Regular wash, cleansing, and exfoliating the skin – it’s all about a perfect skin care regimen, the only way to get rid of the obstinacy of blackheads, whiteheads, pimples, and zits. The term skin exfoliation is no more unheard especially by the acne victims since most of them fall back on this painstaking means of keeping the skin free from unwanted abundance of dead cells. These dead skin cells around the hair follicle lining are actually responsible for clogging the skin pores.
Natural Process of Exfoliation
Exfoliation, more precisely, is a natural process of our body to peel off the dead skin cells. This process is known as desquamation. Every 28 days a new cell is born deep inside the skin layer called epidermis. Day by day it comes up near the skin surface and yet newer cells are born in the same way.
By the time it reaches the skin surface, it is dead and so are millions of other cells. These dead cells get detached from the skin surface and accumulate as what we see as dust on our furniture, floor and other places. Yes, what we think as dirt or dust particles, are actually nothing but mostly the dead skin cells.
This natural skin exfoliation system somehow dysfunctions in case of most of the acne plagued people. And for this reason the dead cells remain on the skin surface and those which surround the hair follicle lining, cluster inside the pores inhibiting the way of the natural body oil to come out freely.
They get accumulated inside the pores along with the dead skin cells, promoting a breeding ground for Propionibacterium acnes and this is how acne takes shape. Besides generating acne, the layer of dead cells also sustains a pale and dull look of the skin surface damaging the natural and healthy appearance.
Artificial Exfoliating Agents
The only way to cope easily with this abnormality is to manually remove the dead cells using some exfoliating agent. Exfoliating agents help in scrubbing out the layer of dead cells, thereby revealing the hidden fresh layer of skin cells to bring a clear and healthy look.
These exfoliating agents come in various forms like scrubbers, cleansers, creams, gels, lotions, and the like. A habit of regular exfoliation also aggravates the skin’s ability to absorb moisture naturally which in turn helps in preventing fine lines, wrinkles, and even scars.
Manual, chemical, and enzyme are the three main categories of artificial skin exfoliation.
Manual exfoliation
Manual exfoliation involves products that are either topically applied or used to wipe off the skin surface. Gentle scrubbers, soft washcloth, or exfoliating masks usually fall under this category. The only precaution which must be taken care of is that the granules contained by the products must be smaller in size.
Or else the rubbing or scrubbing would turn too harsh for the skin surface, specially the face. Manual exfoliation is generally recommended for people with normal skin or those with rather inferior cases of acne breakouts. Irritation or other disturbances are likely to appear if applied on sensitive and moderate or severe acne prone/plagued skin.
Chemical exfoliation
Chemical exfoliation is another kind of skin exfoliation technique that involves the implication of products like gels, creams, lotions, etc. To achieve the best result, apply the chemical exfoliating agents after washing and pat drying the skin. Unfortunately this type of exfoliation makes one’s skin too sensitive under the exposure of direct sunlight.
Enzyme skin exfoliation kit
Protyolytic enzymes derived from papaya or pineapple are mainly used to prepare these products. Several items ranging from powders, pads, cleansers, or masks fall under this category.
They are specially designed for sensitive skin and therefore actions like rubbing or scrubbing are tentatively avoided in their applications.
Unlike other exfoliating procedures, the enzyme exfoliation dissolves the dead cells instead of manually removing them with a coarse material, minimizing the impact of friction and irritation on sensitive skin.
Alternative methods of skin exfoliation
Often people resort to home remedies in order to avoid side effects and be risk free. And for this reason good home remedies for skin exfoliation had also been invented. Tying up a few tablespoon of wet oatmeal in a damp cheesecloth or muslin, and then gently rubbing it on the skin for five minutes could bring about drastic impacts.
