Exfoliating is a word we’ve probably all heard at some point or another while listening to someone more cosmotologically inclined than ourselves.  Maybe we heard it during a late night infomercial on TV. Or maybe we read it in a magazine somewhere along the way. The point is, that exfoliation is important, but it’s just as important that it be done properly, and not in such a way or with such a product that you are damaging your skin, which is a possibility. We’ll talk here about what exactly is happening when exfoliate, some products available, and the best way to use them.

So, first off, what exactly is exfoliating? Exfoliating is the process of removing the dead skin cells from the top layer of your skin in order to reveal the new healthy skin cells contained underneath. I hope this doesn’t make you feel to serpentine, but we do shed our skin every few weeks. New skin is constantly growing underneath the old, and soon the old skin can start to look dry or flaky, or just plain old. When you exfoliate properly you remove all that old, dead skin and really get a new look as your healthy glowing skin is exposed to the world.  It’s also important to exfoliate because as that old skin breaks down it can cause problems. It can start to block pores, causing minor skin lesions and blackheads, and nobody wants those!

You can exfoliate over your entire body, and should in fact, but you should be using different products for your body than for your face.  The skin on your chest and back for example, is quite rugged, but the skin on your face is very delicate, and the use of a more abrasive exfoliating agent can cause damage to your face.

There are two different ways to exfoliate. One is using a product that has exfoliating beads, which are essentially little pieces of grit in the cleanser, and using them to scrape away all the dead skin. There are other products which by nature of a chemical reaction remove all that excess skin as well. It’s up to you to decide which works better for you, but it can be useful to have them in varying strengths. You can use a mild exfoliating product daily, but you don’t want to use an exceptionally strong one more than once a week. That’s because once you’ve removed the dead skin all you would really be doing is scraping and scratching at your new healthy skin underneath before you’ve even had a chance to enjoy it.

Exfoliating should be followed up by a proper moisturizer. There are many different moisturizer exfolient combinations marketed, and it’s worth shopping around for a while to find one that works best with your skin and skin type. As always though, make sure to use a product for a proper test trial 4-6 weeks, before giving up on it, because that is how long it typically takes to see any results.

Exfoliating properly is one of the largest factors contributing to that healthy skin look you so often hear people jealously remarking on. If you don’t already exfoliate on a consistent basis now is the time to try it. You will be amazed at the rapid and impressive changes to your appearance it will make. The other nice thing about exfoliating is that it makes yours skin feel good as well as look good. Your skin will feel refreshed, and more supple and strong than it does most of the time after you have committed and stuck to an exfoliation regime for a period of time. Those dead skin cells are dead, so why leave them on your face where they’re only going to cause problems. Get them off of there, and enjoy your skin again.

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