If you are like me, you are probably looking for skin care products to avoid wrinkles and reduce the signs of aging or to treat skin disorders like acne? sounds familiar?

It is easy, just drive to the local drug store. Once there you will find hundreds of over-the-counter products readily available. Confusing isn’t it. Before your go out of your mind trying to find the best skin care for you, try these tips that I usually give to my friends.

Learn your skin type.

Before you purchase any over the counter skincare products, you need to know whether your skin is dry, oily or sensitive.

There are five basic skin types. Go and have a look at the different methods to know your skin type in this article here by myawesomebeauty.com that I like as you know if you read some of my posts. ( I should probably do a whole article about the beauty blogs that I like) they also have an online skin type test here.

So learn what your skin type is in order to choose the proper skin care treatment. Test your skin with a clean facial tissue first thing in the morning. Wipe your face for traces of oil.

• With normal skin, the tissue will not have any traces of oil. Your skin should be supple and elastic.
• Dry skin feels flaky, dry and tight after you have wiped it with the tissue. This type of skin will need regular skin treatments with moisturizers.
• Oily skin will leave spots of facial oil on the tissue. Oily skin is a problem. It tends to break into acne and often looks shiny and greasy.
• Combination skin is the most common type. You will have traces of oil from your nose and forehead, but the rest of your skin will be clean.
• Sensitive skin is often dry and tends to feel tight and become irritated easily. Skin is often reddish with scaly areas that are itchy. Sensitive skin is the most problematic type of skin and needs very special care. To take care of sensitive skin requires research, questioning, and often a dermatologist.

Once you know your skin type, it will be easier to find the right fit for you.

Research products and check the ingredients

Focus on the skincare brands for your skin type, it should give you a smaller amount of roducts to check.

Read the labels to determine what the active ingredients are. Unfamiliar sounding ingredients should be researched.  Choose products that contain hyaluronic acid. Sounds scary, but hyaluronic acid is a naturally occurring substance in the body that regulates cell renewal and maintains skin’s elasticity and moisture. Here is a study, I did not understand everything but that sounds serious 🙂

Retinol is an active form of Vitamin A. Look for ceramides that are lipid molecules found in cell membranes. Peptides are active proteins that instruct cells in the skin to behave. Read for alpha hydroxy acid and beta hydroxy acids that are organic acids acting as exfoliates. These are natural and good for all skin types.

Always use products that contain sunscreen. Protecting your skin from the sun’s rays important. Look for beauty moisturizers that contain at least SPF 15-30. Sunscreen is important in maintaining healthy and youthful skin.

Read reviews and between the lines

Check out customer reviews to get a better idea of what results others got with this specific brand you are interested in. Beware though as there are also tons of fake reviews which are only here to promote some brands even if they are ablsolutely not worth it.

Watch out for so-called “miracle products”.

If the advertisements seem too good to be true, they probably are. Search out reputable and reliable companies with product lines that have the best track records. These are the products most likely to be safe and work.

take advantae of the brands that offer a 30-60 day money back guarantee as they are probably pretty confident about their products to offer such a guarantee, it is probbaly the best way to try risk free products. if you are not satisfied, tou simply send them back to get your money. I did it 2-3 times as I was quite disappointed by some brands promoted on TV.

If really you can’t find a skincare brand that suits you, you might need some help. In that case, one of the best pieces of advice I can give you is to go and consult a dermatologist.  A dermatologist will probably be able to guide you and help you pick the skincare you need.