How to Exfoliate Your Body

If you want your skin to look healthy and radiant, exfoliate regularly. By removing the top layer of dead epidermis cells, you will make your skin appear smoother and less wrinkled. Here are a few steps to help you achieve, healthy looking, clear skin.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Bath Towels
• Body Liquid Cleansers
• Body Lotion
• Exfoliating Products
• Oil-free Moisturizers

1. Brush dry skin before getting into the shower. You can use either a loofah, exfoliating gloves or a body exfoliating brush. Start at the soles of the feet and work your way up.

2. Get into the bath or shower and wet your entire body.

3. Apply exfoliating cleanser to your loofah or exfoliating brush or gloves.

4. Scrub your body with it, using gentle, circular motions.

5. Opt for grainy types of cleansers to clean the skin, rather than soap. Choose exfoliating cleansers that contain ingredients such as oatmeal, ground almonds or even sea salt. The grainy texture exfoliates the skin.

6. Make your own exfoliating cleanser, if you prefer. Mix sea salt, olive oil and lemon juice together, or mix ground almonds and powdered milk. The combinations are endless.

7. Use a washcloth for mild exfoliation.

8. Rub rough spots, such as heels, with a pumice stone or stick.

9. Apply lotion containing alpha or beta hydroxy acids after you exfoliate. This will continue the exfoliating process because the acids further abrade and remove dead skin cells.

10. Be sure to use body moisturizers at least once every day. Regular exfoliating is extremely drying to the skin and will do more harm than good unless the skin is rehydrated liberally with lotions.

Tips & Warnings

• Some products are more abrasive than others. If your skin is very sensitive, use as little friction as possible and stick to the least abrasive products.
• Never overexfoliate with excessively abrasive exfoliating cleansers, or you run the risk of bursting the delicate blood vessels under the skin. If the vessels burst, your skin may appear permanently flushed. This condition, known as telangiectasia, must then be treated using laser surgery.

Who Can Help:

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[ciao77]

on 1/29/2008 Exfoliate (and clean) face- To exfoliate your face while cleaning, add a bit of your favorite face scrub to your cleanser; an easy 2-in-1.

on 7/5/2006 All you have to do is take baby oil and sugar (regular) and mix them together. Then in the shower/bath rub it on your skin. rinse and voilà - beautiful, silky skin. For extra silkiness use a moisturizer after bathing.

on 11/22/2005 I know a lot has been said about using sea salt with olive oil, but most people warn you not to use that on your face. Rock salt is very abrasive and potentially damaging. However, I've found that it's very effective if you get finely-ground table salt and mix it heavily with olive oil. Apply it using circular motions, rinse, and dab it dry with a towel. It's not nearly as abrasive as rock salt, and certainly no more so than sand (which is found in many facial cleansers)! Just make sure to leave a little oil on your face (it helps to moisturize the epidermis).

on 11/22/2005 To get rough, dry feet soft, mix sugar with your favorite lotion and massage the mixture onto your feet. Rinse your feet and put some Vaseline on rough areas. Then you'll have smooth feet.

on 11/22/2005 To prevent ingrown hairs, use a dry loofah on dry skin before showering. I used to get them habitually when my hair started to grow back after getting it waxed, but not anymore. It works great!