What Is Over-Exfoliation And How To Beat It
Throughout the day and night, our skin is constantly regenerating. It regenerates entirely in about 27 days. But what happens to the old skin? Well, it is simply supposed to shed. This is an entirely natural process. But the world we live in makes it a little bit difficult. The pollution, the sun, and the climate we live in can hinder this process and cause issues to our skin.
To ensure that we are not getting stuck with our old dead skin, we have to make sure that we are exfoliating. Exfoliate comes from the Latin term exfoliare which means to peel-off/strip-off. Exfoliation is the process of removing old dead skin by the means of chemicals, peels, or other abrasive materials.
Exfoliation has great benefits for your skin. Some of the benefits are:
- Exfoliation can prevent early aging
- Exfoliation allows your skin to glow naturally
- Exfoliation opens your pores so the skin can breathe easily
- Exfoliation creates an even skin tone
- Exfoliation allows moisturizers and serum to produce the best results
And there’s more…
But there can always be too much of a good thing. Going overboard, can and will result in damage to your skin. Let’s understand how much exfoliation is too much, what are the signs of it, and what we can do about it to recover and heal.
Over-Exfoliation Explained
There are two types of exfoliation: Mechanical and Chemical
First, we have mechanical exfoliation where the skin is scrubbed physically by hand or by a machine. Physical exfoliation is done by tools such as a facial scrub with granular particles, exfoliating brush, a microfiber cloth, and more. These are used to scrub off the dead skin by rubbing on the skin. Depending on the size of the particles and the friction on the skin, the results can vary.
Aside from that, there is a process called derma-planning. Dermplanning is a process where the dead skin is manually exfoliated using a surgical blade. An aesthetician uses this surgical blade to gently scrapes off the outermost layer of the skin. This is the part that contains most of the dead skin and hairs.
Furthermore, there is another procedure called microdermabrasion which happens in the office of a licensed healthcare professional. Microdermabrasion is a non-invasive process where the aesthetician uses a machine to spray and rub tiny abrasive crystals on the skin. This removes the topmost layer of the skin and brings up a new fresh layer.
Next, we have chemical exfoliation which uses acids to clear the skin off the dead cells. Chemical exfoliation doesn’t need much scrubbing as compared to mechanical exfoliation.
One of the most popular chemical exfoliations is chemical peeling. This is another process that needs to be conducted by a professional at their office. In this procedure the acids from the peels penetrate the skin, stick to it and lift them off when peeled.
Charene Beauty specializes in both mechanical and chemical exfoliation treatments.
Give us a call or text on 203 656 4440 to know more and book an appointment.
Signs of over-exfoliation
Over-exfoliation may not require a detailed investigation. It is one of those things that you would know when you feel it.
But at times we may tend to ignore the early signs. So here’s a list of symptoms that you can look for when you’re looking for over-exfoliation:
- Irritation of the skin
- Redness
- Inflammation or burning sensation
- Flakiness and dryness
- Sudden breakout of pimples and acne
- High oiliness of the skin
- Ultra shiny skin
- Swelling or puffiness of the skin
- Peels of skin coming off
- Tightness of the skin which results in breaking when moved
How To Heal From Over-Exfoliation
Clean Your Skin Immediately
If you start to feel a burning or itching sensation while exfoliating, the best thing would be to stop immediately. You can then proceed to rinse the exfoliants with water or a gentle cleanser. Make sure that you’re not rubbing your skin again since that may cause further harm.
Use Cool Compresses
After the exfoliation, if you start to feel itchiness or pain, you need to first wash off the excess exfoliants. Next, take a clean cloth, damp it in cold water, and press it on the parts where you’re feeling irritable. Make sure to not rub the towel on the skin since that may lead to more irritation. Do this until the skin feels calmer.
Avoid Exfoliating Entirely
One of the first and the most crucial steps you can take to heal from over-exfoliation is to stop exfoliating completely for a while. This will give some time for your skin to heal naturally.
Give your skin as long as it takes to first heal and then start generating new skin. As mentioned before that the skin takes about four weeks to regenerate. So it would be best to give it at least a month’s break.
Pick A Milder Face Wash
Now that you’ve decided not to exfoliate your skin until it heals, the next thing would be to pick products that are going to help you recover.
You can start by avoiding harsher products and picking milder or natural alternatives that still give you the desired results. Before that please check your allergies when you switch to a new product with new ingredients as we don’t want further harm to our skin.
Moisturize as a priority
Your skin always has a way of healing itself. But it can’t do it on its own entirely. Hydration plays a major role when it comes to healing skin that is hurt anyway.
Moisturizing is the next step to hydration where we supply the amount of water needed for the skin and then lock it there for a longer period of time. Moisturizing also helps is avoiding dirt and any other particle to reach the sensitive skin and causing more issues.
Don’t let the sun in
As we all know that the sun can cause damage to healthy skin with its UV rays, we must now be more careful when we are healing our damaged skin.
You can do that by applying products that protect you from the sun regularly. Even on cloudy days, since we want the best protection for us.
An SPF30 product would be a lifesaver for you here. Make sure you’re applying an ample amount of it and every part of the exposed skin. You also need to ensure that it goes well with your moisturizer as we don’t want them to react against each other.
Final Word
We at Charene Beauty are highly skilled at all kinds of exfoliation techniques mentioned above.
Give us a call or text on 203 656 4440.
Looking forward to seeing you!
