The correct way to exfoliate: the cleaner the better

Modern people live in a "high-pressure era" and are inevitably affected by deteriorating external environmental conditions, unbalanced diet, irregular lifestyle, staying up late, smoking, drinking, emotions and other factors, which can easily disrupt the normal physiological rhythm, leading to slow metabolism, and the inability of keratinocytes to fall off naturally, and their thick accumulation on the skin surface.

The right way to exfoliate

First, clean your face thoroughly to remove the dirt on the surface, allowing the cuticle that needs to be removed to "float" up, which is also the process of softening the cuticle. Choose an exfoliating product. Younger skin is suitable for mild and non-irritating exfoliating gels. Use a deep cleansing mask twice a week at most. To lock in moisture, use toner/astringent/moisturizing water/softening water after exfoliating. This will make skin care products such as cream easier to absorb.

"Keratin" is skin garbage

There are numerous exfoliating advertisements and products on the market, but this is actually a misunderstanding. Exfoliation is not garbage. The stratum corneum is the outermost layer of our skin. The shedding of aged keratin is a normal metabolic process of skin cells. Its main function is to protect the subcutaneous tissue, prevent the subcutaneous tissue from infection, dehydration, and resist the pressure caused by chemical and external forces. The cells of the stratum corneum contain keratin. It helps reduce water evaporation and even absorbs water to keep the skin moisturized. Therefore, it is wrong to simply think that "keratin" is skin waste. However, if the skin is not well maintained or as we age, aging keratinocytes will remain attached to the surface of the skin and not fall off, causing a series of problems such as enlarged pores, blackheads, acne, wrinkles, dry and rough skin, etc.

The cleaner the exfoliation, the better

This misunderstanding is similar to the principle of "keratin = skin garbage", both of which believe that keratin is useless, and the cleaner the skin is removed, the more comfortable and breathable it will be... and so on. However, it was also mentioned above that the stratum corneum actually helps to reduce moisture and keep the skin moisturized. Therefore, excessive exfoliation can easily lead to dry skin and is not conducive to skin moisturizing. The normal metabolism of the skin's stratum corneum takes about 28 days. If we exfoliate too frequently, most of the old stratum corneum will be removed, and the new stratum corneum will not be replenished quickly enough, so the coloring effect will be poor, or even fall off after eight hours.

Everyone exfoliates, I want to exfoliate too

You can’t blindly follow trends when it comes to skin care, and the same goes for exfoliation. In fact, not everyone is suitable for exfoliation. Generally, people's skin types are divided into oily skin, dry skin, combination skin, neutral skin and sensitive skin. Among them, combination skin can be further divided into combination dry skin and combination oily skin. If your skin is dry or sensitive, you should be more careful. When exfoliating, pay attention to analyzing the thick part of the skin's stratum corneum so as to exfoliate effectively. Otherwise, blind exfoliation for a long time will make your skin lose its luster and even become unsmooth and uneven!