Your skin is a living organ and the largest and most visible part of yourselves. So when you have oily skin and it glistens for all the world to see when you walk into a room, you work hard to try to combat that oily skin with products that will help to minimize or eliminate it.

In African American skin there is a high chance that your skin is oily or a combination of oily and dry. If you’re used to the life of having oily skin, you’re probably used to having to wash your face two to three times a day just to get rid of the layers of oil sitting on top of your skin.

Now, it’s not a bad thing to have to wash your face frequently in order to get rid of the oil. In actuality, washing your face multiple times is exactly what you need to do in order to control oily skin. However, you have to do it the right way, with the right type of cleanser to ensure that your face won’t become even oilier from washing.

This leads me right into the ways that you can build a regimen to help control your oily African American skin. Like a natural hair regimen, your skin deserves a great regimen. Creating a regimen will help you to control your oily skin as your skin gets used to the gentle cleansing treatments.

So, here are 7 Steps in controlling Oily African American Skin:

1. Cleanse – every morning and night use a gentle cleanser to clean your face to remove dirt, but not to remove moisture. Make sure that your cleanser is a natural, gentler one. Cleanse gently! If you wash your face often but do it harshly, it makes your face produce more oil. This results in oilier skin, which is not the goal when you already have oily skin. Washing with harsh cleansers makes the oil glands in your skin think that your skin in actually drying out, therefore producing more oil. So the better way to get to your goal of having less oily skin in to still wash your face, but do it with a more gentle cleanser. The less irritation your have on your skin, the better you are able to control the oil production in your face. Some examples of gentle cleansers are ones that are cream based cleansers.

2. Masque (Mask) – facial masks that have a base of Bentonite clay have been used as a way to remove toxins from your skin giving you a wonderful glow to your skin. However, they also work great at gently removing oil from your skin without drying it out too much. Clay masks also helps to tighten pores and remove blackheads. Masques are a great addition to your skin care regimen. They remove dead skin cells and help to normalize African American skin. Honey masques will not only remove excess oil, they will also hydrate your skin because honey acts as a humectant. It will bring in any missing moisture from your skin.

3. Stress – whatever is going on in your life that affects your mental health always affects your skin as well. Whatever is on the inside will show itself on the outside through the skin. When you are stressed, your skin reacts by producing more oil glands. So the less stress, the less oil your skin will produce. Managing the stress in your life will help to combat negative skin reactions.

4. Toner – a toner is something that you put on your skin after you have gently cleansed it. The toner helps to balance the acidity and alkalinity of your skin, otherwise known as the pH of your skin. Make sure that your toner does not have too much alcohol because alcohol is harsh and dries out your skin. Remember what I shared in the sentences above, which stated that if the cleanser you use on your face is too harsh, your face will just produce more oil.

5. Moisture – this is the number one thing you want for African American hair and skin. Moisture is your best friend. If you have African American skin and you are using a moisturizer, you must remember not to use a moisturizer that contains oil since oil tends to dry out the your skin if you are prone to oiliness. So an oil-free moisturizer helps to retain the moisture within the deep layers of your skin.

6. Exfoliate – using natural and sensitive products like a glycolic acid or a jojoba facial scrub, you must exfoliate your skin at least once a week to remove the dead skin cells and make room for healthy skin to shine through. Exfoliation allows moisture into your pores and nourishes the inner and outer layers of your skin. It also helps to balance your oil production and shrink your pores to a more normal size, thus reducing the amount of oil in your skin. However, too much exfoliation and scrubs used to exfoliate your skin can do more harm than good. Be cautious about what you are using on your skin, even the natural exfoliation scrubs.

7. Sunscreen – Every single day you should apply sunscreen to your face to protect your skin. As an African American woman, you may not feel as if you need any sunscreen because of the darkness of your skin compared to women with lighter or white skin, but it is necessary to protect your oily skin from the harsh sun. The sun’s rays can actually increase your oil production, so you want to make sure that you protect your skin from its harsh rays. Just as you apply a moisturizer to your face every day, do the same with a sunscreen. You can often find that a good moisturizer has a sunscreen as part of its ingredients.

The 7 steps above allow you to have a good skin care regimen that will ultimately produce great looking skin without all the sheen.

Until next time,

Dedicated To Your Beauty,

Juliette Samuel

Esthetician/Author/Publisher

Nyraju Skin Care