Exfoliation

You've probably heard of exfoliation before, but do you really know what it is or how it works? Exfoliating is a vital part of skincare, and should be a regular part of everyone's routine. It keeps your skin looking vibrant, and if you want that sought-after youthful glow, you really can't do without it. In light of this, Vine Vera decided to give you a comprehensive guild to exfoliating, what it is, why you should do it, what you should know, and how to go about it.

What is Exfoliating?

You may already know the answer, but even if you do, keep reading; you might learn something new about it! Further, it's surprisingly possible to exfoliate regularly and yet not really know exactly what exfoliation entails.

Exfoliation is the process of removing dead, damaged, and old, rough skin cells from the epidermis (the top layer of your skin) so that the younger, softer, healthy skin cells underneath can be seen and felt more readily. This has the potential to make you appear more radiant and youthful, and

How Does it Work?

Exfoliation works by applying—and often vigorously rubbing in—an exfoliant to the surface of the skin. The exfoliant then releases old skin cells from your skin, and you wash everything off. There are two types of exfoliants, physical and chemical. Physical exfoliants use coarse grains or beads to physically rub off the rough and damaged skin cells. Anything marketed as a “facial scrub” that feels grainy or contains tiny little beads is probably a physical exfoliant. Chemical exfoliants contain an ingredient like glycolic acid or lactic acid, which dissolve the binding agents between cells, causing a few layers of them to fall off and wash away with a quick rinse.

Most of Vine Vera's collections include an exfoliant of some kind, such as our various peeling gels, which will leave your face looking radiant and youthful with once-weekly applications.

How Often Should I Exfoliate?

This depends on your skin type, what exfoliant you're using, and how much exfoliation you need to look good, but a good rule of thumb is once every week. If you're unsure, start with once a week and adjust it, if necessary, to be slightly more or less frequent depending on how you react to it, according to your body's needs.

Do I Only Need to Exfoliate My Face?

Absolutely not! While the face is likely the area that can benefit most from regular exfoliation in terms of aesthetics, your whole body could use a good dose of exfoliation every now and then too. When exfoliating your body skin, you can use somewhat rougher methods than would be okay for your face, like sugar scrubs (which you can make for yourself at home by simply mixing brown or white sugar with a skin-safe oil like olive or coconut), and you also don't need to do it very often; once or twice a month should be fine. However, doing some kind of exfoliation at least once a month can help prevent body acne as well as give your whole body a softer, younger appearance.

As a side note, if you're exfoliating and shaving your legs on the same day, do the exfoliating first! It will actually make it easier to shave, and it will spare you the irritation of further agitating skin that's been made sensitive by having a razor dragged across it.