Development of Scale Factors for Skin Type Classification

Abstract

There are no global standards for the classification of skin types and the consistency of classification results is low. It is necessary to develop a consistent skin type classification method that takes into account innate skin characteristics. First, the concepts of important related terms were established using Delphi techniques from which skin type classification factors were derived. Second, we derived the relative importance and complex weight between each factor using AHP techniques. The research results found that priorities for the classification of skin types were in the order of ‘Oil and moisture levels’, ‘Sensitivity level’, ‘Elasticity level’, and ‘pigmentation level’. Meanwhile, among the 33 detailed factors derived from the scale factor of skin type classification, the importance of ‘sebum mass’ was 1st and ‘pore size’ was 2nd. This study is different to previous studies in that the priorities and weights for each factor were quantitatively derived, and skin type classification was centered on innate factors. This study has limitations such as the lack of experts who participated in Delphi and AHP surveys. However, by deriving key measurement factors to classify skin type, beauty industry workers can use systematic criteria to effectively classify skin types for beauty care purposes in a relatively short period of time.