Skincare 101: Know Your Skin, Build Your Basics

Before you start with skincare, it is important to know your skin type. Your skin type decides which cleanser, moisturizer and sunscreen will suit you, and products made for a different skin type can leave your skin oilier, drier or more irritated than it needs to be.

Skin type comes down to one thing: oil production. There are four skin types, oily, dry, combination and normal, and identifying yours is the foundation everything else in your routine is built on.

Your skin type is not necessarily fixed for life. Hormones can shift it, for example during the teenage years or menopause, and some medications can change it temporarily or permanently. Either way, it is your current skin type that your routine should be built around.

Oil production also shifts with the seasons. It slows down in winter and increases in summer, and comparing how oily or dry your skin feels in each season is the easiest way to identify your type. Here is how to tell which one you have.

Sensitive skin is a condition rather than a skin type, even though it is often treated like one, and it can affect oily, dry, combination or normal skin alike. Sensitive skin reacts easily, with redness, stinging or itching when you try a new product or the weather changes.

Dehydrated skin is another condition that can happen with any skin type. It means your skin is low on water, which is why even oily skin can feel tight while still getting shiny by the afternoon. Dry skin is often dehydrated too, because oil is part of what holds water in your skin. Both conditions usually improve as the barrier gets healthier, which is one more reason the basics come first.

Once you know your skin type, you can start building your basic routine. Every routine we build at the clinic starts from the same three steps. Cleanse to remove the oil, sweat, sunscreen and makeup that build up on your skin during the day or overnight. Moisturize to replace the water and oil your barrier needs to stay intact. Wear sunscreen every morning, and reapply it through the day, to protect against the sun damage that causes most visible aging.

Basic does not mean insufficient. This is the routine everybody needs, even a five-year-old, the same way showering and brushing your teeth are basic hygiene. As you get older you can add more products if you want to, but you do not have to. For many people, these three steps are everything their skin needs.

Starting simple also has a practical reason. If your skin reacts to something, the cause is much easier to find when only three products are involved. It is also much easier to tell what a new product is doing once the basics are steady.

Stay with just these three steps for at least four weeks, ideally eight, to build the habit of doing your skincare routine consistently, and to give your barrier time to repair itself.

A cleanser removes oil, sweat, sunscreen, makeup and pollution from the surface of your skin. A good one rinses off completely and leaves your face feeling comfortable. If your skin feels tight or squeaky afterward, the cleanser is stronger than your skin barrier needs. Most facial cleansers today are pH-balanced for skin, which is a big part of why they are kinder to it than soap.

Beyond the bar soap and body wash covered in the What to stop doing first section above, be careful with cleansers that leave your skin tight or squeaky, cleansers with rough scrubbing particles, and makeup wipes used as your only cleanse. Wipes are made for convenience, such as travel or after the gym, and they leave some makeup and oil behind, which is why a proper cleanse should follow when you can.

Depending on the cleanser, cleansing too often can dry your skin out the same way a cleanser that is too strong does. Twice a day is enough for most people.

Any of these can work for any skin type, depending on the formula, the weather where you live and the rest of the products in your routine. Many cleansers today remove makeup well, so an oil or balm is one option for that job rather than the only one.

Micellar water, a cleansing water that lifts makeup and oil without rinsing, is convenient for travel, and it works best as a first step rather than your only cleanse. On days you wear makeup or water-resistant sunscreen, cleanse twice at night: a first cleanse to dissolve them, then your usual cleanser. In the morning, one gentle cleanse is enough.

Oily and combination skin produces more oil in the summer heat, and a well-formulated gel or foaming cleanser helps clear that extra oil without stripping the skin. In winter, oil production slows down, and how much it slows depends on where you live and how cold and dry your winters are. If your skin is producing a lot less oil and starts to feel tight, it makes sense to switch to a cream or oil cleanser, which helps your skin hold on to moisture it can no longer easily replace on its own.

