Benefits of Body Exfoliation

The Incredible Health and Beauty Benefits of Body Exfoliation

Exfoliating is an incredible way to remove dead skin cells from your body. Our skin is exposed to so many elements in the environment as well as what we put on our skin. It needs a break and a chance to have a clean slate. Washing your skin is great for removing dirt, but it requires exfoliation to remove dead skin cells all over your body. Let’s dig into the incredible health and beauty benefits of body exfoliation.

What is Exfoliation?

According to Very Well Health, every 30 days your skin rids itself of dead skin cells on its own to make room for new ones. Sometimes those dead skin cells get trapped in your pores or cause irritated flaky patches of skin. The best way to prevent this? Exfoliation. Exfoliating is the process of removing these dead skin cells from your skin by using physical or chemical exfoliation.

Physical exfoliation uses the process of manual scrubbing of your skin with a product. These types of products can include body scrubs, exfoliating bar soaps, body brushes, or loofahs. Loofahs and exfoliating bar soaps are great at a surface level, but they don’t help heal the skin like our body scrubs do. Physical exfoliation is a popular method because these products are easy to access, offer immediate results, and you can do it at home.

Chemical exfoliation is a more involved process of using different chemicals that typically include AHA or BHA, hydroxy acids, retinol, and enzymes that help your skin look fresher and more youthful. AHA and BHA work on a cellular level to exfoliate and remove dead skin, but depending on the product, may not contain the cleanest ingredients or may have other harsh ingredients in the formula. They also may be too strong of an exfoliant for some skin types. Chemical peels are great for treating mild scarring, sunspots, certain types of acne, and dark patches. Chemical exfoliants are more intense for your skin but provide dramatic results.

Both physical and chemical exfoliation can irritate your skin if not done properly. The American Academy of Dermatology warns that if improper exfoliation can cause redness or acne breakouts so it’s important to follow the steps we’ll outline below in our favorite exfoliating routine. Additionally, some scrubs may contain plastic microbeads that end up in our waterways.

The Benefits of Exfoliation

There are numerous incredible benefits of exfoliating your skin. Dr Aman Dua with AK Clinics explains the science behind how a regular routine keeps your skin clear of dirt that may have embedded itself into your skin. She outlines how washing your face alone is not enough to remove the elements. Look at the incredible benefits listed below: 

• Removes dead skin cells: Whether it’s manually done with a physical product, or chemical, exfoliating removes dead skin cells by sloughing off the dead skin.
• Improves texture and appearance of the skin: Exfoliating reveals new and fresh skin cells once dead skin cells are removed, improving the texture of your skin.
• Stimulates cell turnover: By increasing circulation, exfoliation keeps healthy cells at the surface, promoting cell turnover.
• Unclogs pores: Exfoliation removes dirt and dead skin cells regular cleansers cannot, which unclogs your pores.
• Prevents ingrown hair: By removing dead skin that can get trapped in pores, exfoliating lifts your hair away from the skin, preventing it from becoming ingrown.
• Reduces the appearance of strawberry legs: Exfoliating helps soften your skin, which then loosens up dirt and oil from your pores, reducing the appearance of strawberry legs.
• Improves absorption of skincare products: Exfoliating allows for better absorption of your skincare products at the cellular level because it opens your pores to allow the products in.
• Provides immediate results: Exfoliating provides immediate results by removing dead skin cells and leaving your appearance brighter and fresher.

Why It's Important to Exfoliate Your Whole Body

Many people believe exfoliating is for the face only. It’s extremely important to exfoliate your entire body to prevent buildup of dirt. This is important to prevent body acne, ingrown hairs, and inflamed pores. Your body naturally sweats and accumulates dirt that normal cleansers can’t always remove, just like your face. You want to exfoliate to prevent dirt from getting stuck underneath your skin’s surface.

Exfoliating your body is different from your face because your skin is thicker. This allows for the use of rougher exfoliants to really remove dead skin cells and dirt as things like body acne can be trickier to resolve. Sebum, which according to Healthline, is an oily, waxy substance produced by your body's sebaceous glands, can build up in excess without exfoliation.

Different products are made for different body parts when it comes to exfoliating. While there are face scrubs on the market, we like body scrubs for skin on the body and opt for other ingredients similar to AHA and BHA to work on your face, like Niacinamide that work on a cellular level.

Our Favorite Exfoliation Routine

Knowing how to properly exfoliate your skin is important for best results. You don’t want to risk irritated, red, patchy skin by doing it improperly. Exfoliating two to three times per week with our body scrubs found here will provide you with the best results. It’s best not to exfoliate more than that as your skin needs time to rejuvenate in between.

Our body scrubs are either oil-based or butter-based, and are made with natural, plant-based ingredients that heal your skin. We also use microcrystal sugar which is gentle enough to buff away dirt and dead skin. Our oil-based products include cherry almond, Hawaiian coconut, and vitamin c. Our butter based are pomegranate and vegan unscented. Every single one of our products are good for all skin types, but our butter is made for extremely dry skin.

Here's the Routine:

1. First, it’s important to cleanse your skin before exfoliating with one of our products like our artisan soaps. This allows for proper and better absorption of products.
2. Next, exfoliate using one of our body scrubs, specially formulated with the most natural ingredients for top quality results.
3. Then, for long-lasting results, use one of our high-quality body butters on slightly damp skin, followed by our body oils to lock in the hydration and moisture. If your skin is prone to being extra dry, use a butter-based scrub like our vegan unscented body scrub or pomegranate formula.

Conclusion

As you can see, exfoliating is a great idea for not just your face, but your entire body. There are many incredible health and beauty benefits that last a lifetime when following our exfoliating routine. We have options for you no matter what type of skin you have! If you have normal skin, use our Hawaiian coconut, cherry scrub. If you have dry skin, it’s best to use our pomegranate scrub or vegan unscented. If you have sensitive skin, our vegan unscented is best. If you have blemish prone skin, our vitamin c scrub will work for you. Remember not to exfoliate over skin that currently has a breakout or open pustules as you may cause further irritation. Find all our products here!