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This note is a follow-up from Emm whom I advised last week regarding her rough uneven skin patches.=============================================Hi Jean, Thank you very much for your reply, now I've started looking at the ingredients label of what I use for my skin. I usually use body wash that advertise "exfoliate beads" or so. Do you have any recommendations? Thanks so much again! I am looking forward for your reply. Best regards, Emm =============================================Here is more information about skin exfoliation.Tags: reader question, rough skin, uneven skin, retinoids, exfoliation, Retin-A, retinol
I hope by now I’ve convinced you that regular chemical exfoliation of your face and neck should be part of your antiaging skincare routine.
If you can get a prescription, tretinoin (a.k.a. retinoic acid) creams like Retin-A or Renova (Retin-A in a moisturizing base for dry skin) are still the strongest chemical exfoliating creams available.
If you prefer a gentler approach or cannot get a prescription, OTC ingredients to look for are vitamin A derivatives called retinoids and including retinal and retinyl palmitate; AHAs like glycolic, lactic, tartaric, malic, alpha-hydroxyethanoic or alpha-hydroxycaprylic acid and sugar cane extract; BHAs such as salicylic acid (less irritating than AHAs and also used to treat acne), beta-hydroxybutanoic acid, tropic acid, and trethocanoic
Products which contain high levels of retinoids and/or hydroxy acids are:Peter Thomas Roth Glycolic Acid 10% Hydrating Gel;
DDF Cellular Revitalization Age Renewal;
Osmotics Blue Copper 5;
Reviva Alpha Lipoic Acid Vitamin C Ester & DMAE Cream;
Great Skin All In One, Scalpel-less Face Lift Cream; and
Dermalogica Daily Resurfacer .
Tags: hydroxy acids, exfoliation, retinoids
Last time I reported some recent research regarding how not to exfoliate. Today I want to talk about the best methods. In my opinion physical exfoliation – whether rubbing, scrubbing or microdermabrasion – should be avoided. [The only physical exfoliation gentle enough for regular use is shaving, but of course only about half the population can use that method! Also, I don’t include laser resurfacing in this discussion because that is typically used to treat discrete areas such as fine lines around the eyes.]
That brings us to chemical exfoliation. I would avoid deep chemical peels; but I think everyone knows that by now and very few doctors offer deep peels anymore. The lighter chemical peels may be OK if they are not overused. Injury definitely shifts the skin’s repair mechanisms into high gear and boosts the production of new collagen.
At this point, it may sound like I am opposed to all forms of skin exfoliation. Nothing could be further from the truth. What I recommend is frequent exfoliation using gentle chemical agents. How frequent must be determined based on each individual’s skin sensitivity.
Some women can apply exfoliating products every day while others cannot tolerate them more than once a week. The object is to speed the sloughing of dead skin cells on a continual basis. This in turn revs up the skin’s cell replacement mechanism.
To make an analogy: which is better for a car driving down the highway?
1. Repeatedly gunning the engine and speeding to close the gap between you and the car 500 yards ahead, then slamming on the brakes; or
2. Maintaining a constant speed.
Regular gentle exfoliation tunes up your skin’s engine to keep it running smoothly.
Tags: microdermabrasion, exfoliation, chemical exfoliation
Some experts will tell you that exfoliation, whether chemical or physical, is the only scientifically proven way to reverse skin aging. [I disagree because I believe peptides have enough science behind them as effective skin anti-agers, but that’s a subject for another blog.] The point is that exfoliation is broadly accepted as an effective skin antiaging therapy.
I have long believed that chemical exfoliation is superior to physical. In its April 2004 issue, Good Housekeeping consulted New York City dermatologist Heidi Waldorf regarding physical exfoliation and reported, “Rubbing your face raw with a harsh brush or a loofah on a regular basis not only doesn’t help, it makes your skin drier, can aggravate acne – and can cause permanent damage like broken capillaries.”
Now scientists have even questioned the advisability of microdermbrasion, one of the mildest forms of physical exfoliation. In the March 2006 issue of Dermatologic Surgery, researchers presented results of a study which evaluated skin health after repeated microdermabrasion treatments.
Ceramide levels in the stratum corneum are a good indicator of skin health. The researchers found that ceramide levels increased after the first three microdermabrasion treatments; but declined to below base levels with subsequent treatments. The decrease in ceramides was not visible but has insidious consequences for the skin.
Ceramides are lipids which play a critical role in the water-holding capacity of the stratum corneum. As ceramides decrease, the skin’s moisture content decreases. Water moving into and out of the skin cells, not only keeps the skin youthfully plump, but also is the vehicle for removing the harmful by-products of cellular metabolism.
Tags: microdermabrasion, exfoliation, ceramides
We all know we should exfoliate our skin as it ages and cell turnover slows, right? And we’ve read that BHAs are the gentler form of hydroxy acids for skin exfoliation. So any Age warrior who is sensitive to AHAs is looking for BHA products and needs to know what to look for. I noticed that the FDA classifies the following as BHAs: “salicylic acid (or related substances, such as salicylate, sodium salicylate and willow extract), beta hydroxybutanoic acid, tropic acid, trethocanic acid”; yet Paula Begoun’s Beautypedia ingredient dictionary says salycylic acid is the only BHA.A bit confused, I wrote to Beautypedia and was pleased to receive a very prompt reply. According to Bryan Barron, Writing and Editorial Assistant to Paula Begoun, the FDA-listed ingredients are “chemically similar to salicylic acid, but there are functional differences and … they are not used in cosmetic or medicinal products. Why the FDA has them listed is odd, because their use is limited and it gives consumers the false impression that they can look for products with those ingredients.”I thanked Bryan for the clarification and looked a bit further. Here’s the bottom line. If you can tolerate AHAs, they are the best option for sloughing off the dead dull surface skin cells that accumulate as cell turnover slows with age. AHAs are water-soluble and do not penetrate the skin’s surface barrier.Read more about AHA's and BHA's.
Tags: Paula Begoun, Beautypedia, AHAs vs. BHAs, FDA, exfoliation, anti-aging skin care
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