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| Exfoliation Methods | Some people in their 40-ies have naturally high cell turnover and may not benefit from routine exfoliation. On the other side, many people over 30 have a lifeless looking and dull skin because their stratum corneum becomes ruther thick.
This group may advantage from routine exfoliation. Exfoliation may cause further irritation in people with dry or sensitive skin, who should either refrain from exfoliation or use mild exfoliants infrequently.
If you decided that exfoliation should be a regular component of your skin care routine, you need to know how often you should do it. Daily exfoliation is not a good idea except for people with extremely oily skin. You need to remove dead cells from the skin surface. It takes just a few days for a sizeable amount of dead cells to accumulate. If you exfoliate more often than that, you may be removing too many living cell, increasing the chance of skin damage and irritation.
For people who decide to exfoliate, once or twice a week is sufficient. You should determine the necessary frequency based on your strength of the exfoliants you use, skin type, application technique and other factors. If you notice increased sensitivity, irritation or dryness you are probably exfoliating too much.
Popular exfoliation methods include alpha and beta hydroxy acids, enzyme peels, microdermabrasion and others. Some may have collateral benefits.
For example alpha-hydroxy acids (especially glycolic and lactic) seem to have additional skin benefits independently of their exfoliating effect such as improvement of dermal matrix. Beta-hydroxy acids such as salicylic acid are particularly effective in reducing excess oil production and may be a good fit for oily and acne-prone skin.
On the other hand, chronic irritation and skin damage from overuse of acidic exfoliants is a known dermatological entity and may contribute to skin aging.
Be prudent: listen to your skin, use common sense and inform yourself before trying anything new.
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