Step 3/5 for a beautiful skin: exfoliate !

 March 12th, 2014 

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Hello, today I want to continue my series on « the key steps for a beautiful skin ». So far I have talked about the importance of cleansing here(step1), moisturizing here(step2) and today I am going to focus on exfoliation that works by removing the extra dead cells on our skin; as a result it looks more radiant and smoother. The dead skin cells being removed it also helps our skin care ingredients to work better as they now act on "new skin". Exfoliation accelerate cells turnover so we also get rid of dark spots faster. Too much accumulation of dead skin cells on the skin may also cause skin breakout and enlarge pores so yes it may also help us with that.

The view of dermatologists on exfoliation has definitely made a turning point those past years. I used to hear Dermatologists say that we should only exfoliate from once to twice a week otherwise it would damage the skin. I used to be a good girl; so I listened to Doctors. I would exfoliate once or twice a week and each time my skin would feel so soft; for that reason I always thought that it would be great if I could do it more often without any damage to my skin. Things have evolved now and it’s been a few years already that more and more Doctors have changed their views on exfoliation. Some actually now think that it is good to exfoliate very often, even every day. Of course when I heard that I took the plunge and started to exfoliate more often.

I realized that the more often I would exfoliate my skin the smoother and the clearer my skin would look. I also noticed that it helps me a lot to fade dark spots faster and the amount of skin breakout I get has tremendously decreased. Those past months I started to exfoliate every single day with great success for my skin. That is a big discovery for me and I wish I had tried that before. I think that on exfoliation each skin works and reacts differently. The main goal of exfoliation is to remove excessive dead skin cells that accumulate on the skin. But we have to remember that our skin sheds naturally every single day by itself as our hairs. So if you don’t exfoliate do not panic you don’t have to. You may have noticed that some people always have naturally soft clear skin. One of the reason is that their skin cell turnover is probably very fast so they don’t need to exfoliate often if ever. Well unfortunately I don’t fit in that category that is why I have to exfoliate. When we think about exfoliation we tend to think about those manual scrubs with bits in it that may irritate the skin when use too often. Thankfully skin care products have evolved and now we can easily find chemical exfoliants that exfoliate the skin without the need of scrubbing. To use those products you only need to let them sit on your skin for a few minutes (cleansers, toners, cotton pads, masks…) or overnight (night creams, serum…). I have tried different types of exfoliants those past years, the first picture above showcase some of them. I came to the conclusion that my skin likes and needs both type of exfoliants; chemical and manual scrubs so I alternate them throughout the week. Cleansing and moisturizing the skin are the basis for any good skin care routine; but exfoliation is a key step for anyone with problematic skin. The way you decide to exfoliate (chemical or manual srubs) and the frequency is up to what your skin can handle. But as I said there are many exfoliating products on the market now and at all prices so I am sure you can find your love. RAD STEP 4 HERE XOxo  Dianna.H Find more about chemical exfoliants that use glycolic acid here.