What Happens When You Exfoliate Every Day

Some dermatologists say you should be exfoliating your skin daily, while others recommend weekly exfoliation sessions. The question is, who's right?

Truth be told, there are pros and cons to both. While daily exfoliation is helpful for keeping pores clear and enabling skincare products to absorb better, it may be irritating to sensitive skin types. Similarly, weekly exfoliation might prevent dryness and skin irritation, but may not be enough to allow products to work as effectively as they should.

To give you a better idea of how often to exfoliate, let us show you what happens when you exfoliate your skin every day.

Clearer Skin

Exfoliation is a process that involves sloughing away dead skin cells and dirt to clear out your pores, minimizing their appearance and preventing future breakouts. It goes one step further than your daily cleanser.

While the epidermis uses dead cells as a layer of protection, a build up of dead skin cells on the skin can lead to issues like dullness, blemishes, and clogged pores. The only way to get rid of this accumulation is through regular exfoliation.

Without that build up of dirt, oil, and dead skin, your skin can finally breathe and will ultimately become clearer.

Potential Irritation

Exfoliating every day can strip the skin of its natural oils, which can cause redness, flaking, dryness, and breakouts. If you have sensitive skin or dry skin, daily exfoliation may not be the best choice. Stick to polishing your skin once or twice a week using a chemical exfoliant for best results. Avoid physical exfoliants like face scrubs.

A physical or mechanical exfoliant is an enzyme that is protein-based. Using such a product on a daily basis can indeed irritate the skin and cause damage to the skin over time simply because it's too harsh for the skin. 

Chemical exfoliation, on the other hand, refers to the dissolving of dull-skin debris through acids like alpha hydroxy acids (AHA) and beta hydroxy acids (BHA). It a much gentler type of exfoliation and one that can be used in one's daily skincare routine if you have normal skin, oily skin, or acne-prone skin. 

Over-exfoliating can also cause chronic skin irritation and inflammation.

Better Results from Your Serums and Moisturizers

Skincare products cannot penetrate dull, dry skin.

When dead, dry cells sit on the skin's surface, ingredients from your skincare products cannot be fully absorbed. You could slather on your most expensive retinol or vitamin C serum and it would pretty much be pointless. That is why you need to exfoliate before cleansing, treating, or moisturizing so that your skin will soak up what you put on it so you can reap maximum results. 

Celebrity dermatologist Dr. Harold Lancer puts it this way, "If you have a tough stain on your kitchen counter, you need to scrub first before you can clean, it’s the same thing. Daily damage, age damage, and sun damage need to be exfoliated before [the face is] cleansed."

A Radiant Complexion

When you exfoliate, you quite literally buff away dull, dead cells to reveal a brighter, glowing complexion. 

Skin cell turnover happens every 28 days, bringing new, healthy skin cells to the surface. With age, this process slows down, making skin appear rough, dull, and dry. Exfoliating on a daily basis helps to remove dead skin cells by loosening the bonds that glue them together, enabling new glowing cells to surface, and giving your complexion a radiance boost.

This is one of the many reasons exfoliation should be a daily step in an anti-aging routine. It's a quick and easy to way to make the skin look plump, dewy, and youthful.

Improved Skin Tone

Exfoliation is a process that helps facilitate the turnover of skin cells. Due to the speed at which skin cells shed, it's a good idea to exfoliate daily or once every couple of days to keep your cells fresh.

Flawless Makeup Application

The smoother your skin is, the better your foundation looks. If you notice your makeup tends to look flaky, that could be a sign that you're not exfoliating enough. By removing those flaky patches through gentle exfoliation, your makeup will glide on much more easily and will be less prone to looking cakey, flaky, or settling into fine lines, which only enhances their visibility. 

BEST SKINCARE PRODUCTS FOR DAILY EXFOLIATION

To get the most out of daily exfoliation, you'll need to make sure you're using the best topical products available to you. While sugar scrubs (aka physical exfoliators) are good for weekly use or use on the body, they're too harsh to be used daily. Stick to chemical exfoliating products instead which rely on acids like AHAs and BHAs to dissolve dead skin cells and clear away blackheads, whiteheads, and pustules.

Some example of AHAs include glycolic acid and lactic acid. Salicylic acid is the only BHA. 

Rainbow Glow Bundle

Our Glow Bundle features our Glow Mask and Serum Booster, an exfoliating duo that work together to refresh the face and give skin its bounce back. Made with glycolic acid and bakuchiol, these ingredients help break down dead skin cells and protect the skin from environmental stressors and pollution for smoother, brighter, firmer skin. Always follow up with sunscreen.

Rainbow Tighten Bundle

This Tighten Bundle checks all of your anti-aging boxes in one go. Red microalgae works as an antioxidant alongside a blend of alpha hydroxy acids to boost collagen production, fade fine lines, and spur the shedding of dull, dead skin cells.

Featuring a face mask and serum, these products provide exfoliation and hydration for glowing, youthful skin. Always follow up with sunscreen.

It turns out, exfoliating every day can be very beneficial for your skin. From boosting brightness to making your products work harder, there are many plus points to daily exfoliation. Please note if you have sensitive skin, dry skin, or a skin condition, avoid daily exfoliation to prevent irritating your skin. Consult with your dermatologist if you have any concerns, or would like to check if it's suitable for your skin type.