Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Exfoliation

Hey all! This is just going to be a quick post on skin care. Specifically--exfoliation. Before about a month ago, I never really thought too much about exfoliation. I figured washing my face twice a day, moisturizing, and using acne treatment was enough. My when my skin wasn't getting any better I started looking for other things I could without having to see a dermatologist. Now, my skin has never really been that bad. But, I'm a perfectionist, and when my skin isn't perfect, it bugs me. Add stress in top of that, and my skin got even worse. So, I thought I'd look into exfoliation to see if that helped at all.

Exfoliation is getting rid of the dead skin on your face. You can either do this by hand with scuba, or by an actual exfoliator. Well, I didn't feel like spending $100+ on something for my face, and I didn't feeling like doing it by hand either, so I found another option. Use a battery-powered toothbrush. I got a Spinbrush for $3 at Walmart, and it works great. It's gentle enough to use every night. It works really well at loosening up my skin, and bring the dirt deep in my skin to the surface. Sounds gross, I know, but it's true. It only takes about five minutes every night. My skin had cleared up within a few days, and it's soo soft! Of course I still use my regular face soap, and acne treatment, but the real improvement came from the exfoliating. I just wanted to put that out there, so no one thinks that they have to spend $100 on like a Neutrosonic or something, when a $3 Spinbrush works just as well.

MY SKIN CARE ROUTINE
-I wash my face twice with homemade tee tree oil soap that we buy for about $7/bar. Yes I use it twice. The first time to get all the dirt and makeup off, and the second time to really deep clean my face.
-then I use Cetaphil cleanser. I put some on my face and some on the brush. I work in one section at a time, really focusing on cleaning that area?
-when I finish with that a use Cetaphil moisturizer. Doing this as soon as I finish exfoliating ensures that my face is really getting moisturized, not just the top layer. After it has time to soak in, I use my acne treatment. Right now I'm using Oil Free Stress Control Cleansing Pads by Neutrogena. They work really fast on my skin, and a $6 container lasts me about two months.

Alright well I think thats all for now. I hope all my fellow Missourians are staying warm in the 'blizzard' ;) peace and love! xo