Hey! What is going on in your world? I am back today with another post. Today’s post is simple but also educational, you may learn a thing or two here that may benefit your skin. It is important to exfoliate so today I am giving you good reasons on Why You Should Exfoliate your skin. Keep reading to learn more.

Why You Should Exfoliate.

Things I would have told my 16 year old self… make sure you exfoliate your skin. I mean seriously, I barely even took my “makeup” off when I was a teenager, much less exfoliate. Looking back I wish I knew what I know now… isn’t that a country song or something? Ha.

What is Exfoliating?

Exfoliating is when you take a physical or chemical (we will get into that later) exfoliant and apply it to your face to remove dead skin.

Why?

Our skin comes in contact with a lot of things throughout the day, makeup, dirt, oil, pollutants, bacteria, etc and to get rid of those things we need to exfoliate.

When you exfoliate you are…

• Removing the top layer of skin on your face. When you remove that layer of skin, your skin will start to produce new cell turnover, prolonging the aging process little by little.
• Taking scrubbing away all those dry dead skin cells. If you have dry flakey skin, try exfoliating, this will remove those dry annoying patches. It will literally be smooth like a baby’s bottom!
• You are also cleaning out your pores, which in turn make your pores appear smaller >>> making your makeup go on smoother. (total win win)
• Diminishing scars, whether they are acne scars or scars from something else. Exfoliating consistently will begin to fade those scars. My skin is an example of that. I had some acne scars that have completely faded over the years from exfoliating.
• Fade age/sun spots
• Reduce the appearance of fine lines/wrinkles
• Adds a nice healthy glow to skin. When your skin is being renewed on a weekly basis by exfoliating you are leaving your skin healthy and glowing instead of dull.
• Helps other products sink into the skin. Removing the dead skin gives the opportunity for products to actually sink into the skin instead of sitting on the surface.

Types of Exfoliants.

Like I mentioned above there are two types of exfoliants. One is a physical exfoliant which is what most people think of when exfoliating your skin, or a chemical exfoliant, here we will dive into what each one is.

• Physical Exfoliant.Physical is any type of exfoliating scrub with sugar, coffee, granules, microbeads. You can physically see what is exfoliating your skin. I enjoy using physical exfoliants because you can really feel the product working. You control how aggressive you want the exfoliant to be. The “rougher” the scrub and the harder you press will determine your results.
• Chemical Exfoliant.
  Chemical exfoliants are a gel or cream based consistency with no granules in it like a physical exfoliant. The most well known chemical exfoliants are AHA’s (Alpha Hydroxy Acids) or BHA’s (Beta Hydroxy Acids). They have ingredients in them to connect to the top layer of your skins surface and break away all dead skin. You can find chemical exfoliants in masks, or peel pads, or toner.

My Current Faves.

Physical / Kate Somerville ExfoliKate (green), this is absolutely amazing. It looks like baby food, but who care when your skin looks and feels amazing after you use it. Buy it > Here.

Chemical / Drunk Elephant T.L.C Sukari Babyfacial, that is exactly how I would describe this, it’s a facial that makes your skin feel and look baby soft. Love this! Buy it > Here.

I prefer both types of exfoliating, I can’t pick just one. In my opinion you may get more long term results from using a chemical exfoliant over using a physical exfoliant, but a physical exfoliant can give you results instantly. I use both of them weekly. You just have to determine what works best for your skin type. I have combo/oily skin, not sensitive, no acne or dry patches. I typically use both exfoliants once a week. I use ExfoliKate in the shower mid week and Drunk Elephant on the weekends! You don’t want to over exfoliate.

I hope you learned something about exfoliating your face today! If you have questions about exfoliating or products I’ve tried, send me a message here or on social media. I’d love to chat!

What is your favorite way to exfoliate?

See my latest post on a skin game changer >> HERE.