I was recently reading an article on the benefits of natural sugars on skin and how exfoliating those tough dry spots on your body, will help to regenerate new skin. This is something I have known about all my life. My grandmother has been exfoliating her skin since she was a young girl in Cuba. They used simple products that were found in your kitchen pantry. Like for example, using uncooked oatmeal and making it into a thick paste with a cup of milk and some honey will help to take away facial blemishes and exfoliate without scratching your skin. This is a remedy that I have been suing on my skin since I was a teenager, and I'd like to think it was the reason that I barely had any pimples, and have extremely healthy skin even today at the age of 37.
Most people think of exfoliating as taking a shower poof with some liquid soap and going to town on your body. Or using super abrasive scrubs on the "tough" spots on your skin, like your heels, elbows and knees, is all you really need to do to rid yourself of calluses and dry dead skin. These are just two of the major misconceptions of exfoliation. Proper exfoliation takes certain steps. And you certainly don't want to use just anything to tenderize your parts! So lets talk about some of the Do's and Don't before we get to a great step-by-step process of my favorite exfoliating recipe and process!
Let's begin with the DON'Ts:
~ Don't use dry scrubs. Lets face it, you are not dry rubbing a piece of meat to cook! This is YOUR SKIN! The largest and most sensitive organ on your body.
~ Don't use Sea Salt or anything in the "Salt" category. Salt is a natural de-humactant. This means that it pulls moisture out of anything it touches. Just think about this, Salt is used in packing meat to draw the water out of it (so it doesn't spoil) and you aren't a piece of meat! Your skin NEEDS moisture, and the worst think you can do is rub coarse, drying salt on it. Just don't do it!
~ Don't use anything you wouldn't eat. Plain and simple...your skin "eats" or drinks, rather. anything you put on your skin will be digested and taken into your cells through your pours. If you are putting things like petroleum jelly, baby oil or Castor oil on your skin, you are inadvertently ingesting all these toxic chemicals. If you would eat any of these products, believe me, you will be running straight to the restroom with crazy stomach and intestinal paid and could land you in the hospital. So, again, nothing on your skin you wouldn't eat.
~ Don't scrub so hard! To get a good exfoliation of any part of your skin, all you need to do is rub the scrub with just a little pressure in a circular pattern. If you scrub too hard, you will scratch the good skin and can cause irritation to your epidermis.
Here is what you should DO to properly exfoliate your skin:
~ Always exfoliate on wet skin, using a moist exfoliator. Whether you are using a loofah with some softening lotion, or you are using a natural sugar scrub, make sure that it has good oils in it, like olive oil, coconut oil or grape seed oil (that also has loads of vitamin E)
~ Use Sugar based scrubs that are made with natural brown unrefined sugar. Sugar is milled in a finer fashion that salt, and it won't dry your skin. It's also in amazing anti-fungal and anti-bacterial!
~ Use dairy or coconut products whenever you can to add moisture to your skin. Using plain yogurt, full fat whipping cream, coconut oil, or even coconut milk as your liquid additive adds and lock in moisture and because of the natural lactic acids, it helps to nourish your skin!
~ Use a natural lotion after exfoliating to protect the newly exposed healthy skin. Do this especially if you are going to be in the sun for the rest of the day. Using products that contain REAL Shea Butter are best since Shea Butter provides a natural SPF to protect against sunburning.
So here is my recipe and regimen for healthy and proper exfoliating for anywhere on your body!
Here is what you will need to make the scrub: (This will work for any skin type)
*2 Cups of Natural Organic Brown Sugar
*1/4 Cup of Grape Seed Oil (For Vitamin E)
*1/4 Cup of Coconut Milk (for moisture)
*2 Tblsp of Coconut Oil (Organic expeller pressed is the best)
*1 Tsp of Jojoba Oil or Sweet Almond Oil (for Protein infusion) Optional
Take all of your ingredients and mix them together to create a thick paste. This makes enough for 3 applications of a full body exfoliating process so you might want to purchase an airtight glass container to store this in. Make sure to put it in the either the fridge or a cool, dry, dark place. Since it contains Coconut Milk (and coconut milk has water) it can get moldy if left in sunlight or in a humid bathroom!
To begin the exfoliating process, I first prep the area. I typically do this in the shower. I bathe first, shave any areas that need shaving (ie, legs, underarms, my who-ha :-) and so on...)
Once I am clean and shaven, I begin on the toughest spots like my feet (particularly my heels), then work up to my legs. And yes ladies, I even exfoliate my woman parts (on the outside only), especially if you shave! I do my arms and elbows and tummy and chest (very lightly here). The last portion I exfoliate is my face and neck, paying special attention to my chin, nose and areas around my hair line. These are the places on your face that seem to gather the most dirt and oil.
When I finish exfoliating, I rinse everything off with luke warm water and pat my skin dry with a nice soft towel. After I'm nice and dry, I use my Creamy Coconut Lotion - https://www.etsy.com/listing/127069912/creamy-coconut-moisturizing-lotion
to ultra moisturize all my body parts!
I usually do all of this before going to bed at night. It really is the best time to take care of your body and skin. It allows your skin time to soak up all the good stuff you just fed it :-)
I hope you found this entry entertaining and educational! If you would like to share your comments on your favorite exfoliating recipes, please feel free to share.
Happy Exfoliating!
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