There’s a difference between a natural, healthy glow and having greasy, oily skin. How can you tell the difference? How do you minimize the shine on your beautiful African American skin?

If you have naturally oily skin, you may be used to blotting your face every hour. Or you may have accepted that you’ll forever be breaking out, even though you’re no longer a teen.

To prevent acne and minimize the shine on adult black skin, follow these simple tips:

• Wash your face twice a day with a gentle, natural cleanser specially formulated for oily skin. The goal is to clean your pores without irritating your skin. As strange as it sounds, over-washing your face and using harsh cleansers actually makes it oilier. That’s because when you use cleansers with drying agents, your skin thinks it’s drying out, so it produces more oil to make up for the loss. Make sense now?

• Manage your stress. When life gets a little too busy, find some “me-time” to unwind and get away from it all. Stressful situations tend to promote acne on adult black skin. That’s because when we are under stress, our bodies produce more of the hormone, cortisol. The presence of cortisol triggers an increase in oil production, which leads to oily skin, and …. (drumroll, please)…acne on adult black skin. So when it comes to the “fight or flight” instinct when faced with stress, I highly recommend …. relaxation.

• Use a mask for deep cleaning your oily skin. Clay masks naturally draw the oil buildup and impurities out, and prevents acne on adult black skin. However, wild oat and honey masque as well as charcoal mask are great alternatives.

• If you break out, DO NOT PICK your skin! Picking can and will cause scarring, and will make things worse. Basically, the advice here is: Keep your hands off your face. Period.

When you have oily skin, you tend to have a “shine” about you. Not a nice, healthy “glow”, but more of a greasy shine. So, how do you minimize the shine on your African American skin?

Let’s look at a couple of tips:

• Soak a washcloth in hot water and place over your entire face until it cools. This will open up your pores. Do this first thing in the morning and before you go to bed.

• Use a natural, organic cleanser with green tea, glycerin, coconut, essential oils, aloe vera, or chamomile as ingredients. These ingredients work to clean pores without stripping them of oils.

• Apply a natural toner made from rosewater or you can create your own with one part freshly-squeezed lemon juice and 5 parts filtered water. Do not rinse. This is best used at night since lemon is a citrus and citrus tend to not work well on your skin when greeted by the sun.

• Moisturize your face with a nourishing carrier oils. Coconut, olive, jojoba, or sweet almond are good choices. Yes, you can use a very thin layer of oil on oily skin. The key is not to bathe in it.

• Use a mask once a week for deep cleaning. You can purchase a specially formulated mask or make your own by mashing a ripe banana with one egg white. The banana acts as a moisturizer while the egg white tightens and tones. Apply the mask to your face and neck. Leave on for 15 minutes and rinse with warm water.  Well…

That’s it for this week! As always …

Dedicated To Your Beauty,

Juliette Samuel
Esthetician/Author/Publisher
Nyraju Skin Care