Your skin type can change so you need to retake the skin type test occasionally to keep your personalized skin care routine up to date. Our dermatologist-recommended custom skin care routines are designed to change your Baumann Skin Type to a healthier skin type. Once your skin type improves, you should change your skin care routine to match any remaining skin problems. This blog will discuss how I use the skin type quiz in my dermatology practice and how often i have my patients retake the skin care routine quiz and why.

Your Baumann Skin Type depends upon which of the 4 barriers to skin health you have:

1. Dehydration
2. Inflammation
3. Hyperpigmentation
4. Aging

Once you take the Baumann Skin Type Indicator quiz here at Skin Type Solutions, we help you build a skin care routine to target these skin problems. If you use your routine as directed, these skin issues should improve.  Dehydration improves first, then inflammation. Hyperpigmentation usually improves in 12-16 weeks. Aging takes months to improve on a regular and correct daily skin care regimen.

So- if all factors including the climate stay the same- you still need to change your routine as your skin improves.  The biggest change in you routine is to stop the skin lightening products as dark spots improve. 

I tell my patients- retake the quiz when your skin care quits working or has solved one of your skin problems such as dark spots. 

Retake the skin type quiz at least once a year to make sure you are correct about your skin type. It is so important to use products that target any barriers to skin health to keep your skin healthy.

You may need to retake the quiz sooner than a year if one of the following conditions occurs.

I live in Miami where we are hot and humid most months of the year, so our skin care routine does not need to change seasonally. However, if you live in a place with cold, dry winters and hot humid summers, your skin care routine should change seasonally. You will need more hydrating cleansers and heavier moisturizers in the winter. A cream version of a product may be a better choice than a serum. In the summer, you may need lighter moisturizers and stronger sunscreens.

It is easy to adjust your skin care routine seasonally- just retake the quiz. The change we see most often is people being dry in the winter and oily in the summer. This is often called a combination skin type, but in my Baumann Skin Typing system- you are considered a changing skin type that changes seasonally from dry to oily.

Hormones have a dramatic effect on skin. Testosterone increases sebum production making skin oilier. Estrogen effects collagen production and skin hydration.

If your hormones change, retake the skin type quiz and adjust your skincare routine with our guidance.

These are the reasons your hormones may change:

• Puberty
• Oral Contraception (birth control pills)
• Hormonal forms of contraception
• Pregnancy
• Fertility Treatments
• Testosterone supplementation
• Estrogen supplementation
• Testosterone blocking drugs like spironolactone
• Estrogen blocking drugs like tamoxifen
• Menopause

If any of these applies to you and is new since you to ok the quiz- then retake the quiz when you hormones change and again 3 months later. It can take 3 months for hormones changes to make an effect on yur skin.

Stress can affect our skin a lot. It causes an increase in cortisol levels which raise blood sugar.  This increases the risk of acne and inflammation, and skin aging. So- if you have a new job, new baby, divorce, or moved to a new area, just started a new middle school,  high school, college, or grad school- retaking the quiz and updating your skincare routine is a good idea.

Stress management techniques are also very helpful.

A decrease in stress ca also change your skin care needs. So if things calm down and get back to normal, consider taking the quiz again to see if your skin type has improved.

If you took our scientific skin type quiz and followed our recommendations for 90 days, your skin most likely improved. You may be less dehydrated, less red, fewer pimples, and your dark spots have cleared. If this is the case, you need to update your skincare routine. For example, why use skin lightening ingredients if your skin is now even toned? 

After using our dermatologist-recommended skincare routine matched to your Baumann Skin Type for 120 days, retake the quiz and follow our new recommendations.

There are many reason to take the skin type test again. The biggest reason to retake the quiz is if you do not think our description of your skin type describes you. The most common discrepancy is whether or not you are a pigmented skin type. A "P" skin type has dark spots (hyperpigmentation) that you want to lighten.  If you do not have dark spots or you have dark spots and you do not lighten them, you are considered a "N" nonpigmented skin type. (Note that this has nothing to do with your base skin color or ethnicity- it refers to unevenness of skin pigmentation.)

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