Shedding Off the Old

Happy New Year, readers! I hope you all brought in the new year in style. I am celebrating the New Year in Mexico, and in light of spending too many hours on the beach along with a bout of sickness before we left, I don’t feel I have sufficiently researched the topics we will be covering in our Ah, the Spa series, and I am going to postpone it until I have enough information to be able to fully inform you of the subjects.

Today we are going to be discussing the benefits of exfoliation and different ways to do it. We’ve all heard of it, but do we really know what we are doing and how to do it? Believe me; it’s not as complicated as you think.

Basically, exfoliation involves scrubbing off dead skin in order to bring a new layer of skin to the surface. The new layer of skin will often feel better, and it will glow like, well, new skin. Skin naturally strips itself, but exfoliation can help your body out and take off skin that just isn’t coming off quickly enough on its own. As you age, your body doesn’t exfoliate as quickly as it used to on its own, and exfoliating can help the body produce new skin cells as well as increase blood and lymph circulation. Exfoliation on your face can also prevent acne and blackheads that are caused by clogged pores.

You can buy a variety of exfoliants at the store, including sugar and salt scrubs. Salt scrubs are usually the harshest exfoliant you can find, and I wouldn’t recommend them for those of you who aren’t so adept with a razor. Salt scrubs can be very painful if you have even the tiniest cut on your body. Think of it as rubbing salt in a wound because essentially that’s what you are doing. For that reason alone, I avoid salt scrubs. Sugar scrubs are milder and more wound-friendly. I couldn’t list the many different names of and ingredients found in exfoliants. There are a wide range of them; the most important thing is just to know that they slough off your dead skin and bring out a new layer of skin. My favorite exfoliant is The Body Shop’s Cocoa Butter Body Scrub ($16). Besides smelling delicious, the formula is moisturizing and gentle on my sensitive skin. Yet it still contains enough oomph to exfoliate well.

The exfoliant you use on your face should not be the same exfoliant you use on your body. The skin on your face is much more sensitive than the skin on your body, and your body’s exfoliant could really tick your face off. Many companies offer gentle face scrubs that will exfoliate your face daily. You can also use these face scrubs as you would use your body scrubs.

Most experts recommend exfoliating between once and twice a week. Exfoliating any more than that could begin to irritate your skin. However, some people don’t find any negative side effects to exfoliating every day, and it isn’t going to hurt your skin.

If you are low maintenance or busy, exfoliating can seem like just another step to add to your routine. Here’s some comfort to you: Shaving and using a loofah are also considered exfoliation. Both the razor and the loofah get rid of the dead top layer of skin. So if you don’t feel like doing an extra exfoliation step each week, just rely on your trusty razor to get rid of that dead skin.