Dry Skin Exfoliants: Best Skin Exfoliation Products For Better Skin Care
Dry Skin Exfoliants
Skin exfoliants is an useful skin product to combat dry skin problem. Very dry skin lacks the lipids found in the outer layer of healthy skin. (Lipids moisten the skin.)
When the lipid content is reduced, water quickly evaporates, resulting in dry, cracked skin. If your skin is extremely dry, a lipid-replacement moisturizer, combined with an exfoliant, allows the skin to retain water more naturally.
A buildup of dead, dry skin increases cell density and slows the rate of cell division in all skin types. But in dry skin, the dead layer acts like a sponge, holding onto valuable moisture, so it can’t reach lower layers where it is most needed.
Skin exfoliants actually improve dry skin's ability to retain moisture by eliminating these dead skin cells.
How often should you exfoliate? Exfoliate dry skin once or twice a week. Exfoliate more in the summer, when dead skin cells coat your skin even more.
Avoid exfoliants that rub you the wrong way! Use oil- or cream-based applicators around the face/neck areas. Check that your brand uses only the finest grains, e.g., classic beauty grain powders. Make sure they are free of abrasive agents, so as to activate surface circulation, without causing irritation.
Types of Exfoliants
There are different types of exfoliants available to exfoliate your skin:
AHA serums (easy to apply applicators) to exfoliate your skin
Exfoliating skin Scrubs (manual or mechanical rubbing action to remove impurities); and,
Exfoliating Masks (although there is no official definition, a mask is basically a leave-on recipe of botanicals and extracts that penetrate through to pores and peel away superficial layers of dead cells)
Skin Exfoliants
Skin cells live for about 21 days, moving from the basal cell layer of the epidermis up to the surface. As they migrate upward, they become flatter and lose their moisture-retaining ability.
Following their three-week lifespan, the cells die but stick to the skin’s surface. We have anywhere from between 15-35 layers of dead cells on our skin's surface, at any one time.
Skin exfoliants work to release these glue-like bonds from the skin’s surface and reveal the living skin, below.
Does exfoliating help dry skin? Regular skin exfoliating reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, commonly associated with dry skin.
Fruit Acids exfoliants
Fruit acids are weak organic acids and are derived from various sources including:
tomatoes
grapes
apples
sugar cane
maple
pineapple
papaya
willow bark
lemon
lime
sour milk
blackberries
cider
yogurt
Fruit acids are natural exfoliants that perform a number of functions on the skin’s surface. Botanical fruit acid exfoliants loosen and dissolve dead cells from the skin's surface, regenerate new skin cells. These are perfect for smoothing out rough, dry skin.
Best Natural Face Exfoliants
The two best natural face exfoliants are: alpha hydroxy acids (AHA’s) and beta hydroxy acid (BHA). There is only one BHA (beta hydroxy acid): salicylic acid. There are five types of AHA’s found in skin care products: glycolic, lactic, malic, citric, and tartaric acids. Glycolic and lactic acids are the most common. The difference between AHA’s and BHA is that AHA’s are water-soluble; BHA is lipid (oil)-soluble. AHA’s, therefore, are the best natural exfoliants for sun-damaged, thickened, dry skin.
Natural face exfoliants, including high concentration of minerals found in salts and black mud, are particularly beneficial to dry skin. Vanilla Bean containing little micro-beads that remove dry/dead skin is another good example of a natural exfoliant.
A skin exfoliator that incorporates cleansing milk to help moisturize and replace oil is also ideal for dry skin.
TIP: There no risk that AHA’s and BHA will cause you to lose “too much skin.” There is a “drop-off rate,” meaning the AHA and BHA exfoliates just the dead surface skin, leaving healthy skin alone.
Don’t be surprised that the dramatic results in the beginning of skin exfoliating are more impressive than results over time.
