We are told to exfoliate, but not too much. What?

Every twenty eight days our dead skin cells make their way from our inside to the surface of our skin all over the body.I am only talking about the face, but know that the entire body needs a scrubbing head to toe. I do the face regularly but the entire body with the change of seasons I will have a body scrub done.

Marie Claire’s  Ten Myth’s, I have decided to post my own beliefs and comments for each of their 10 myths. The Dr is now saying ” Skin is actually a good exfoliator on its own” so she rarely recommends manual scrubs.

Marie Clair  not only a 20 year old’s read your magazine, women in their 30′s,40′s read Marie Claire too. I am upset because that information being quoted from a DR, is misinformation. Yes, the skin can exfoliate on its own, until we reach a certain age, then the body slows down, so  does exfoliation and manual exfoliation becomes more important.

Here is someone other than myself telling you about skin cell turnover. Ask An Esthetician:

If you suffer from breakouts, exfoliation is a key step in your home skincare routine.  As I discussed in my earlier post acne begins to form when your pores are clogged with dead skin cells and oil.  People who suffer from acne need to help their bodies slough off the dead skin cells so that they don’t clog the pore and so oil doesn’t get stuck in the pore as well.  Regular exfoliation is the key to keeping your pores unclogged.

As we age our cell renewal factor or cell turnover rate slows down.  The cell turnover rate is the process by which our skin produces new skin cells which travel from the lowest layer of the epidermis to the top layer and then shed off the skin.

Think about this – a baby’s cell turnover rate is 14 days, a teenager’s is 21-28 days, a middle age person’s 28 to 42 days, and someone who is in their 50s or older the rate is between 42 to 84 days.  That means that as we age the top layer of the skin, the one we see, touch, and even agonize over, becomes dull.  We lose our “glow”.  And think about this – if the top layer of your skin is really lots and lots and lots of dead skin cells (between 15 to 20 layers) how much of the antioxidant and retinol serums you are applying actually are getting through and doing what they are supposed to be doing?  We can help keep the top layer of skin from getting too thick with dead skin cells by exfoliating.  LOVE THIS INFORMATION… provided by Ask An Esthetician.