Daily cleansing and moisturizing are important to achieve that ever desirable, naturally glowing skin. However, there are other steps and skin care practices that need to be included in your routine to gain the best possible results. Exfoliating the skin is one of these treatments that can be extremely beneficial, but if done the wrong way can be detrimental to your progress. Exfoliating can also be done too often, resulting in negative effects on the skin.
What is skin exfoliation?
Exfoliation is a process that removes dead cells from the upper layer of the skin, revealing the healthy skin underneath. Regular exfoliation can be beneficial to many areas of your body, including your face, arms, legs and feet. It helps keep skin looking fresh, removing any dry patches or flakiness.
There are different approaches necessary for each area of your body. For instance, you would not want to use the same methods, tools or products on your face as you would on your feet. For the purpose of this post we will focus on exfoliation of the facial skin.
Certain exfoliation techniques work best with certain skin types. It is a good idea to know whether you have oily, dry, combination or sensitive skin before embarking on an exfoliation regimen.
How often should you exfoliate your skin?
It is extremely important to remember that over exfoliation is dangerous. You should never be exfoliating daily. This is not the type of thing that you add to your everyday skin care routine. Two to three times per week for normal and combination skin is a typical exfoliation schedule to follow. Once per week is appropriate for those with sensitive skin.
Signs you are over exfoliating
This is most likely to be your first sign of over-exfoliation. It is not unusual for the skin to be slightly red immediately following exfoliation, but if it remains red hours afterward or into the next day, that means your skin needs a break from the intense exfoliation. Sometimes the skin can become itchy or you may experience a slight burning sensation when applying a chemical exfoliator. This is a sign that your skin’s protective barrier has become impaired. If you feel tingling or burning sensations with your other skin care products, reduce your exfoliation. Remember, a light tingle is normal with acids, but if the stinging is actually painful in any way it is vitally important that you reduce your exfoliation on the face.
Increased dryness and flakiness
With dry, combination, and normal skin types, over exfoliation can cause your skin to become significantly drier, possibly even peeling. If you notice that you are developing dry patches, using much more moisturizer than you did before, or start to see peeling anywhere on your face, give your skin a break from exfoliation.
For oily, oily-combination, and some normal skin types, your skin may begin to produce more oil than normal. This is because the exfoliation is drying your skin and stimulating it to compensate by producing excess oil to moisturize and protect itself.
Over-exfoliation is actually a major reason people develop acne, or why their acne won’t go away. Although a moderate amount of exfoliation is a great way to prevent pimples by keeping the pores clear of debris, going overboard can actually weaken the skin to a point where it cannot defend itself as well against bacteria and infections. This means the skin’s protective barrier has been compromised and therefore it is much harder for the skin to fight off bacteria. It is extremely important to note if you see breakouts developing or lasting longer than usual. If this does start to occur, you need to reduce the amount of exfoliating you are doing.
We all want dewy skin that has a natural highlight and glow. However, if your skin starts to become shiny and translucent looking after you exfoliate, this actually is not a good sign.
This shininess is actually the result of your skin being stripped of its natural texture. This is an indicator of a weakened protective skin barrier. Your dewiness should come from moisturizers, and other sources of hydration. Your glow should not come from your exfoliators stripping your skin. If you start to see a translucent shine appear on your skin after you exfoliate, it’s another indication to reduce your exfoliating routine.
Skin care products for exfoliation
MDSUN offers wide range of great skin care products. Their Skin Exfoliating Pads deliver a treatment that you can leave-on. It removes pore-clogging debris, helps minimize breakouts, improves skin tone and refines skin texture. The medical science that makes MDSUN Skin Exfoliation Pads so effective is a two-tier approach to exfoliation. The sum of this process is that you exfoliate skin without realizing it. The sensation characterizes a process called “skin burial” where your skin produces oils to seal in moisture.