{"id":10807,"date":"2017-11-13T15:28:33","date_gmt":"2017-11-13T20:28:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thatorganicmom.com\/?p=10807"},"modified":"2022-08-12T10:01:04","modified_gmt":"2022-08-12T14:01:04","slug":"exfoliation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thatorganicmom.com\/exfoliation\/","title":{"rendered":"Exfoliation – Step 2 in the ultimate skin care routine series -natural beauty by Macey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Exfoliation is an essential part of your skin care regimen<\/a>. No matter how often we cleanse, there is bound to be some sort of build up that needs to be taken care of. Not properly exfoliating can lead to pimples, blackheads and dull skin among other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The surface layer (stratum corneum) of your skin is comprised of packed dead skin cells, a.k.a keratin. Your skin is made to push living cells from the base layer (stratum germinativum) all the way through to the stratum corneum, where they flatten out and pack together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This cycle of basal cells being formed, moving up through the layers, dying and packing together is called \u201cKeratinization\u201d. When all goes well with this process, sebum will naturally be pushed out, and dead skin cells are easily exfoliated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how do those pesky blackheads and pimples appear? Keratinized skin cells line the pores (a.k.a. Follicles) and most of the time are easily exfoliated out. When they are not, the protein-packed dead cells build up inside the pore. Now add sebum that can\u2019t be excreted properly, and you have a clogged pore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then bacteria comes into play, which grows at a rapid rate and causes inflammation. The bacteria then break down the stored up sebum into fatty acids, which leads to oxidative stress.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Exfoliation<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

What is Oxidative Stress?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Your body is made to naturally release free radicals (stress, toxins that are in the air and sometimes in the things we eat). Antioxidants help with this process, and we can think of them as the little warriors and defenders of our cells. When the amount of free radicals outweigh the number of antioxidants, you have oxidative stress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On top of all this add dirt, sweat, and makeup. How can your skin possible function naturally if we have all this packed on top of our skin? This is why it is so important to first; double cleanse<\/a> and then exfoliate about once a week. Now, how often you exfoliate depends on your skin and what type of exfoliator or exfoliation process you are using.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choose the right tools for exfoliation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Physical exfoliation is the use of a tool or granular product that is manually worked on the skin to buff away dead skin cells. These types of exfoliators can be used 1-2 times a week.
I personally don\u2019t use exfoliating products that use plastic microbeads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of July 2017, there is a law that bans the manufacture of cosmetic products containing plastic microbeads<\/strong> because they are an environmental pollutant. Once they go through the sewage system and into the waterways, environmental toxins stick to the beads<\/a> (because of plastics porousness). Aquatic animals eat them, excrete them, and that spells disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of companies are in the process of phasing out the plastic, but they will be on your ingredient list by some of these names:<\/p>\n\n\n\n