Exfoliating Your Skin

If you want your skin to look silky smooth, healthy and radiant, exfoliate regularly. By removing the top layer of dead epidermis cells, you will make your skin appear smoother and less wrinkled.

Steps: 1. Brush dry skin before getting into the shower. You can use either a loofah, exfoliating gloves or a body exfoliating brush. Start at the soles of the feet and work your way up.

2. Get into the bath or shower and wet your entire body.

3. Apply exfoliating cleanser to your loofah or exfoliating brush or gloves.

4. Scrub your body with it, using gentle, circular motions.

5. Opt for grainy types of cleansers to clean the skin, rather than soap. Choose exfoliating cleansers that contain ingredients such as oatmeal, ground almonds or even sea salt. The grainy texture exfoliates the skin.

6. Make your own exfoliating cleanser, if you prefer. Mix sea salt, olive oil and lemon juice together, or mix ground almonds and powdered milk. The combinations are endless.

7. Use a washcloth for mild exfoliation.

8. Rub rough spots, such as heels, with a pumice stone or stick.

9. Apply lotion containing alpha or beta hydroxy acids after you exfoliate. This will continue the exfoliating process because the acids further abrade and remove dead skin cells.

10. Be sure to use body moisturizers at least once every day. Regular exfoliating is extremely drying to the skin and will do more harm than good unless the skin is rehydrated liberally with lotions.

Tips: Some products are more abrasive than others. If your skin is very sensitive, use as little friction as possible and stick to the least abrasive products.

Warning: Never overexfoliate with excessively abrasive exfoliating cleansers, or you run the risk of bursting the delicate blood vessels under the skin. If the vessels burst, your skin may appear permanently flushed. This condition, known as telangiectasia, must then be treated using laser surgery.

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