Normal and dry skin already produce less oil, which is why a cream or oil cleanser year round supports the skin instead of working against it. A good oil cleanser can also help balance oily skin in summer, since it dissolves excess oil as it cleanses instead of stripping the skin.

How to cleanse. Most cleansers are used the same way: wet your face with lukewarm water, massage the cleanser over your skin with your fingertips for 30 to 60 seconds, then rinse it off completely. Some cleansers work differently. An oil cleanser, for example, usually goes onto dry skin first, then you add a little water and work it in until it turns milky before you rinse it off. The directions on your cleanser's packaging will tell you which way yours is meant to be used.

Afterward, you can pat your skin dry with a clean towel, or leave it a little damp, which helps your moisturizer spread more easily.

To choose a moisturizer, it helps to understand your skin barrier first. Many people assume the top layers of skin are dead and do not matter, but those layers actively signal to the deeper layers to regulate collagen, hydration and cell renewal. That makes a healthy barrier the foundation everything underneath depends on.

A healthy barrier holds on to two things: water and oil. Water inside the skin is what makes it look plump and smooth. Oil sits on top of that water and stops it from evaporating. When either one runs low, skin feels tight and becomes easier to irritate.

A good moisturizer gives your skin both water and oil. It contains ingredients that draw water into the skin, like glycerin and hyaluronic acid, and ingredients that seal that water in and fill the gaps in your barrier, like ceramides, cholesterol and fatty acids (the three main fats that hold your skin cells together), squalane (a lightweight oil) and plant butters. It should feel comfortable on your skin, sink in within five minutes, and never sting.

The most common mistake we see is skipping moisturizer because your skin is oily. The oil your skin makes, called sebum, sits on the surface. It is a different kind of fat from the ones that hold your barrier together, which are ceramides, cholesterol and fatty acids made in the outer layers of your skin. Sebum helps keep the surface soft, but it does not build or repair the barrier itself. That is why oily skin can still lose water, feel tight and become irritated, even while it is shiny.

A hydrating serum is a good addition, but on its own it is not a replacement for moisturizer. A serum adds water, and without ingredients that support your barrier, much of that water evaporates again. A lightweight gel moisturizer suits oily skin because it gives you that water without heavy oils, and it also contains barrier ingredients, such as ceramides, that your own oil cannot provide. That makes it a good choice for oily skin, especially in summer or at times when your skin is producing more oil.

Also watch for using a face oil on its own, which can seal water in but cannot add any, and using body lotion on your face, which is usually heavier than your face needs.

Balms are the heaviest option. For most people they work best as a final layer on very dry areas at night, rather than as an everyday moisturizer. Start with a moisturizer for two to four weeks, and if your skin still needs more, you can add a balm.

Oily and combination skin needs less added oil to keep water in, which means a lighter, water-based moisturizer with a touch of barrier support is enough in summer. In winter, oil production drops, and the same skin needs a slightly thicker formula, such as a lotion or cream, with more barrier ingredients to make up for what it is not producing on its own.

Normal and dry skin need more barrier support year round, such as ceramides, fatty acids, squalane and butters, because they naturally produce less oil to begin with. In winter that need increases further, and a thicker moisturizer than the one you use in summer helps prevent the tightness and flaking that come with colder, drier air.

You can apply your moisturizer while your skin is still slightly damp from cleansing, which helps it spread more easily.

Much of what people think of as aging, such as fine lines, loss of firmness and uneven tone, is caused by the sun. That is why sunscreen is the one step we ask every client to use every single morning.

Sunlight carries ultraviolet light, and it comes in two kinds that matter for your skin.

UVB is the one that burns you. It affects the upper layers of your skin, it is strongest in summer and in the middle of the day, and it plays a major role in skin cancer.

UVA is the one that ages you. It reaches deeper, into the layer where your collagen sits, and over years it breaks that collagen down. UVA is present all day, every day, in every season, it passes through clouds and window glass, and it also contributes to skin cancer. You do not feel it, which makes it easy to believe damage is not happening.

