Which skin type do you have
The Fitzpatrick skin type is a scale of six types saying how your skin responds to sun: type I almost always burns and hardly tans, type VI rarely burns. For laser, IPL and peels your type decides not whether something is possible, but with which wavelength, which energy and how carefully it is built up. At Diba Clinics in Rotterdam we establish your type at the intake.
- Scale
- Six types, I to VI
- About
- Response to sun
- Decides
- The setting
- Established
- At the intake
What a skin type
actually says
It is not about the colour you see in the mirror, but about what your skin does with sun. Do you burn quickly, do you tan, or a bit of both: that is where the scale lies.
The scale was devised in 1975 by the American dermatologist Thomas Fitzpatrick, and it came about because a treatment with light turns out differently on one skin than on another. So the question was not how someone looks, but how much light their skin absorbs and what happens afterwards.
Your type follows from two things: how quickly you burn in the first sun of the year, and how easily you tan afterwards. Someone who is red after half an hour and never tans sits at the start of the scale; someone who rarely burns and tans deeply at the end. Most people in the Netherlands sit somewhere in between.
It is a rough scale and it is meant as one. Two people of the same type can react differently, and your own skin reacts differently in March than in August. So for us it is a starting point and not a final verdict: what your skin really does shows in a test patch and in how the first treatment goes.
What the type does not say: how dry or sensitive your skin is, whether you break out easily and how thick your skin is. Those are other properties, and we measure them separately at the skin analysis.
You can record which type you have yourself in your skin profile, so that it is known before you come in. Which of the two wavelengths belongs with your type you can check at the laser chooser. What else comes up during a measurement is on the skin analysis.
Why your type
steers the laser
Laser and IPL aim at pigment. If there is a lot of pigment in your upper skin, it catches part of the light, and that is exactly what the setting has to allow for.
A hair removal laser looks for the pigment in the hair root. The light has to get there without being absorbed too much on the way by the skin above it. On light skin that difference is large and almost all the energy goes to the root; on dark skin the difference is smaller and the wavelength has to be chosen differently.
That is why there are two wavelengths in one device. The alexandrite at 755 nanometres is strongly absorbed by pigment and works efficiently on types I to III. The Nd:YAG at 1064 nanometres is absorbed far less, largely passes the top layer and is therefore the choice for types V and VI.
Type IV sits on the border, and that is not a weak compromise but the honest state of affairs. If your skin responds calmly to the test patch, the alexandrite is possible at a lower energy; if there is doubt, it goes to the Nd:YAG. That choice is made in the treatment room and not beforehand on a website.
With IPL it is different, because that is not a laser but a bundle of wavelengths at once. There is less room there to work around your own pigment, so on dark skin we more often choose something else.
About laser hair removal
What helps and what we advise against
Your type is one of the facts a treatment is set with. It is one of several, and it decides less than people think.
This works
- Which wavelength is the safe and the efficient choice for hair removal
- How carefully the strength of a peel is built up
- How likely it is that pigment is left behind after a treatment
- Whether a test patch belongs beforehand, and how long we leave it
We advise against this
- Whether a treatment is possible. Every type is treated here, with a different setting
- How sensitive, dry or oily your skin is. That is something else and we measure it separately
- How many sessions you need. That depends mostly on the area and on your hair
- What your skin can take today. Tanned type II skin counts differently at that moment
The six types
side by side
What each type does with sun, which wavelength belongs with it for hair removal and what else we watch. The middle column comes from the same table used in the treatment room.
| Skin type | Response to sun | For hair removal | What we watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type I | Very light, burns quickly | Alexandrite, 755 nm | Burning happens faster here than discolouring. Sun protection is the point to watch, before and after a treatment. |
| Type II | Light, burns easily | Alexandrite, 755 nm | Little chance of pigment being left behind after a treatment. The skin does redden quickly and that fades again. |
| Type III | Light to medium | Alexandrite, 755 nm | From here on your history counts: if a mark was left behind before after a spot or a small wound, do say so. |
| Type IV | Medium to olive | Alexandrite or Nd:YAG, after a test patch | The chance of new pigment after a treatment is higher. We build the strength up more slowly and start lower. |
| Type V | Dark olive to brown | Nd:YAG, 1064 nm | IPL is often not the right choice here, because the skin itself absorbs too much light. Laser and peels go carefully. |
| Type VI | Dark brown to black | Nd:YAG, 1064 nm | Energy and strength go down and a test patch belongs with it. What counts here is patience and not more power. |
Where to find us
in Rotterdam
On the north side of the city, in a residential area and not on a shopping street. That helps with parking and it is quieter when you have just been treated.
