exfoliating 101: goodbye buildup, hello healthy and glowing skin

Not only does exfoliation help get rid of pesky pimples, retched redness and feral flakiness, it also unclogs your pores and increases your blood circulation for fresher and more youthful-looking skin (come through Jlo). 

Basically we're trying to say it should be a part of your skincare routine so we've put together all the things you need to know to get back the glow. 

On Wednesday's We Unclog Our Pores 

Exfoliating gives you a natural glow by scrubbing away dead skin cells and clogged pores. Exfoliating helps stimulate blood circulation and breathes new life into your skin. Basically, it gets rid of all the gross stuff that's accumulated on your face and body from the daily grind. This includes the residue of your daily moisturisers, toners, sunscreen, make-up and your dead skin cells that are doing skin cell-y things up in skin cell heaven. 

While this stuff is essential if you want nourished skin (except the dead skin cells but they're inevitable, soz), you need to know how to properly rejuvenate your face once you take those products off. Say it with us now ex-foli-ation. 

Benefits Of Exfoliating.

• Healthy glowing skin; it gives your skin an even smoother and more refreshed look.
• Minimise pore size: exfoliating gets rid of dirt, decreasing pore size.
• Reduces breakouts and acne
• Allows the absorption of other products

Skin fact: Skin cells turnover every 28 days, as we age this rate decrease, therefore exfoliation becomes an important part of your skincare routine to help rejuvenate your skin.

So How Often Should I Be Scrubbing My Face And Body? 

Depending on whether your skin is moody and temperamental like a teenager going through puberty, whether it's sensitive and will break down at the slightest inconvenience, as tough and resilient as a marathon runner or as oily and greasy as that one guy at the bar who hits on anything with legs, the number of times you should be exfoliating will change. 

To be on the safe side, we recommend scrubbing your skin no more than twice a week to help relieve your skin of its unwanted intruders whilst still ensuring it has all the necessary and natural oils to keep it lookin' super fun & fresh. If you have sensitive skin 1 a week might do the trick. It's super important to listen to your skin.

PSA: don't over-exfoliate. It can do more damage and your skin will start to hate you and you don't want that. Trust us.  

What Can I Use To Exfoliate My Skin? 

Luckily for you, you've come to the right place. 

We have a range of body scrubs to suit all skin types from the super sensitive to the tough AF. 

If you're not sure what scrub is best for you, we've created a skin cheat sheet to take away the guessing game. We'd read it if we were you. 

The Afterparty 

You'd be wrong for thinking successful exfoliation stops right after you wash away the scrub from your body but unfortunately, with almost everything else in life, when you think you're finished you're almost always only half-way through (sighs).  

Taking care of your skin after you exfoliate plays a big part in how healthy and refreshed your skin ends up looking. 

We recommend hydrating frequently after exfoliating to help draw the nasties out of your skin and giving it the opportunity to rejuvenate itself from the inside. Now we're gonna flip that 'n' reverse it, and say that you should also be moisturising after you exfoliate so your skin gets some hydration from the outside.

Also make sure to slip, slop, slap if you're planning to expose your skin to the sun after exfoliating, or you could use it as an excuse to not see people and be an antisocial hermit for 24 hours (we know which scenario we're choosing). 

Don't Forget Them Lips

Our lips are a part of our body just like everything else and they deserve to be scrubbed too so they don't feel left out like you did in your third grade P.E class where you were the last one picked to play basketball (sorry, too soon?)

What we're really trying to say is that there are heaps of benefits for exfoliating your lips, namely our Chai Lip Scrub will give you perfectly plump ones that everyone will be trying to kiss until you eventually get fed up and start swatting people away like flies at a bbq on a hot summer's day. 

Blended with sugar (for something sweet), chai (for something spicy), coconut and almond oils (for something tropical), put it all together and BOOM you've got yourself a lip lifesaver that's hella great for scrubbing away flaky, peeling skin. Go get your mack on.   

And that's a wrap, new year, new glow.