Are you one of those people who spends all your exfoliation time and effort on your face? Well it’s time to level up your exfoliation game and give your body the care and attention it deserves. Just like your face, your body requires a weekly exfoliation treatment too!
So what is exfoliation? Exfoliation can happen in two ways; chemical and physical. A chemical exfoliation is when an acid such as Glycolic, Salicylic or Lactic is applied to the skin and essentially burns the top layers of the skin. The wound healing process begins and regenerates new skin cells causing the dead layers to eventually lift and peel away, revealing the new smooth skin. A physical exfoliation is when small particles, usually sugar or salt, mechanically slough away dead skin cells. Using a body scrub would be considered the physical exfoliation technique.
Here are a few good reasons why exfoliating your body with a body scrub is an excellent idea.
1. Unclogging Your Pores and Preventing Bacne
When you use a physical exfoliator you are effectively sloughing away dead dry skin and other debris that may be on the surface of the skin. These dead skin cells and debris can essentially seal your pores so when your sebaceous glands produce oil it gets stuck under that layer and causes breakouts to occur. These breakouts are not exclusive to your face, can you say bacne!
2. Allows Other Skincare Products to Penetrate Deeper
When you remove the dead dry layers of skin from the surface you expose your cleansed healthy pores and this allows other skincare products you use after exfoliation to penetrate on a deeper level gaining more efficacy from those products. Applying a body oil to freshly exfoliated skin while it is still a bit damp, allows the oil to sink into the skin with ease and not sit on top of the dead layers of skin and feel greasy.
3. Evens out Skin Tone and Appearance
Physical exfoliation breaks down and removes the dead dry patches so naturally it reveals a smoother more radiant glowing skin. It also helps cell turnover keeping the new healthy cells at the surface resulting in the velvety soft baby skin we are all striving for, even on our bodies!
4. Increases Circulation and Lymphatic Drainage.
By increasing your circulation you stimulate your oxygen rich blood to the skin’s surface to feed and nourish the skin. Exfoliation also increases the lymphatic system which lies right beneath the skins surface to stimulate internal cleansing and the dumping of toxins in the blood stream which are then flushed from the body. Make sure you are staying well hydrated to help move all of those toxins out of your system!
Finding a product that is rich in oils and butters to soften those dead skin cell layers and also replenish as its doing its exfoliating job is key when you are shopping for your body scrub. Try Olive + M’s Body Polish. It is rich with sunflower seed oil, olive oil and olive butter. We use a mineral rich Himalayan Sea Salt as the exfoliating particles in our body scrub. Sea salt is also a natural detoxifier as it absorbs toxins from the skin.
So say hello to your new full body exfoliation practice and #LevelUpYourExfoliationGame!