Facial masks, whether home-made, store-bought or spa-applied, are formulated for specific skin types and conditions. When choosing a mask, you should consider your skin’s needs. If your skin type is oily, you’ll want a mask that contains drawing ingredients. Someone with combination skin will often need two different masks, one for the oily T-zone area and the other to nourish the dry cheek area. People with acne should choose a mask that gently removes excess sebum without further irritating skin.
Masks for Oily Skin
Skin becomes oily when the sebaceous glands overproduce sebum, the waxy oil that naturally coats skin and hair. Hormonal shifts, certain medications and a variety of other factors can cause this overproduction. Masks for oily skin usually contain a drawing agent to pull excess sebum from skin.
Fuller’s earth is a clay-like mineral substance that takes its name from the act of “fulling” wool (removing lanolin from the wool). Used in skin care masks, fuller’s earth gently draws oil and impurities from skin.
French green clay takes its name from its color and the fact that it once was thought to only exist in certain regions of southern France. Like fuller’s earth, this clay absorbs oil and draws impurities from skin. Because it lightly binds to the uppermost layers of skin, removing it sloughs away dead, dried skin cells.
Other clays used in masks for oily skin include kaolin, taken from Kaolin Hill in China, bentonite, a white clay from the mid-western United States and Canada; and rhassoul, a mud derived from Morocco.
Acne Skin
Acne is a common skin condition that affects almost everyone at some point in their lives. Some experience only the occasional pimple or blackhead. Others suffer from severe acne that presents as cysts, pustules and nodules. When skin experiences acne, inflammation and sensitivity often accompany it. While acne-affected skin usually has too much sebum, drawing masks can be overly harsh.
Fruit enzymes, such as those found in pineapple and papaya, can gently dissolve the plugs that cause blackheads and whiteheads to appear. The enzymes in papaya, especially, offer soothing, non-irritating exfoliation properties when used in a mask.
Dehydrated Skin
Contrary to popular belief, the terms “dehydrated skin” and “dry skin” do not mean the same thing. Dry skin refers to skin that lacks sufficient oil, or sebum, for protection and lubrication. Dehydrated skin lacks sufficient moisture. While they often appear together, they need to be treated differently.
Skin that lacks moisture, dehydrated skin, needs products that either replenish the moisture content in the skin, and/or that block moisture evaporation from skin. Shea butter, mango butter and cocoa butter offer moisturizing and barrier benefits to dehydrated skin. Because they lubricate, skin feels more elastic.
Dry Skin
Using toner, washing too frequently and using harsh cleansers can dry skin, as can exposure to extreme environments and aging. Dry skin needs special nurturing and attention.
Janice Cox, author of “Natural Beauty at Home”, recommends avocado for dry skin because the fruit contains skin-loving natural oils. Additionally, avocado oil is rich in vitamins and other nourishing ingredients.
Coconut oil, borage seed oil and sweet almond oil are often used in masks for dry and mature skin types.
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