My 53-Year-Old Mom and I Both Have Oily Skin—These Are the Products We Swear By

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Gabrielle Union said it best when she proclaimed that oily skin can be both a blessing and a curse. While excess sebum production can delay the onset of wrinkles compared to dry skin, there's also the caveat of uncontrollably greasy-looking skin. Until a few years ago my face was an oil generating machine. Carrying a mini-library of blotting papers in my purse was a daily occurrence, and without fail, by midday, any foundation applied on my face would end up a textured, blotchy mess. But the biggest consequence of my super oily skin? The regularity of severe breakouts, caused by clogged pores. An abundance of sebum becomes a breeding ground for advantageous bacteria who thrive on enclosed pores with little access to air. As it turns out, my skin's natural affinity for oil is genetic–my mom has also dealt with the same issue for years.

It's been truly a godsend to have someone close in my life to commiserate with when it comes to the trials and tribulations of oily skin. We also both happen to be skincare fanatics (she a little more obsessed than I), so we often text about the products we're currently using, going deep into our product junkie discussions. Through this, I've discovered some of the best skincare products to address my oily skin, so of course, I have to pass along the good karma and share them with you. My mom and I dug through our arsenal of products to bring you the best of the best oil-banishing products, so read ahead to see the full list and to hear our thoughts.

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(Image credit: @indyabrown)

Cleansers

Toners

Serums

Moisturizer

Treatments

Masks

Blotting Papers

Tools

Sufficiently washing my face has completely changed the game in terms of the amount of oil on my face in the morning. If you have skin like mine you know that going to sleep with any bit of residual makeup is basically a guarantee that you'll be welcomed with an oil slick by dawn. Even after double cleansing, just using my fingertips to wash isn't enough. For that, I'm a huge fan of silicone devices. It's way more low maintenance than a brush, as you don't have to swap out the heads, and the silicone material is super gentle yet effective. Foreo and PMD make some of my favorite ones on the market.

And now, The Byredo Scents That Are Worth the Money, Ranked by Me.

Fashion Market Editor

Indya Brown is a fashion editor, stylist, and writer living in Los Angeles. While going to school at Columbia University in New York City, she got her feet wet in the fashion industry interning at Elle magazine, Harper's Bazaar, and New York magazine's The Cut. After graduating in 2016, she joined The Cut as a fashion assistant, eventually working her way up to fashion editor. There, she worked on a multitude of projects, including styling inbook feature stories for New York magazine's print issue, writing and pitching market stories for The Cut, and serving as fashion lead for The Cut's branded content. While New York has been her home for over 10 years, she moved to Los Angeles in the midst of the pandemic in 2020 for a new chapter. Now she is a fashion market editor for Who What Wear, focusing on emerging designers, rising trends on and off the internet, interior design, and BIPOC creatives and brands. Aside from her duties as a fashion market editor, Brown is also a freelance stylist and writer, working on national print and video commercial campaigns for Sephora, The Independent, and Cadillac. Her bylines also include Harper's Bazaar, Vox, and The New York Times. But once the computer goes down and the emails turn off, she's likely eating her way through Koreatown, hunting down vintage furniture, scoping out new outrageous nail designs to try, or taking a hot cycling class.