Identifying oily skin type is easy because when your skin remains shiny and greasy, even if you keep washing your face, you know you have oily skin. When you have oily skin, your sebaceous glands produce a high amount of sebum that can cause acne, clogged pores and blackheads.

A suitable face wash for oily skin helps you avoid these skin problems by deeply exfoliating and hydrating your skin, which normalizes sebum secretion. But finding the best face wash for oily skin isn’t as easy as finding your skin type. Here we’ll explain in detail how to choose the right face wash for oily skin.

Look For the Following Ingredients

When you’re looking for the best face wash for oily skin, two things should be clear; your perfect face wash will be mild and have a gentle formula. Besides these, check the face wash’s ingredients labels carefully to find one or more of the following ingredients in your face wash:

Hyaluronic Acid

Hyaluronic acid is a wonder if you need instant hydration and plumpness. This ingredient is excellent for retaining moisture and forms a layer of hydration on your oily skin, leaving it smooth and soft. Hyaluronic acid’s firming, hydrating and soothing benefits save your skin from clogging pores.

Salicyclic Acid

It’s a beta-hydroxy acid that acts as a gentle exfoliator and shows positive results when added to any fash wash for oily skin. Due to mild exfoliation, excess oil can’t accumulate in pores and make them clogged. Also, this ingredient prevents acne and blackheads.

Ceramides

Ceramides are essential for oily skin because they keep skin cells together and retain the skin’s protective barrier. These are vital ingredients if you want to retain moisture and protect your skin from environmental pollutants. A face wash for oily skin containing ceramides prevents irritation, dryness and itching, skin barrier damage due to cleansing.

Benzoyl Peroxide

A face wash for oily skin that contains benzoyl peroxide will help you get rid of blemishes and prevent them in future. This ingredient removes dead skin cells, which are a major cause of the formation of clogged pores.

Niacinamide

If you see vitamin B3 in the ingredients list while looking for a face wash for oily skin, then don’t get confused; it’s another word for niacinamide. It helps restore the skin barrier and acts as a shield against the environmental changes that can make the skin unhealthy.

Stay Away From These Ingredients

Understanding ingredients that aren’t good for oily skin is equally important as knowing the ingredients that your skin needs. You must avoid ingredients that can make your skin more oily and worsen the skin problems you’re already facing. Hence, you should stay away from the following ingredients:

• Mineral oils
• Paraffin
• Alcohol
• Beeswax
• Parabens

All of these ingredients have the potential to clog pores and produce acne. Dermatologists strictly prohibit people having oily skin from using alcohol-based products or face washes. Alcohol negatively affects the skin’s protective barrier by promoting excess sebum production. So, even if a face wash contains beneficial ingredients, you shouldn’t use it if it has any of these ingredients.

Tips to Prevent Oily Skin

Oily skin isn’t something you always get in your genes; your environment and lifestyle habits can play a role in making your skin oily. So, either you have oily skin naturally or have developed it over time, here are some tips that can help you control oil:

• Wash your face in the morning, after exercise and in the evening with a good face wash. Read our article on How To Wash Your Face with your right face wash for oily skin.
• Never use skincare or makeup products that contain oil.
• Harsh face washes aren’t recommended for oily skin because they can irritate skin and trigger excessive oil production.
• Always remove your makeup before sleeping.
• Don’t touch your face unnecessarily because the oil from your hands spreads on your face, which will make your skin oily.

Not sure what’s your skin type? Check out the video below to find out in less than 5 minutes.