Oily but dehydrated skin - skincare routine?

[CoffeeMilkNoSugar]

I'm in my mid-20s so no wrinkles yet. I don't get breakouts, but I have large pores, especially on my nose. Skin isn't at all sensitive.

My skin is decidedly oily, but I get these flakey bits especially around my cheeks, temples and eyebrows, and the tip of my nose.

Any clever skincare tips? It's driving me mad!

Have the exact same trouble as you but I am 30 yrs older than you! So it doesn't get better with age :-/ I read in the Mail that a skin specialist said the best thing is for 6 weeks to not use ANYTHING on your face - to merely wash it with very warm water and then your skin will begin to adjust itself. Because my skin is oily I thought this won't work so didn't try it for about a week but then I got a couple of bad spots as well as the flaky skin syndrome so I thought well, I must try this. So this is my 3rd (& a half) week and believe it or not the very warm water DOES disperse/get rid of the oiliness AND my skin isn't quite as flaky! I am willing to do the full 6 weeks now. She also said you can continue not to use anything at all on your face if you find your skin gets better and better.........

What do you do at the moment, OP?

Right now I'm using Decleor stuff, which is good but I still get flakey bits.

Morning: I cleanse with their bi-phase oil cleanser thingy with a hot wet flannel, then apply their Hydra Floral cream and job's a good'un.

Evening: Oil cleanser again, then Neroli serum, then Neroli balm.

I use The Ordinary acid peel thingy once a week and a Decleor plumping mask or some green clay mask thingy once or twice a week.

I'd change from the Ordinary acid peel to the ordinary lactic acid if you want to keep an acid in there. The lactic acid is meant to be hydrating. And look up 7 skins. A hydrating toner or essence would help with dehydration. You could also look at a hydrating serum like superdrug pure or vichy mineral 89.

Any chance the neroli is irritating your skin? Some people can't tolerate essential oils.

I'd also try a gentle cleanser.

When skin is dry or dehydrated it produces more oil to help itself. The ordinary peel might be too harsh arty the moment. And the clay mask might be drying your skin too much.

So its a month since I started the Mail skin specialist advice to only wash your face in quite warm water. I only twice succumbed to using a gentle cleanser but my skin got worse within a few hours! So I can genuinely say that this water idea has generally worked as I get far fewer spots - am amazed that even in this hot weather the water is dispersing the oil on my face with no problem!

Another oily but dehydrated here. Hydrating serums are your friend. Look for products containing hyaluronic acid, since it holds many times its weight in water. I like The Ordinary hyaluronic acid serum, it's cheap and works well. I use it morning and night.