3054 LS Rotterdam
You park in the street. The route from the ring road and by public transport is on the contact page.
Route and contact- Monday
- Closed
- Tuesday
- 10:00 to 18:00
- Wednesday
- 10:00 to 21:00
- Thursday
- 10:00 to 21:00
- Friday
- 10:00 to 18:00
- Saturday
- 10:00 to 18:00
- Sunday
- Closed
The calendar is more up to date than this list: within opening hours not every hour has a therapist free.
Your type is established by the skin therapist or laser specialist treating you, during the intake. That is done with the questions above and with the measurement; a separate intake costs € 50 and is waived if treatment goes ahead in the same appointment.
Who works here, with what title and what that title means exactly, is on the team page with photos and all.
Frequently asked questions
How do I work out my own Fitzpatrick type?
By answering two questions about the first sun of the year: do you burn, and do you tan afterwards? If you always burn and never tan, you are at type I or II. If you rarely burn and tan easily, at type IV or higher. If you are unsure, that is no problem: at the intake we establish it together.
Is laser hair removal possible on every skin type?
Yes, the GentleMax Pro works on types I to VI. Your type decides not whether it is possible, but with which wavelength, which energy and which cooling it is done. With the darker types that is with the Nd:YAG and with a test patch beforehand.
Why do you ask about my skin type before I come?
Because it decides what is possible on the day itself. If your type is already in your skin profile, that conversation does not have to start at the desk and the intake is shorter. It remains a starting point: what your skin really does shows in the test patch.
Does my skin type change in summer?
Your type itself does not, your skin at that moment does. Tanned skin holds fresh colour that absorbs light, and then the setting changes or we wait a while. How many weeks that takes you hear at the intake, because it differs per skin.
What does my type mean for a peel?
With types IV to VI the chance of pigment being left behind after a peel is higher. So we choose the strength more carefully, build up more slowly and discuss beforehand what your skin did previously after an inflammation or a small wound.
Is IPL suitable for darker skin?
Often not. IPL sends a bundle of wavelengths at once, and skin with a lot of its own pigment absorbs too much of it. So on dark skin we usually choose a different treatment, and what that is depends on what you come for.
What is the difference between skin type and skin condition?
Your type is fixed and is about your response to sun. Your condition changes and is about how your skin is doing today: dry, oily, sensitive, inflamed. For the choice of a treatment the condition often counts for more than the type.
Why a test patch if my type is already known?
Because the scale is a classification and not a measurement of your skin. Two people of the same type can react differently to the same energy. A test patch shows what your skin does, and that counts for more than the number.
Does establishing my skin type cost anything separately?
No. It belongs with the intake, along with the measurement of your skin. A separate intake costs € 50 and lasts at most thirty minutes. If treatment goes ahead in the same appointment, that amount is waived and you pay only for the treatment.
Where in Rotterdam are you?
At Weissenbruchlaan 166 in Rotterdam, on the north side of the city in a residential area. You park in the street. The route and the opening hours are on our contact page.
Not sure of your type
You do not have to be, before you come. We establish it at the intake, along with the measurement, and from that follows what is possible in your case and with which setting. If treating turns out not to be sensible at that moment, you hear so and we do not do it.
If you know what you are after but are unsure about the timing or the combination with something else, ask via WhatsApp. There is a therapist on the other end and not a form.
Last updated on 12 September 2026 . Rates and treatment times are checked at every change.
Have your skin type established
We measure your skin, establish your type and discuss what is possible with it. If treating is safe and you want it, it can often be done in the same appointment.
Book a consultationNot sure yet? Ask your question