Sunday, October 3, 2010

Importance of exfoliation for younger, clearer and beautiful skin


Over the past decade the popularity in chemical peels, surgery, and chemical based products has greatly increased due to the promise of drastic results and eternal youth. Today however, the trend is beginning to lean more towards natural ingredients and simpler treatments for skin care and health.
Natural ingredients incorporated in exfoliators, scrubs, toners, moisturizers, and face cleansers are proven to be safer and healthier than the popular chemical approaches while delivering just as great results. The antioxidants, proteins, vitamins, enzymes, and other nutrients in these products are becoming more understood as society becomes better educated on their health and well being. Today we want to feel young and look healthy at all ages. Although aging is a natural process that we cannot stop (oh nooooo), we keep ourselves healthy inside and out so the aging process will not be so harsh on us.

You can’t really reverse the process of aging, but you can improve and slow it down by encouraging collagen production, increasing the skin’s moisture content, improve the skin’s ability to protect itself, neutralize skin damaging free radicals, and stimulate the skin cell renewal and repair. Over time, the skins ability to accomplish these processes lessens. Skin needs proper care and nourishment inside and out in order to protect itself and prevent further damage as well as encourage the repair and rejuvenation process.

In addition to regular cleansing and moisturizing, exfoliating is a must to reveal the most healthy and ageless complexion. During the aging process, visible changes in tone and complexion occur as circulation slows providing less of the needed nutrients. As these changes occur, skin can begin to sag, become dry and start to lose its elasticity. The internet provides a great deal of information regarding exfoliation, often conflicting for consumers. Most of us are aware of the general benefits of exfoliation; softer, smoother, less aged complexion. However, the science behind why we need to exfoliate is a mystery to most and likely not thought of enough to know the importance of exfoliating properly.

Exfoliation occurs naturally every day, the technical term “Desquamation” means the shedding of the outer layers of the skin. For example, the skin sheds dead skin as it heals from a wound. This process however is faster for some more so than others. Aging causes the cells in the skin to become thickened, resulting in a buildup of skin cells atop the skin causing a less toned complexion and thicker appearance, preventing absorbency of any skin treatment applied to it. Once this process begins to slow, the natural exfoliation process slows and becomes more difficult to exfoliate.

Environment influences can cause slowing of the natural exfoliation process, influenced by the actual physical environment, hormones (estrogen, androgens, and epidermal growth factor), vitamin deficiencies, and let’s not forget smoking. Aside from smoking, these factors sometimes happen whether we like them to or not, making exfoliation vital to the health of your skin. Eliminating the dead skin cells (known as stratum corneum) allows for new skin cells to rejuvenate, resulting in an improved appearance, tone, and feel. The two most widely used approaches for exfoliation are chemical and physical exfoliation.

Over the past decade, dermatological peels costing consumers thousands of dollars have become popular. On the milder side, toners and scrubs containing ingredients that assist in exfoliating (natural ingredients used by Sweetsation are: Papaya, pineapple, vitamin C) have become popular as well as people tend to turn to natural remedies these days. Chemical exfoliation treatments contain a variety of hydroxy acids, enzymes, and retinols (not limited to) and have been most commonly used. The ideal physical exfoliants contain natural ingredients that are massaged gently on top of the skin.

The idea behind exfoliating is to normalize cell turnover in the epidermis; stimulating the formation of healthy skin, ridding dead skin cells and dry scales, and stimulation of new cells, reviling the new beautiful you. It is important to note that exfoliating on irritated skin can slow the healing of that skin and should be avoided. Further, sun protection is a must as you rid the out layer of dead cells and your body produces new cells your skin is left exposed. Studies recommend between SPF15 and SPF30, however, we recommend nothing less than SPF30 for maximum protection.

Consistent exfoliation can benefit and enhance your skin. The process prevents clogged pores, acne, ingrown hairs, some types of infection, prevent small scarring from blemishes and reduces the appearance of present scars. In addition, exfoliation unblocks pores through the increases of blood circulation in your skin, the cleanser and moisturizer you use will work better to clean and protect your “healthy” skin as the dead cells clear away.

4 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. We are told to dry out the skin with harsh acne products. Although this will destroy acne-causing bacteria, it tends to dry out the skin, and this usually results in not only irritated skin but also in future breakouts. dermatology laser

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  3. We are told to dry out the skin with harsh acne products. Although this will destroy acne-causing bacteria, it tends to dry out the skin, and this usually results in not only irritated skin but also in future breakouts. dermatology laser

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  4. Exactly. Sometimes acne is not caused by just bacteria. The problem can be hormonal and unless it's resolved internally, the acne will just keep coming back. But keeping skin clean sure helps.

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