The invention relates to a method for the recognition of natural skin (5), wherein the skin surface (4) is illuminated at an irradiation point (1) with light from the visible spectrum or the adjacent spectrum, wherein that part of the light entering through the skin surface (4) at the irradiation point (1), scattered in the skin (5), and exiting from the skin surface (4) again, is detected at a detection point (9), using a detector (20), and wherein the signal determined by the detector (20) is passed to a comparator and compared with stored data. Furthermore, a device for carrying out the method is an object of the invention.