How Important Is Exfoliation for the Skin?

Skin exfoliation involves removing old dead skin cells from the surface of the skin. Helping to unclog the pores while also uncovering the fresh and new skin cells that lie below the surface. When you exfoliate, you are allowing your skin to open up. This allows moisturizing products to be even more beneficial because they are able to penetrate more deeply into the skin.

Regular exfoliating can leave your skin looking a lot healthier and fresh. To exfoliate your skin, you can use a variety of different tools, including a brush or sponge or even a facial scrubber in combination with a scrub. However, the best method of exfoliation really depends on your overall complexion and the current state of your skin. Is your skin overly sensitive? Do you suffer from severe acne?

If you answered yes to these questions, you will want to choose your method and scrub very carefully. That way you don’t further irritate and agitate your already sensitive skin/complexion.

Choosing Your Facial Scrub

When choosing the scrub to exfoliate with, you want to find one that contains small, smooth particles rather than rough ones because the latter can damage the skin. You also want to be gentle with whatever scrub you choose. It doesn’t take much to remove the dead skin cells.

You can also choose to make your own facial scrub using essential oils at home. For example, three drops of sandalwood, and three drops of lavender added to a small amount of brown sugar, with three tablespoons of carrier oil like olive oil or coconut oil make a great scrub you can try at home.

Lavender essential oil is often used in skin care products because it is gentle and contains healing properties that help inflamed or irritated skin. It is also calming, soothing, and can be very regenerative for the skin.

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The sandalwood essential oil helps promote a more youthful skin appearance. It also has astringent and emollient properties to help smooth out the skin while soothing any irritation that may be present.

How Often Should You Exfoliate?

One of the biggest questions people often ask is how often you should exfoliate your skin. Well, if you are looking to achieve healthy, glowing skin, then regular exfoliation is an essential addition to your skincare routine. You should exfoliate at least once per week. If you exfoliate any more than this, you run the risk of irritating and drying your skin out.

Why Is Exfoliation Necessary for Healthy and Radiant Skin?

There are several key benefits to exfoliation that you want to keep in mind when deciding whether or not to include this once a week activity into your regular skincare routine:

• Have age spots? Regular exfoliation can remove the dead skin cells that contain the pigment contributing to those dark spots.
• Pores clogged? In order for the skin’s natural oils to be released to improve our skin, we need to make sure that our pores are not clogged and dirty.
• Large and unsightly pores? Exfoliation helps minimize the size of your pores and can also help reduce the appearance of some superficial scarring.
• Fine lines and wrinkles? When you remove the dead skin cells and reveal a fresh layer of skin, you will find that it is much healthier.
• Want to make your moisturizer more effective? When you exfoliate, you are cleaning out the pores, removing a layer of dead skin cells, and allowing a clean open environment for your moisturizers, face serums, or other treatments to penetrate the skin and do their job.

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Benefits of Exfoliation and Natural Skincare

In addition to the above benefits of exfoliation for the skin, you will also find improved texture. When the dead skin cells begin to build up on the skin’s surface, the new cells are trapped underneath, which causes the pores to clog. This also causes the skin to achieve a very uneven texture. Without exfoliation, your skin may feel weighed down and congested rather than smooth and soft.

Regular exfoliation can also help prevent body acne. The most common causes of acne include moisture and friction. We often discuss the importance of exfoliating our face, but we shouldn’t overlook the benefits that can be derived from regular body exfoliation as well.

When we are clothed, there is a certain amount of friction that happens between our skin and our clothing. This is especially prevalent in hot and moist environments. All the sweat and bacteria become trapped on the surface of our skin below our clothing, which causes our pores to over hydrate.

Over-hydration of the pores leads to the production of excess sebum, more dead skin cells, and inflamed hair follicles – all of which make the perfect recipe for body acne.

Exfoliation of the body helps treat these inflamed pores and can prevent bacteria from forming due to the sweat becoming trapped under the surface of our skin. So, it is important to remember that exfoliating the body is just as important as regularly exfoliating the face.

It is also important to note that the skin on our body is actually thicker than our facial skin, so a body exfoliant may have to be a much rougher agent in order to remove those dead skin cells and freshen the skin. The body isn’t going to be as sensitive as the face.

A more natural skincare routine is also important because it promotes true wellness. Our skin is the largest organ we have, so we need to do all we can to take care of it. This means paying closer attention to the products we are using and what we are putting on our skin.

Many skin cleansers can actually strip our body of its natural oils which can lead to damaged, unhealthy, and irritated skin. However, following a healthy skincare routine that incorporates more natural products as described above can go a long way in achieving and maintaining a youthful and healthy glow and a bright and fresh complexion.

Microbeads – Is your beauty routine polluting the oceans?

Many manufactures increase the exfoliating effect of the beauty products by adding microbeads – tiny non-soluble particles made from petrochemicals such as polypropylene and polystyrene.

Because microbeads are insoluble, they wash down the drain and (if not treated) end up in the oceans where they affect sea-life by releasing chemicals into the water or by being eaten.