What is your skin actually asking for?

The simplest test is the bare-face test. Wash with a gentle cleanser, pat dry, then wait 30 minutes with nothing applied and look in natural light. Tight, dull or flaky means dry. A shiny T-zone with calmer cheeks means combination. Shiny all over means oily. Stinging or redness, even from water, means sensitive.

It can. Season, climate, age and hormones all shift how much oil your skin makes and how reactive it is, so skin that runs dry in winter can feel balanced in summer. If yours starts behaving differently, redo the bare-face test and adjust from there.

Dry is a skin type: your skin naturally makes less oil. Dehydrated is a temporary state: your skin is short on water, and even oily skin can be dehydrated. Oil and water are different things. The fix for dehydration is moisturizing onto slightly damp skin and using water-binding ingredients, not necessarily a heavier cream.

Yes. Combination skin simply makes more oil in the T-zone, the forehead, nose and chin, than on the cheeks. It is one of the four common types, and the honest approach is to balance it: a gentle gel cleanser, and a lighter moisturizer on the T-zone with a little more on the cheeks.

Mostly for your cleanser and moisturizer, where the right texture matters. SPF everyone needs, every morning. Skin type is the foundation: once you know it, every product choice gets simpler, and you can stop buying things that were never meant for your skin.