Combination skin is simply having oily skin in some areas of your face and dry skin in other areas. Typically, there’s a mix of oily and dry areas on dif­ferent parts of your face, with the t-zone (forehead, nose, and chin) being slightly to very oily.

Whether you have oily areas only around the nose and center of the fore­head and dry areas over the cheeks, jaw area, and along the hairline, what you do to lessen those problems is the same.
How do I Know if I Have Combination Skin

In general, the nose, chin, and forehead of those with combination skin have more active oil glands, which is why these areas may be prone to clogged pores. The cheeks, on the other hand, may have less active oil glands, which is why they may appear dry and flaky

If you have combination skin, you probably already know what the problems are, but here are the main ones you may experience:

• Clogged pores in the T-zone area
• Large pores in the T-zone area
• Shininess and oily skin in the T-zone area
• Dry, flaky and dull cheeks
• Cheeks and neck that are more sensitive to cleansers

A variety of factors can contribute to combination skin, but more often than not, it just comes down to the luck of the draw in terms of what you inherited from your parents. However, the types of skincare products you’re using can absolutely make it worse or even cause the problem. Read on to learn what you might unknowingly be doing to contribute to making combination skin more of an issue.

As you might already have suspected, using products that contain harsh or skin-aggravating ingredients will inevitably dry out some areas of your face while stimulating oil production in other parts (especially around the nose) that were already oily.

If you’re using the wrong products, you might actually be causing your combination skin. If you use the right products, you may still have some amount of oily skin, but at least you won’t have dry, rough skin underneath excess oil. Once you start using the right products, your skin can improve almost immediately, with the dry areas softened and smoothed and the oily areas less oily and red—plus minimized pores.