Exfoliating Tips - Cleaning Your Skin

Exfoliation is when you remove the dead skin cells from the outermost layer of skin. When you exfoliate you are removing the oldest skins cells, allowing the newer skin beneath to be revealed.

The skin is constantly making new cells. After a cycle your old, dead skin cells are shed. When you exfoliate you are speeding up the process and helping your skin look it's best. Exfoliating removes the old dead cells and allows the new fresh skin to be at the surface and visible.

Exfoliating will help keep your skin clean and clear of blemishes. Old skin cells will clog your pores and that will make you break out. It really helps soften and smooth your skin. If you follow a routine it will help your skin look young and keep it looking that way.

There are two types of exfoliating. The first is chemical. Chemical exfoliants contain Alpha Hydroxy acids, Beta Hydroxy acids and enzymes. They loosen the glue-like substance that holds cells together and allowing you to slough them away. A type of chemical exfoliation is a facial peel. Alpha Hydroxy acids contain fruit and milk sugars. Examples are: glycolic acid (sugar cane), lactic acid (milk), malic acid (apples and pears), citric acid (orange and lemon), and tartaric acid (grapes). Alpha Hydroxy has a special ability to penetrate the skin. Alpha Hydroxy is better on sun damaged and thickened skin where breakouts are not as bad. For Beta Hydroxy acid there is only one kind- salicylic acid. This will let you penetrate the pore more, and usually are stronger chemical peels. Beta Hydroxy is better on oily skin with whiteheads and blackheads. Either type can be gentle or very aggressive, it depends on how strong the product is. Chemical exfoliants help with sun damaged skin, roughness, wrinkle, and help to even out skin pigmentation. You need to be careful when using these types of products. You can have reactions if they are too strong. Redness, itching, burning, and pain are common reactions to have. Make sure to use sunscreen anytime you are doing a routine that includes chemical exfoliants. You skin will be very sensitive to the sun, protect it!

Mechanical is the second type of exfoliation. It involves physically rubbing or scrubbing the skin with an abrasive. An abrasive is tiny pieces of a grit like substance that will remove dead skin cells when rubbed on you skin. Abrasives include: salt scrubs, sugar scrubs, microfiber cloths, micro-beads, pumice, and crushed apricot or almond shells. It can also include tools such as loofahs, brushes, and sponges. Mechanical exfoliation is not as harsh as the chemical exfoliation. This is good because you can do more of it in your own home with almost no worry. It will help keep your skin smooth and youthful looking. It can help even out uneven skin tone. There are many benefits with little or no risk. You skin may be a little red after, but that will go away fairly quickly. Do not rub exfoliants super hard into your skin, that can cause the redness to stay longer, or irritate the skin more. Also, make sure you use the right products for your face verses your body.

When picking out a mechanical exfoliant know that you should use different products for your face and body. You can use pretty much anything on your body, but the face is more sensitive and you really need to watch what ingredients are in the product before you apply it to your face. You never want to use products that say "body scrub" on it, they are going to be too harsh for your face. Look for products that say "face scrub". You also want to watch that you do not use products with natural exfoliants like apricot, almond, and walnuts. What they do is smash the pits or seeds and put them in the product. When you put that on your face it is like rubbing small tiny pieces of glass on your skin. Think about this; if you took a hammer to an apricot pit, the pieces would be jagged. You rub that on your face and it is too harsh, too sharp and will make tiny tiny cuts in the skin. Then, they become infected with bacteria and your skin will breakout. Trust me, I have used St.Ives Apricot Face Scrub and my face broke out so bad. You want round beads that will be gentle enough for your face. If the exfoliants are round they will glide on your face and they will not make you breakout. Dove has some good products. Watch what you buy, know what you are putting on your face.

Exfoliating can make your face dry out, make sure to use a moisturizer. Use SPF, especially if you are going to start a chemical exfoliation routine. I use exfoliating products everyday in my face wash and body wash. I use body wash that has exfoliants in it and I apply it with a poofy sponge (the kind you get at Target). Otherwise, you want to try to use exfoliators twice a week to maintain healthy skin.