How Often Should I Exfoliate My Body?
Your body naturally sheds skin to remove dead cells, but that may need your little help sometimes. That makes exfoliation necessary to keep your skin healthy, glossy, and youthful. Many people ask, how Often Should I Exfoliate My Body? Dermatologists recommend exfoliating your skin twice to three times weekly, but dry and sensitive skin may only need a single scrub or peel in that span.
While it’s ideal that you frequently exfoliate, nothing you do should hurt your skin. Physical and chemical exfoliation are two safer ways to peel your skin and remove dead skin. Chemical exfoliation involves substances that promote skin shedding using gentle chemicals like hydroxyl acids. Conversely, physical exfoliation uses brushes and loofas to aid skin shedding by applying gentle pressure.
This article delves into body exfoliation and everything you must know to guarantee safety and effectiveness.
What Determines the Frequency of Skin Exfoliation
Skin exfoliation isn’t all-encompassing age or skin type; you must tailor the process to your skin needs. That’ll help you avoid irritating your skin or hurting it beyond redemption. Here’s what should determine your body exfoliation regimen.
Your Age – Your skin’s propensity to shed as you age usually reduces and may require your hands-on involvement to give it a shove. Your skin will otherwise appear dull and cracking, which can be uncomfortable. You may need to exfoliate more frequently as you age, perhaps a single round more, to keep your skin healthy and attractive.
Skin Sensitivity – if your skin is susceptible to pressure and chemicals, you might want to minimize your rate of exfoliation. That’ll help you avoid possible irritation and discomfort. A single weekly scrub can be sufficient, but always be sure to go easy on your skin. Also, remember that your skin becomes more sensitive as you age, and as increasing exfoliation frequency is essential, please keep tab tabs on possible developments.
Hydration – Dry skin doesn’t require more frequent exfoliation compared to an oily one. The frequency of exfoliating skin in oily skin types is usually higher than for dry kinds.
Skin Exfoliation Methods to Use
You can exfoliate your skin using two methods: chemically or physically. Both ways get your skin glossier and smoother and share similar remediating goals. However, the approaches are different, with the physical way using more pressure on the skin. Quite frankly, scrubbing can cause more itchiness on sensitive skin compared to chemical exfoliation.
Physical Skin Exfoliation – This approach is hands-on and uses hoofers and scrubs to peel dead skin to open up the pores. Usually, it’d help if you patched on a face scrub on your body before using your hands to buff away dead skin. The scrub contains tiny granules to increase the grip and scoop what appears like dirt on the skin, leaving it glossier and more youthful. Loofas can also be handy, especially on the rest of your body, since they’re sturdy and mildly abrasive to dislodge and remove dead skin.
Chemical Skin Exfoliation – This method is gentler on the skin than physical exfoliation. It involves applying a chemical to the skin to break the bonds between the skin cells, making it quite a breeze to wipe away. Alpha- and Beta-hydroxy acids and fruit enzymes are usually the best for the job, with the former being ideal for dry skin. Of course, no one wants to apply any chemicals on their skin for fear of causing damage than good. But while the term “chemical” is used, it doesn’t necessarily imply using abrasive substances that can be potentially harmful to your skin.
How Do I Safely Exfoliate Skin?
While exfoliating is quite a commendable practice by dermatologists, you must carefully do it to prevent potential harm. Besides, it’d help if you were more cautious to avoid possible short- and long-term skin irritations, especially when using the physical approach. Here’s how you can safely exfoliate your skin.
Avoid Overdoing It
You only need to exfoliate your skin two to three times a week, as dermatologists suggest. However, please don’t overdo it until it becomes more detrimental than beneficial. Intense and more frequent than necessary exfoliation can strip you of your protective skin barrier, leading to hyperpigmentation and inflammation, which are pretty uncomfortable.
It’d be better to consult your dermatologist for skin assessments to determine the best frequency and intensity of exfoliation. However, you can be your own judge if you have the proper acquaintance.
Use Gentler and More Rounded Motions When Using Face Scrubs
It’s always best to be gentle on your skin to avoid potential irritation and damage. Therefore, please use light pressure and rounded motion when scrubbing. Also, please listen to your skin and be keen on how it responds to the treatment. Being more gentle helps remove the gunk without causing potential irritations and hyperpigmentation, which can be more painful after the regimen.
Start Exfoliating Slowly
You may slowly start a new treatment than going all in entirely. It’ll help ease you into the treatment as your body picks up the cues to adapt. Rushing into the regimen may not help your skin adapt to the treatment and can bother you with nagging irritation if things fail to click right. Worse still, you risk damaging your skin if the treatment isn’t ideal for your skin.
Never Fear Trying New Treatments
You may get stuck on a single skin exfoliation regimen, not knowing that you have much better options you haven’t tried out. Sometimes, physical exfoliation may not be ideal or practical compared to chemical treatments. However, you’ll only realize that when you become more experimental and adventurous with the diverse exfoliation methods. Remember to be cautious as you explore newer exfoliation treatments to avoid potential damage to the skin.
Conclusion
Exfoliation helps allow your skin to breathe and show its youthful side by removing gunk and dead skin that the body shades over time. But while that’s essential, it helps to understand how best or often you should do it. An exfoliated skin is usually fresh and more comfortable, so it helps make this treatment regimen more frequent without predisposing your skin to damage.
