Exfoliating Skin Benefits And Its Side Effects

exfoliating skin benefits

What Is Exfoliating

Exfoliating is the process of removing the dead skin cells from the top layer of your skin to make your skin clean and smooth.

Many people skip the exfoliation routine because they may not know how to do the right exfoliation or are just lazy to do that. 

In some cases, people simply believe that doing exfoliation will only trigger skin irritation. As a result, their skin becomes looks dull and tired. 

However, many beauty experts suggest always exfoliating your skin at least once a week if you want to have glowing skin.

But, what is the benefit of facial exfoliating? why do beauty experts suggest doing that? Let's find out what is the reason for doing facial exfoliating!

Exfoliating Skin Benefits And Its Side Effects

The accumulating dead skin cells on the skin surfaces will make the skin oily, develop blackheads and acne, and dull skin with visible pores. 

Therefore, exfoliating your skin regularly are important to shed away the accumulated dead skin cells and prevent further skin problems.

Exfoliating Skin Benefits

1. Clean Pores

During activities, fine dirt that is not visible can stick to the skin and clog your pores. The condition will worsen if your skin type is oily and you rarely clean your skin.

The trapped dirt mixed with sebum will clog your pores and cause your skin to be prone to whiteheads, blackheads, and acne. Your pores will also be more visible due to clogging.

To prevent all those skin problems, cleansing your face regularly is needed. Use facial wash that contains BHA or salicylic acid to deep clean your pores.

BHA not only removes dead skin cells, but it works perfectly as a gentle exfoliator for the face to clean dust, dirt, and remaining makeup left in the pores.  As a result, the skin surface becomes smooth and fresh.

2. Improve Texture

Even though the dead skin cells will peel off on their own, some are still left on the skin. Due to this, the buildup of dead skin cells makes the skin texture uneven and rough to touch.

Doing exfoliation regularly will help your skin to remove the buildup of dead skin cells and improve your skin texture naturally. It helps your skin become smooth and glowing.

3. Brighten skin

If you have many outdoor activities, you will find that some parts of your facial skin will be darker. That's due to frequent exposure to the sun, which causes your skin color to become uneven. Well, exfoliating can help you brighten your facial skin.

Exfoliating will remove your dead skin cell and stimulate new skin cells to grow. These new skin cells will get rid of your uneven skin color and, at the same time, brighten your skin.

4. Accelerate the process of skin regeneration

Your skin cells will naturally regenerate every 28-30 days. The regeneration is needed to allow the new skin cell to grow and make your skin look bright and radiant. However, if your dead skin cells can't peel off perfectly, it will cause the dead skin cell buildup.

This build-up will make your skin lose its radiant. Besides that, it also triggers clogged pores. If you don't do something to remove your dead skin cells, your skin will look dull and tired.

Therefore, exfoliating is essential to accelerate the process of skin regeneration. By exfoliation, your skin will be clean, and your new skin cells will happily grow.

5. Prevents acne

Many factors can trigger acne, such as poor diet, hormonal changes, inappropriate skincare and makeup use, and allergies.

However, the root of acne development is still due to clogged pores infected by acne bacteria. And that clogged pores occur because of the trapped oil, dirt, and unremoved dead skin cells inside the pores.

Therefore, exfoliating will help your skin to stay away from acne. Exfoliating will help to remove any dirt, oil, and dead skin cells on your skin, which will make your skin stay smooth, clean, and healthy.

6. Increase collagen production

Another great benefit of exfoliating your skin regularly is it helps to boost your collagen production. People who rarely do exfoliation tend to have dull and saggy skin, and sometimes they look old and tired. 

Exfoliating your skin regularly will increase collagen production, which is essential to prevent your skin from sagginess and tiredness. Exfoliating will make your skin supple, firm, fresh, and radiant.

7. Help your skincare products to penetrate deeper

The best part of doing skin exfoliation regularly is it helps your skin to absorb better your skincare product such as essence, serum, and moisturizer.

If your skin has so many dead skin cells and dirt, it will prevent your skincare product from penetrating deeply into your skin. It will act as a barrier. And as a result, your skincare product won't be able to work effectively.

Types of Facial Exfoliating

People often use three types of facial exfoliating: physical, chemical, and enzymatic.

1. Physical Exfoliating

Physical exfoliating is an action to exfoliate your skin to remove dead skin cells by using physical activity to create friction.

