Today, I would like to discuss the last E in the three Es–exfoliating. I know this may sound very metrosexual to some men, but if you want a simple way to look younger, this will make a huge impact. I know many out there already do this, but there is a system that works best for me. I’m sure the ones who have been doing it regularly already know the benefits. For the ones who are not doing it, once you start, you’ll wish you had been doing this your whole life.
I was fortunate to start exfoliating in the mid 1990s. It started when I was watching a Sylvester Stallone interview and he was explaining how he just received a facial chemical peel. I thought applying chemicals to the face was an excessive way to remove dead skin from the face. I thought it would be more beneficial by doing it in a very gradual way by taking a cloth and slightly scrubbing the face’s outer layer of skin. My thinking was that periodic scrubbing was much safer than doing it in one full session. It also wouldn’t be such a shock to the skin. Another bad part to a chemical peal is that it would easily expose where the treatment started and stopped. Exfoliating every few days would ensure all areas of your skin were scrubbed naturally, safely and evenly. So, for over the past twenty years, I’ve been slowly scrubbing off dead skin so that the new skin underneath can take its place.
Start by taking a cloth that is not too thick but not too fine. The reason being is that you need a cloth that can reach every nook of your face. Something that is too bulky will not reach the inner areas of the eye socket and ears. On the contrary, scrubbing with a cloth that’s too fine will make your skin look shinny and polished. Your goal is to look as natural as possible and give the illusion that you’re not doing any treatments to your face.
When I first started exfoliating, I was a typical guy and I didn’t even own a washcloth. My answer was to take a footie athletic sock and turn it inside out. This way the finer cloth was on the inside and the hole allowed me to put my fingers inside for an easy grip. There are many clothes that can be purchased specifically for exfoliating but I never bothered since I now have wash clothes that work well.
After applying soap to the cloth, lightly scrub the face evenly making sure to reach every inch of skin including the eye sockets, forehead and around the ears and neck. Don’t scrub too hard or too long or it will be in shock to your skin and cause more damage. Start out with a light scrub first and see how your skin reacts.
About an hour after scrubbing, the first thing you’ll notice is that your natural body oil will start surfacing to the skin-especially in the area around the nose and forehead. The body realizes that the skin has been removed and is sending natural oils to heal it. It’s also starting the repair process and creating new skin underneath to replace the layers that were just wiped away. I’ll explain in future posts on why both of these reactions are the most important factors in keeping your skin looking young.
As well as this system works, don’t think that this can be done every day. There is such a thing as exfoliating too much. Just like a cut in your skin, you can’t scrub it every day or it won’t heal properly. I find that it works best if I only scrub two or three times a week. How do I know this? I’ve scrubbed every day before and my skin feels dry and doesn’t oil up as well afterwards. I usually determine how soon I scrub by feeling the skin on my nose. If it starts to feel a little calloused or rougher, I know it’s time to exfoliate. It usually happens quicker when I’m more active or in the sun more. Sometimes I don’t get a chance to scrub for four or five days. I find the longer I wait, the higher amount of oils rush to my skin to moisturize it. I also try to exfoliate at night. This way, while the body lays still at night, the natural oils have time to moisturize my skin evenly. I find that if I do it in the morning, my skin looks oily during the day and has a higher chance of wiping away. If I do it at night, the oils nourish my skin all night without interference.