend to be alcohol heavy, which can dry out and irritate skin even more.
- Silicone primers – sensitive skin can get clogged easily, so stick to non-comedogenic, natural primers
Snow Fox recommends:
- Arctic Breeze Rescue Mask
- Japanese Cherry Blossom & White Tea Smoothing Mask
- Cucumber Recovery Tonic
- Cucumber Recovery Serum
Combination Skin
Combo skin users need to be careful with their skincare as they can further aggravate the already irregular balance of their skin by using products only suitable for certain areas. Combination skin is usually the result of irregular PH balance (too alkaline) thanks to too many products (yes you can have too much skincare).
Avoid
- Products meant for oily skin only (mattifying products) – this will dry out certain areas even more, causing your T zone to produce more oil in an attempt to moisturize itself
- Heavy moisturizers – Rich, buttery creams and lotions often contain silicone based texture enhancers that clog the pores
- Oil Blotting sheets – These actually dry out the T zone way too much, causing it to continue overproducing. To regulate itself, skin needs to feel evenly hydrated
Snow Fox recommends:
- Japanese Cherry Blossom & White Tea Smoothing Mask
- Cooling Foam Cleanser
- Cucumber Recovery Tonic
- Cucumber Recovery Serum
- Herbal Youth Oil
Oily/ Acne Prone Skin
The overproduction of sebum can be a hormonal issue, but for most acne prone/ oily skin types, there are skincare routines that will help keep those breakouts at bay. It’s a matter of keeping pores clean, uncongested and infection-free.
Avoid
- Non-comedogenic moisturizers & primers – silicone and other petrochemical based texture enhancers fill up the pores to even out the skin tone. It may look and feel good at first, but will end up stretching out the pores and causing congestion. Coconut oil and shea butter may also be too much for oily skin.
- Pore strips – Once in a while these are fine, but they tend to strip the skin and leave pores dilated. For oily skin types, enlarged pores mean a higher chance of clogging and infection.
- Oil Blotting Papers – Soak up excess oil with a tissue. Most blotting papers tend to dry out the skin, sending signals that there isn’t enough sebum – causing even more overproduction.
Snow Fox recommends:
Dry Skin
Chronic Dryness comes from a lack of moisture being retained in the skin, rather than just a lack of hydration. Dry skin types should focus on restoring the skin’s ability to retain moisture by nourishing it with the right antioxidants, essential fatty acids and other nutrients.
Avoid
- Exfoliators – Dry skin tends to already have weakened barriers, so avoid stripping it further with acids, scrubs, peels and more. Flakiness will minimize when skin is naturally hydrated.
- Powder products – talc, pressed powder and other forms of powdered ingredients can soak up what little moisture dry skin has left
- Alcohol Denat (denatured) & fragrances – Alcohol heavy products can worsen dryness while fragrances may contain alcohol
Snow Fox recommends:
Normal Skin
Normal skin with the odd chance of a break out or dryness after a flight is actually just healthy skin in general. Most of us were born with healthy skin, with problems surfacing later on in life due to external factors – like stress, age, medical conditions and lifestyle changes. Normal skin types should focus on maintaining their skin’s health by strictly looking after it to retain that healthy glow.
Avoid
- Harsh chemicals in skincare and make up – there are a lot of fun looking gimmicks that do more harm than good on skin, so try to stick to a clean, non-irritating daily routine to keep skin habitually happy.
- Overexfoliation – Light exfoliation once a week for normal/oilier skin types is good, but be weary of using too many acids, tools and scrubs each day
- Oily skin (mattifying) products – if your skin is not too oily and you only break out once in a long while (with just a few spots), avoid the urge to go on an oil overkill as you may upset the balance of your skin and ironically cause more breakouts or combo skin irregularity.
All Products from Snow Fox are suitable for Normal Skin:
Our entire range is suitable for Normal Skin types, because what's good for Sensitive Skin is great for Normal Skin ;) Lucky you!