From this friction, your dead skin cell will be lifted. Physical activity is usually done by scrubbing your skin and face using scrubs care products such as microbeads, loofah, and soft brushes. Do not forget that when exfoliating, gently rub your face in a circular motion.

This type of exfoliating is suitable for oily skin and normal to dry skin. Meanwhile, people with sensitive and acne-prone skin are not recommended to use this type of exfoliation.

2. Chemical Exfoliating

The next type of exfoliating that people often use is chemical exfoliating. This type of exfoliating uses chemical active ingredients called acid.

The acid works by blending with the lipids in the outermost layer of the skin, then breaking them down so that dead cells are released. In shorts, acid is an exfoliator whose job is to break down the "glue" that binds dead skin cells.

Several types of acid often used as chemical exfoliating are AHA, BHA, PHA, and Retinoids. You can find the acids in many skincare products, from toners to serum and creams. Those skincare products generally contain low concentrations of acid and have been formulated to be safe for use on facial skin.

In addition, sometimes, the use of acid can cause side effects such as irritation. This is because the chemical exfoliating is one of the most aggressive exfoliations that work by forcing the skin cells to turnover.

Therefore, please always pay attention to product information and product label regarding use guidelines. Chemical exfoliation works great for people with oily and acne-prone skin.

3. Enzymatic Exfoliating

Enzymatic exfoliating is an exfoliating process using enzymes derived from natural ingredients such as fruits, pineapple, or papaya.

Enzymatic works almost similar to acids, but enzymatic exfoliating is the most gentle exfoliator because it only works on the skin layer's surface, very in contrast to acids that work into the deep layer of the skin. 

This exfoliator is often used in the facemask and is suitable for people with dry, sensitive, and dehydrated skin.

Exfoliating Side Effects

Exfoliation gives your skin many benefits but doesn't mean you can do it carelessly and excessively. Exfoliating excessively will cause side effects such as redness, itchy, dryness, and sensitivity. 

Therefore, before exfoliating your skin, you must pay attention to your skin condition. Here are some side effects of exfoliating carelessly and excessively.

1. Redness

Excessive exfoliation will cause your skin to lose its natural moisture and destroy your skin barrier, making it flaky and dry. This condition will also make your skin inflamed and red due to the abrasive friction your skin experiences.

2. Irritation

Your skin will experience irritation characterized by redness and pain, and your skin feels hot when you touch it.

3. Flaky and dry skin

Doing exfoliation are great for removing dead skin cell. However, excessive exfoliation will cause your skin to get dry and flaky. Dry and flaky skin will make your skin get itchy and super sensitive.

4. Dehydrated skin

After exfoliation, dermatologists always suggest using moisturizer right after exfoliation to keep your skin well hydrated. If you exfoliate your skin carelessly, you will make your skin dehydrated. Dehydrated skin will cause dull skin and fine lines, and in some cases, it makes your skin oily.

5. Prone to acne

Please keep in mind that anything in excess is not good. Doing excessive exfoliation will not only make your skin dull, dry, red, and itchy, but it will trigger acne as well. 

That's because when your skin experiences dry and flaky skin, it will make your sebaceous glands produce more oil to reduce the dryness. 

This action makes your skin get oilier and increases the chance of clogging your pores, which can trigger acne.

How To Exfoliate Your Skin

Make sure you exfoliate regularly and use a gentle facial foam and facial scrub once or twice a week if your skin is dry and normal, or three times a week if your skin type is oily. The goal so that your skin barrier is maintained and free of irritation. 

If you want your exfoliating process to give you the optimum result, then follow the below tips:

• Always clean your face before you start to exfoliate your skin
• If you wear make-up all day long, please always exfoliate your skin at night before bedtime. You can exfoliate by using products containing retinol, glycolic acid, or others. 
• If you have a dull face every morning after you wake up, you can exfoliate your skin by using a facial wash containing BHA, PHA, or AHA. Or, if you don't like to use chemical exfoliators, you can use a scrub that is suitable for your skin.
• Always apply moisturizer after exfoliating your skin because exfoliating will remove your natural oil, and it can dry your skin. Moisturizer will help your skin to stay hydrated.
• The exfoliating process will make your skin more sensitive to sunlight. Therefore, you need to wear sunscreen every morning and afternoon.

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