08/08/2024
Does the idea of exfoliation freak you out?
Through my esthetician journey, I’ve noticed multiple clients, colleagues, and friends express the fear they associate with exfoliation.
Half of clientele requests you burn their face off, while the other half shutters at the idea of the gentlest exfoliators. Honestly, after growing up on St. Ives, homemade sugar scrubs, and panoxyl, I don’t blame you! What if I told you that exfoliation doesn’t need to burn to work and is no where near as scary as it seems?
To understand exfoliation, first we need to understand cellular turnover. Cellular turnover is essentially the skin cell’s lifespan from birth to shedding off. In this process, new cells are created in the lower layers of the skin and proceed to move to the surface within a span of four weeks. The skin then naturally sheds off through a process called desquamation.
This process plays a key role in your appearance by keeping the skin smooth, promoting faster healing, and protecting the skin from UV rays, pollution, and other free radicals.
The epidermis is where your stratum corneum or outermost layer of skin is, and where the cellular turnover process occurs. On the average person, this process takes about 28 to 40 days to cycle from the birth of a skin cell to it’s shedding off.
As people age, cellular turnover slows, leaving dead skin cells on the skin’s surface longer. On average, adults under 50 take 28 - 42 days for this process to complete, while adults over 50 may take up to 84 days. This could lead to dull, uneven, rough skin with fine lines and dark spots.
People with acne prone skin may experience slower cellular turnover due to hyperkeratosis (over production of keratin cells) or other factors such as a compromised skin barrier (usually due to overuse of active ingredients or irritants). As our body’s age and change, how do we maintain an average cellular turnover cycle? Exfoliation of course!
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