Have You Sloughed This Week?

Have you had your slough this week? Sloughing is a natural process of skin exfoliation, skin care products that are designed to exfoliate will often create flaking skin. There are many forms of exfoliation, chemical, manual, physical and natural. 

Do you know the differences? Hi, my name is Heather Cooper, and I am an aesthetician of over 27 years. If you are not exfoliating, you are likely holding on to months days and years of dead dry skin this dead dry skin that will cause your body to look dull and lifeless. 

One of the biggest things people ask me for when they come in for a skin care treatment is “how can I look younger”, well there are many ways, you can go for surgery and have a facelift. You can do very intense deep chemical peels and you can use different types of home exfoliators but sadly there’s just no one size that’s going to fit everyone. Typically, it is what will fit your budget or maybe your time constraints. Everyone has different needs and goals so when you are thinking about your plan consider both cost and time. So how can you exfoliate effectively on your own with minimal time, and almost a fraction of the cost of more advanced skin care processes done at the doctor’s office?

The best way is with topical chemical exfoliators like retinol‘s, actives and alpha-hydroxy acids. These are designed to topically go onto your skin 2 to 3 times a week and what should happen is a mild sloughing that will occur usually 3 to 4 days after you’ve applied the product your skin. Over time some people can develop resistance to certain chemicals so what I will typically guide my clients to do is to take 1 to 2 weeks on and 1 to 2 weeks off, so in between that, you will periodically see that your skin looks like it is sloughing. This can be frustrating at times however, by using this method, you will be sloughing off many dead layers of old dry skin, which will produce brighter, more even and less sun damaged spots within the surface of the skin. You can also spot treat. If you have an area that’s a little darker say a sunspot on the cheek, maybe on those spots that are high points on your face where the sun gets you the most, you can spot treat those areas. Increase your application by applying that more often throughout the week on those areas, so how do you get rid of the sloughing, gentle mild facial exfoliation, like a light scrub a facial brush, or even a dermaplane will remove the surface dead dry skin, having an aesthetician that you can see every 6 to 8 weeks will aid you and removing those surface layers of dead dry skin.

A professional dermaplane will use a small scalpel at a 45° angle and it gets lightly planed over the surface of your skin. This can remove 3 to 4 weeks of that dry skin and also the peach fuzz. You will h have brighter the skin with a dewier appearance and therefore your skin will look younger. If you don’t have an aesthetician, I would definitely recommend seeking one out in your area. A professional Esthetician has a better understanding of your skin and can help you in finding the best homecare for your daily use.