1. SUGAR
Sugar is a fantastic exfoliant. It gently sloughs away dead skin cells and rough patches to reveal super soft, radiant skin underneath. Look for natural scrubs at the store, made from sugar, or create your own sugar scrub at home.
Mix 1 part white cane sugar with 1 part glycerin or other oil. You can add a little aloe vera gel for its skin-softening and healing properties, along with a few drops of essential oil for fragrance.
Mix the ingredients in a bowl and then scoop a little of the scrub into the palm of your hand. Massage gently onto your skin in a circular motion. Leave on for five minutes before rinsing. You can use sugar scrub all over your body
Look for these natural ingredients when buying a skin cleanser
2. OATMEAL
Raw oats (not the pre-cooked, instant variety) make a fantastic natural scrub for your skin. Mix 3 teaspoons of raw oats with a teaspoon of pure honey and a 1/4 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. Add more honey if needed.
Apply this sticky scrub to your face in circular movements and leave on for 15 minutes before rinsing with warm water. If it's too messy to make an oatmeal scrub at home, you can find a variety of facial scrubs in the market that contain oats as well.
Cornmeal is another natural exfoliant that can be used instead of oats. It promotes cellular turnover and regeneration, while leaving your skin feeling fresh and smooth.
3. SALT
Salt is a staple in the kitchen and can be an integral part of your beauty routine as well. Invigorate your body with a natural scrub containing sea salt.
Sea salt scrubs gently remove dead skin cells, improve circulation and smooth your skin. You can create a basic salt body scrub by mixing one cup of sea salt with one cup of olive oil. Add five drops of essential oil (orange or apricot). Apricot oil is known for its hydrating properties, making it a great addition to any homemade scrub recipe. You can also find apricot facial scrub at your local pharmaceutical store.
If your sea salt scrub is a little runny, you can add more salt to get it to the right consistency. Store the mixture in a sealed container for later use.
4. WALNUTS
Ground walnuts mixed with yogurt makes a fantastic facial scrub. You can often find walnuts already ground in health food stores, but if you can't, use your food processor to grind 1/4 cup of walnuts and mix with 1/4 cup of plain yogurt. The walnuts have exfoliating properties, while the yogurt is anti-bacterial and anti-fungal -- leaving your skin clean and refreshed. Yogurt is also high in lactic acid, which is known to treat dry skin and fight wrinkles.
Massage the walnut-yogurt mixture into your skin and allow to set for 10-15 minutes before rinsing with cool water.
5. GREEN TEA
Green tea isn't just good to drink, it can also be a fantastic ingredient in natural body scrubs and other skin care products. Because green tea is rich in antioxidants, it helps nourish and protect your skin. Green tea also possesses anti-inflammatory properties, making it a good choice for sensitive or acne-prone skin.
Look for skin care products containing green tea, or add a little green tea to one of the aforementioned skin scrub recipes.
Types of exfoliators
There are many exfoliators in the market: chemical peels, electrical micro-dermabrasion, manual scrubs, beads and cloths. Some scrub granules/beads are too big and can actually tear the skin to pieces and cause infections and more spots. Small beads such as jojoba pearls are more spherical therefore gentler on the skin.
For more abrasive exfoliators, due to the degree by which they penetrate the skin, sometimes through as many as 5 layers of the epidermis through to the dermal layer, it is recommended that you seek professional advice and application.
*After exfoliating, always apply a SPF 15 or above face cream/serum to protect your skin from the sunlight and prevent photo-sensitivity. It must also be packed with antioxidants, essential fatty acids, minerals and vitamins to hydrate, restore and feed the skin. Over-use of exfoliators can thin the skin and leave you vulnerable to premature aging.
Pros
Dry & Mature skin benefit from exfoliation because it increases the production of new skin cells and sebum to hydrate and smooth the skin, but do not exfoliate more than once a week and only use gentle exfoliators as dry & mature skin is delicate.
If you are blessed with Normal skin you are able to exfoliate twice a week. Oily skin is generally congested with clogged pores and excess production of sebum. It is recommended that you exfoliate once a week for oily skin. Sensitive skin should not be exfoliated weekly as it can leave the skin more sensitive and feeling raw.
African men in particular can benefit greatly by exfoliating the beard area, as this will help the prevention of ingrown hairs/shaving bumps. The exfoliation helps to tease the hair tip out from under the skin. Use a dry wash cloth (Washi Cloth) or polyester web sponge to exfoliate.
Also, exfoliating can help to reduce the appearance of hyper-pigmentation but this is a slow process and dependent on the type of exfoliating method used.
Cons
There has been a lot of talk about the benefits of exfoliating your skin and unfortunately, some believe it is necessary to exfoliate daily to achieve and reveal that beautiful soft skin. However, this is worst thing that you can do. Exfoliating daily with an abrasive product will firstly remove the skins natural oil and will remove the protective acid mantle that is there to protect your skin. In addition the skin can become sensitive, excessively dry and sore and speed up the aging process, as dry skin causes fine lines. Alternatively, in other cases excessive exfoliating can cause the skin to over produce sebum that can cause acne, a plethora of spots/bumps that can become infected. As we know spots and bumps can cause hyper-pigmentation in women of colour that are hard to remove.
By removing the protective layer you can allow the introduction of potentially harmful ingredients/chemicals into the body.
Remember the goal to exfoliating is to achieve softer, healthier skin. If it becomes red, sore, dry or over active sebaceous glands, you need to stop exfoliating and allow the skin to recover and heal.
Hope you find this useful...Keep Your Charm'
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