IS EXFOLIATING IMPORTANT? AND WHICH OF THE CLEANSERS IS FOR YOU?

What is exfoliating and what does it actually do to your skin? Exfoliating is the process of washing your face using a wash, sometimes containing micro-beads (although they're now banned) and sometimes using chemical exfoliating agents. Exfoliating is a great thing to do because by doing so, you remove the very top layer of the skin cells, brightening up your skin and reducing skin congestion. It also promotes skin cell renewal - helping keep your skin looking fresh and rejuvenated.

However, when removing the top layer of the skin, you also remove your NMF (natural moisturising factors) which is secreted onto the surface of the skin and contains amino acids, lactic acid, various sugars and minerals, peptides and other things. This helps protect our skin from UV, helps keep the skin surface a healthy environment and even helps prevent ageing. Since exfoliating removes this healthy skin barrier, exfoliating in the morning makes us more susceptible to UV and that can mean you might be at more risk of skin cancer as a result. This is why we recommend exfoliating at night while the NMF has time to be replenished before morning.

Exfoliating every day can be excessive and is only required under rare circumstances. This leads to thinning of the skin, increasing the rate at which water leaves the skin (trans epidermal water loss). This often causes many other problems, including; increased erythema (redness) and heightened sensitivity, further exacerbating existing skin conditions like eczema, rosacea and even acne. Loss of skin moisture control is a big factor for all these skin problems.

So, what can you do?

Exfoliating isn't suitable for everyone, if you already have sensitive skin, we recommend steering away from exfoliating altogether and using something gentler (non-exfoliating) to cleanse the skin and remove dead skin cells.

On the other-hand, exfoliating can be great as already stated - we recommend exfoliating maybe 2-4 times per week and only at night. On a morning we thoroughly recommend just a gentle wash.

Remember over exfoliating can actually make your acne worse and your skin more sensitive.

End result?

With the right skincare routine, you can successfully treat pre-existing skin conditions, prevent and drastically reduce signs of ageing and have a wonderfully glowing and vibrant complexion. 

Need some help putting a regimen together? Leave the hard work to us! We have decades of experience in treating and regenerating skin and we love helping people, it's exactly why we are here. So, feel free to drop us an email , give us a call on 0333 247 247 4 if you need some help.