Your skincare routine matters to the health of your skin. Underdo it and the neglect will show on your face with clogged pores, early signs of ageing, and general lacklustre. Overdo it, and you potentially compromise skin quality, causing inflammation, taking you steps back rather than forward in your quest for radiant beauty.
It is not only what you do that matters, but how you do it. Far too many people either treat their skincare routine as an annoying chore to be completed as quickly as possible, essentially making any gesture symbolic rather than beneficial. While others are overzealous and simply don’t know where to draw the line. Neither of those options is good for your skin.
Exfoliating is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your skin, but it is one of those very things that are either underdone or overdone. Opulent Aesthetics is passionate about skincare. We offer practical advice on ‘getting it right’, so your skin looks and feels its best.
This article explains the benefits of exfoliating, provides tips on how to do it properly and safely at home, and explains the benefits of a professional facial peel to reset your skin, giving you that natural glow.
Opulent Aesthetics provides light facial peels from its cosy studios in Purley and Caterham, giving you the gift of radiant skin.
What is exfoliating?
Exfoliation is the process of removing dead skin cells from the skin’s surface or completely removing the outer layer of your skin, leaving behind newer, younger skin.
There are many ways to exfoliate. You can use a scrubbing cream or cleanser that has tiny, coarse beads or granules that essentially ‘sand’ your skin, removing flakes or dry skin. Or, you can use a liquid exfoliant that gently dissolves skin cells, making it easier to wash them off when you rinse. The strength of commercially available liquid exfoliants tends to be lower than that used by professional beauty aestheticians.
For best results, try Opulent Aesthetic’s professional facial peels, also known as a skin peel, because they completely remove the outer layer of skin, leaving only new skin. Another option is dermaplaning, which achieves the same thing using a fine blade, shaving dead skin. This is a great alternative if you are sensitive or allergic to liquid exfoliants.
Must read: Pro-Tips For Fabulous Skin
10 Amazing benefits of exfoliating
Exfoliating delivers many benefits for your skin. Let’s review them individually.
- Smoother skin – your skin constantly renews itself through a cycle of shedding older, dead skin. This process occurs over time and gradually slows down as we age, resulting in a buildup of dead skin cells on the skin’s surface, which leaves your skin looking and feeling rough. Exfoliation removes dead skin cells, making your skin smoother and reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles by smoothing them out. Exfoliating can also fade scars caused by acne and other types of damage.
- An even sun tan – clumps of dry or dead skin can cause uneven colouration when tanning (whether natural sun or self‐tan). Exfoliating beforehand helps even out how your tan develops.
- Balances make up – smoother skin means that foundation, concealer, etc., settles better and looks more uniform rather than patchy or flaky
- Brighter complexion – with dead skin cells out of the way, and a smoother skin surface, your skin will naturally look brighter and more radiant. Dead skin simply doesn’t reflect light in the same way as younger skin.
- Lightening dark spots – most skin damage comes from the sun, and the majority of your pigmented cells are the oldest ones residing on or near the skin’s surface. Exfoliating helps to fade darker spots, freckles, and melasma.
- Removing pimples – when dead skin cells build up and congregate on the surface, it causes blackheads and whiteheads. Exfoliating frequently removes and prevents them from returning. Additionally, exfoliating can remove tiny keratin bumps called milia from your pores.
- Shrinks the appearance of pores – pores become clogged when there is an excess of dead skin cells and excess oil. Exfoliation helps clear out those blockages.
- Prevents breakouts – By keeping pores clean, you reduce the chance of new buildup that leads to acne.
- Speeds up cellular turnover – your skin naturally sheds and turns over new skin. Exfoliating speeds up that process, which is beneficial, particularly as you age and the process slows down. Exfoliating, particularly with professional facial peels, promotes collagen production, helping smooth out fine lines and wrinkles. But, if you want a super boost in collagen, try professional microneedling with exosomes and skin booster treatments.
- Boosts the effectiveness of your wider skincare routine – when your pores are blocked, or your skin surface is dry and flaky, serums and moisturisers are less able to be absorbed, and cleansers can’t access your pores. Exfoliating removes debris, allowing for deeper penetration, making facial treatments more effective.
Pro tips on how to exfoliate
First things first, you have to choose the right exfoliant for you. Broadly speaking, there are four main types:
- Scrubs, brushes, and cloths – these are or contain coarse materials that are good for physical scrubbing.
- Enzyme exfoliants, using pineapple, papaya, or pumpkin juice for a milder exfoliant, which is great for sensitive skin types.
- Commercial chemical peels – mild but effective acids containing AHAs (alpha hydroxy acid) like glycolic, lactic, or mandelic acids for dullness, fine lines, and pigmentation; or BHAs (beta hydroxy acid), like salicylic acid for oily, acne-prone skin.
- Professional chemical peels – the same as above, but with stronger solutions that require professional supervision from qualified professionals like Sadie at Opulent Aesthetics. These provide deeper exfoliation, removing more dead skin cells, and triggers collagen production more effectively.
How frequently you exfoliate matters to skin quality, but your skin type and quality also influence how often you should exfoliate. Here is a rough guide.
- Normal or combination skin – 1-3 times per week with a gentle exfoliant
- Oily and acne prone skin – 3 times per week with BHAs
- Dry or sensitive skin – once per week, or every other week.
The procedure
Follow these simple steps for a perfect exfoliation routine:
- Cleanse first – exfoliation always works better on clean skin.
- If using a scrub, apply on your face with particular focus on areas where pores become congested, like, the nose, chin, and forehead, but don’t overdo it. If you are using a liquid exfoliant, apply with cotton wool, and don’t mix with other active ingredients like retinoids, vitamin C, benzoyl peroxide, unless your skin is very used to this.
- Scrub gently using circular motions, if using a scrub, and leave the liquid scrub on as directed by the manufacturer. Many liquid exfoliants don’t need to be rinsed.
- Never exfoliate damaged, burnt (even mild sunburn), or irritated skin, and never apply more than one type of strong exfoliant in one day, i.e. glycolic acid and a retinol. And, never exfoliate just before waxing, shaving, or using a chemical hair removal product.
- Apply a moisturiser immediately after, particularly hyaluronic acid, to hydrate your skin, and sunscreen is a non-negotiable must.
Final thoughts
Exfoliating offers a myriad of benefits for your skin. It is an indispensable part of your skincare routine, unblocking pores, removing dead skin, and promoting collagen production.
Having said that, exfoliating at home is not a substitute for professional facial or chemical peels, which go deeper, completely removing the outer layer of skin, exposing radiant new skin. Professional treatments have a more dramatic effect on collagen production, and the results are far more noticeable, especially when combined with other powerful treatments, like microneedling with exosomes, skin booster and polynucleotide injections, and deluxe facials.
If you have a solid home skincare routine combined with the above professional treatments, you will be several steps ahead of your ageing timeline, and many more compared to the vast majority of women who neglect their skin.
Having beautiful skin is not a destination; it’s a process and a journey. You can begin yours today by calling Sadie at Opulent Aesthetics for a free consultation and an appointment at her cosy studios in Purley and Caterham.
