what causes oily skin
Oily skin happens when your sebaceous glands produce more sebum (oil) than your skin actually needs, and several internal and external factors can push them into “overdrive.”
Quick Scoop
- The core cause is excess sebum from overactive sebaceous glands.
- Genetics: if close family members have oily skin, you’re more likely to have it too.
- Hormones: puberty, menstrual cycles, pregnancy, menopause, and androgen fluctuations all increase oil production.
- Stress: elevated cortisol (the stress hormone) can stimulate more oil.
- Climate: hot, humid weather tends to increase shine and sebum output.
- Skin-care habits: harsh cleansers, over-washing, skipping moisturizer, and heavy comedogenic products can all trigger rebound oiliness.
- Diet: high-glycemic foods (white bread, sugary snacks) and some patterns of meat/dairy intake correlate with higher sebum levels.
- Medications and conditions: hormone-affecting meds and conditions like PCOS can drive oil production.
What’s actually happening in the skin?
Your pores contain sebaceous glands that secrete sebum to keep skin soft and protected.
When these glands are genetically larger or hormonally stimulated, they pump out more oil, which then mixes with dead skin cells and can clog pores, leading to shine, blackheads, and acne.
Main root causes in everyday terms
- Built-in (you can’t really change):
- Family tendency to large pores and overactive oil glands.
* Natural hormonal profile and life stages (teen years, pregnancy, perimenopause).
- Lifestyle and environment (you can adjust):
- Chronic stress from work/school/family raising cortisol and nudging glands to produce more oil.
* Warm, humid environments making glands more active and sweat mixing with oil on the surface.
* High-glycemic eating patterns and frequent sugary or refined-carb meals that trigger insulin spikes and downstream androgen increases.
- Skin-care mistakes that backfire:
- Over-cleansing, very hot water, or strong stripping products (like harsh foaming cleansers or strong alcohol toners) remove too much protective oil, so the skin “overcorrects” with extra sebum.
* Skipping moisturizer, which can make the skin feel dehydrated; the glands compensate by making more oil.
* Using heavy, comedogenic makeup or skincare that sits in pores and worsens congestion and shine.
A quick real-life picture
Imagine two people with oily skin:
- One inherited large sebaceous glands from their parents and hits puberty, so androgens surge and their T-zone gets shiny by midday.
- Another has mild oiliness, but starts a stressful job, eats more fast food and refined carbs, and uses a harsh cleanser twice daily; within months, their skin becomes much oilier and more breakout-prone.
Why it’s a 2020s “trending” skin topic
In the last few years, oily skin has become a frequent subject in online skincare communities because of:
- A boom in matte, “glass-skin,” and “skinimalist” trends, which all obsess over shine control and pore appearance.
- A steady rise of targeted products (niacinamide, salicylic acid, retinoids, and sebum-regulating actives) discussed heavily on social media and forums, often with before–after photos and routine breakdowns.
- More content linking diet, hormones, and stress to visible oiliness, which pushes people to talk about lifestyle changes alongside cleansers and serums.
Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.