Effective Home Exfoliation Tips
In between professional visits and treatments, there are things you can do at home to keep that healthy, fresh-faced look. Exfoliating is one of them.
Here are some professional tips you can use at home to keep your skin in top shape.
Why Exfoliate?
Exfoliation is a key step in keeping skin looking its best. It’s important because it removes dead cells, which causes dullness and dryness, from the surface layer of skin.
While exfoliating is important, it’s also important to do it safely and effectively. If you don’t, you could irritate and even damage your skin.
Before experiencing redness, dryness, or acne breakouts, be thorough but gentle while exfoliating.
Skin Type Matters
Your skin type matters when it comes to effective care. Identifying your skin type determines everything from cleansers, toners, creams, and other products for your skin.
What you don’t want is to use products that cause irritation, burning, redness or other reactions. Not only will this cause damage and embarrassment for you but may stop you from following a skincare regime altogether.
It’s always important to use products specifically designed for your skin type and a gentle touch when using them.
Normal
Normal skin types tolerate exfoliation well, unlike sensitive skin which may not be the best candidate for exfoliation due to irritation and redness.
Dry
Dry skin types tend to be flaky and may even itch or suffer with rough patches.
Combination
Combination skin types are tricky because while they tend to be dry in some areas, they also suffer from oily patches in other areas of the skin.
Note that some of you may suffer from sensitive or acne-prone oily skin, in which case you’d have to use products formulated to work well with those skin conditions.
Exfoliation Tools
When deciding on the most effective tools and products for exfoliating your skin type, there are two choices. You can choose either a manual or chemical method to slough off those layers of dead skin.
Manual Exfoliation
Based on your preference, you can use a brush, exfoliation pad, sponge, or a simple washcloth for manual exfoliation. Be careful with the abrasiveness of your tool and applied pressure because it doesn’t take too much work to remove dead skin cells from the surface dermis layer.
Chemical Exfoliation
Chemical exfoliation involves the use of an alpha- or beta-hydroxy acid to dissolve away dead skin cells. After gently working the product into skin in a circular motion, simply rinse with warm water and gently rub away with a washcloth to remove the product.
More Pro Tips
Keep in mind that if you’re taking certain medications or using a strong product like some retinoids, it can make your skin more sensitive. Go slow and test the exfoliation method first to make sure it won’t cause stinging, burning, redness, breakouts, or other irritation.
Skip exfoliation if you have open cuts or active skin irritation (like sunburn).
The more aggressive the form of exfoliation, the less you need to exfoliate. You don’t want to overdo it because you will strip away the natural oils your skin needs. Over-exfoliation can also lead to bigger skin problems and painful irritation.
Wrap Up
Exfoliation is a great way to help keep skin looking vibrant, fresh, and healthy between professional treatments.
Should you need help determining your skin type or help with the best exfoliation method or products, stop by Laura Skincare in Petaluma for a professional evaluation.