The SPF number measures UVB protection only. It tells you how well a product stops you from burning and says nothing about the UVA that is aging your skin. That is why you need the words broad spectrum on the label as well as a number, which means it protects against UVA as well as UVB. We recommend SPF 30 or higher for daily use.

Both kinds of UV also drive pigment. Your skin makes melanin as a defense against UV, which is why sun exposure can turn a healed breakout into a brown mark that stays for months, and why melasma, patches of darker skin that are often linked to hormones, tends to darken again every summer.

Most people apply about half the amount of sunscreen that the product was tested with, which means they get far less protection than the label says. Use about a quarter teaspoon for your face alone, and a little more if you are also covering your neck.

Relying only on the SPF in your foundation or moisturizer usually falls short for the same reason, since few people apply enough of it to reach the number on the label. Oils like coconut oil give very little UV protection, and a bottle past its expiration date, or one that has spent the summer in a hot car, may not protect you the way it should.

Both are excellent at what they do, and they suit different situations. Many sunscreens combine the two. Lotions, creams, gels and fluids make it easiest to apply the full amount. Sticks are handy for reapplying on the go. Sprays and powders are the least reliable ways to apply or reapply sunscreen, because it is hard to get an even, full layer, and you will not get the same protection. If they make reapplying easier for you, they are still better than nothing.

Texture preference matters more than skin type here. The sunscreen you will actually apply every morning and reapply throughout the day is the right one for you. Dry skin tends to feel more comfortable in hydrating, non-matte formulas, since a matte finish can emphasize dryness rather than balance it. Oily skin often prefers a lightweight gel or fluid with a soft matte finish.

Apply sunscreen as the last step of your morning routine, and reapply every two hours when you are outdoors, and after swimming, sweating or towel drying.

Here is the order to apply your three basics in. Application order matters, because each step prepares the skin for the next one.

Basic does not mean your other concerns are being ignored. A healthy barrier is the foundation that everything else builds on, which means when you meet your skin's basic needs, you are also helping with concerns like aging and acne. Inflammation is one of the root causes of aging skin, and it is why breakouts come up red and sore. An intact barrier keeps irritants out and water in, which keeps that inflammation down.

We see this often in the clinic. Clients who used soap or shampoo on their face for years, then finally start a basic routine, almost always tell us the same thing: they wish they had started sooner.

Before you start, photograph your skin. Use the same spot, natural daylight and the same angle, and photograph your skin again every four weeks. Bathroom lighting changes how skin looks, and consistent photos side by side show your real progress.

Around weeks three to four is when many people feel their skin is not changing and start switching products. That is usually the moment to keep using the same products for a few more weeks, because the change is still happening.

Once the three steps feel like a habit, you can start adding one product at a time for a specific goal, such as a serum.

Start with the basics, pay attention to how your skin responds, and build from there.

Skincare is personal. Everybody is different, and it can take some trial and error to find the cleanser, moisturizer and sunscreen that suit your skin and your lifestyle. Give a new routine three to four months before deciding it is not working. You will find what works for you, and once you do, it becomes easy to stick with.

If you would like help getting there sooner, we would love to take a look at your skin together and figure out what is best for your skin and your lifestyle, whether that is a virtual consultation or a visit to our New York City LAZ Clinic.

If a product causes swelling, real burning, or a rash that spreads, stop using it and see a doctor. If you have any difficulty breathing, swelling of the face, lips or throat, or you feel faint, treat that as an emergency and seek medical care immediately. Once your skin has settled, we are happy to look at your routine with you and work out what to adjust.

A mole that changes shape, color or size, or a spot that bleeds and does not heal, is something to show your doctor.

Everything here is general education rather than personal advice. If a doctor is treating you or you use prescription skincare, check with them before changing your routine.