Oily skin is not a flaw to be scrubbed away. It is skin doing its job slightly too enthusiastically, and the fix is regulation rather than warfare.
Most people with oily skin make the same mistake, which is to attack it. Harsh foaming washes, astringent toners, skipping moisturiser altogether. All of it strips the barrier, the skin panics, and it produces more oil to compensate. You end up shinier than when you started.
What follows is not a list of products. It is two complete routines, built from the two lines I stock for oily skin, and they take opposite routes to the same result. Read the one that sounds like you and ignore the other. There is a short note at the end if you are genuinely torn.
Route one: Diego Dalla Palma
Italian, and science led. Every range is built on the trademarked 51+3 Hyalu Complex, formulated to mirror the skin’s own composition. The claims are measured before they are printed.
For oily skin the range is Smart Pure, built around a sebum-smart peptide that regulates oil production rather than stripping it.
One. Cleanse without stripping
Smart Pure Oxy-Active Cleansing Gel, R595. Made for oily and blemish prone skin specifically. It rinses completely clean without the squeaky, tight feeling that starts the whole oil cycle again.
Two. Tone to rebalance
Cell-Detoxium Tonic, R730. Rebalances without tightening, and preps the skin so everything after it absorbs properly.
Three. Exfoliate with an acid, not a scrub
Mask Scrub BHA + Charcoal, R845. Two or three times a week, never daily. Charcoal lifts the surface, and the BHA is oil soluble so it works inside the pore where the congestion actually is.
If a full mask is more effort than you will keep up, the Smart Pure Pore Stick Exfoliating Mask at R595 is the gentler weekly version.
Four. Treat the spots you already have
Smart Pure SOS Rapid Anti-Imperfection Treatment, R695. On the spot, not the whole face. For the one that appeared overnight and needs to be gone by Friday.
Five. Moisturise, yes, even oily skin
Smart Pure Mattifying Cream, R1255. It regulates sebum over time rather than soaking it up, which is what you are paying for. Oil and water are not the same thing, and skipping moisturiser is the single most common reason oily skin gets oilier.
Six. Protect, every single day
Cell-Detoxium Daily Protective Fluid SPF50, R1225. A fluid rather than a cream, so it sits under makeup without pilling.
Or, if you want coverage too: the Uniforming Tinted Cream SPF50 at R1415, from the Soothing range. High protection with enough tint to even out redness and the marks breakouts leave behind, which means on most days you can skip foundation entirely. Fewer layers on congested skin is almost always the right answer.
The three nobody should skip, cleanse, moisturise and protect, come to R3 075. All six steps come to R5 345.
Route two: Nuxe
Parisian, plant based, and doing it long before it was fashionable. Founded in 1988 by Aliza Jabes on one idea: use the intelligence of nature, backed by science. A bottle of Huile Prodigieuse still sells somewhere in the world every nine seconds.
For oily skin the range is Zinc Power, which does what the name suggests and does it gently.
One. Cleanse without stripping
Zinc Power Purifying Cleansing Gel 150ml, R475. Sulphate free and gentle enough for twice a day. The one I suggest if your skin reacts easily or you are new to treating oiliness at all.
Two. Tone to rebalance
Zinc Power Lotion 200ml, R465. Zinc focused, alcohol free, and it rebalances rather than strips. Two hundred millilitres, so it lasts.
Three. Exfoliate gently
Very Rose Face Scrub 75ml, R535. Once a week, and be gentle with it. Worth being straight with you: this is a physical scrub, not an acid, so it works on the surface rather than inside the pore. If your congestion is stubborn, the acid route above will do more.
Four. Treat the spots you already have
Zinc Power Blemish and Spot Control Serum 30ml, R725. Better suited to breakouts spread across an area than to single dramatic spots.
Five. Moisturise, yes, even oily skin
Zinc Power Fluid Cream 40ml, R545. Light, oil free and genuinely comfortable under makeup. If your budget stretches to one considered purchase in this whole routine, make it a good cleanser and this.
Six. Protect, every single day
Nuxe Sun Light Fluid High Protection SPF50 50ml, R675. A light fluid rather than a heavy sun cream, which is the difference between wearing sunscreen daily and abandoning it by week two.
The three nobody should skip come to R1 695. All six steps come to R3 420.
Genuinely torn?
Choose Diego Dalla Palma if you want the mechanism explained, you have used acids before without irritation, and you would rather buy once and properly. It is an investment and it behaves like one.
Choose Nuxe if you lean towards plant based formulation, your skin is easily irritated, or the budget is the deciding factor. At half the price it is not the compromise it looks like on paper.
Most people I see start with Zinc Power and move to Smart Pure about three months later, once their skin has calmed down enough to take the stronger actives. That is a perfectly good plan and nothing is wasted.
Want the science behind Smart Pure?
I have written separately about why oily skin overproduces in the first place, and how the sebum-smart peptide works differently to conventional purifying skincare. Read that here.
Or see everything I stock for oily skin in one place: shop oily skin.
Still not sure? Tell me what your skin is doing by the middle of the afternoon and what you are using now, and I will tell you what to change first. That costs you nothing, and it is what I do all day.