Exfoliating is the fastest way to get glowing skin. Scrubs, exfoliants and exfoliators take off the top dead layer of the skin, leaving it smooth and radiant with an increased ability to reflect light.

Do you really need to exfoliate? It depends upon your Baumann Skin Type. You do not want to over-exfoliate because that can lead to skin problems. Very sensitive skin types should not exfoliate, most skin types can exfoliate 2-3 times a week, and resistant skin types can exfoliate 2 times a day.

Many skin care ingredients exfoliate skin- but exfoliant is best for you depends on your skin type and other products in your skin care routine.

Some people call smooth, exfoliated skin “glass skin” because of the ability of the skin to reflect light and glow. The desire for glowing skin prompts many people to exfoliate too often, but over-exfoliating skin is not good.

This blog is a guide to how to safely exfoliate and which scrubs, exfoliants and exfoliators to choose and use.

Your skin naturally exfoliates in a process called desquamation.

Many skin care ingredients have ingredients that exfoliate skin. This is why it is very easy to over-exfoliate.

Over-exfoliating can damage your skin by:

• injuring your skin barrier
• disrupting the normal keratinization process
• causing inflammation

Exfoliating can dry out your skin- so exfoliate less in the winter when the climate is dry and cold.

If you have over exfoliation damage, there are several ways to treat and soothe the skin.

1. The first step is to remove all exfoliants from your skin care routine until your skin returns to normal.  See below for a list of scrubs, exfoliants and exfoliators to avoid. There are product types that you may not realize are exfoliants and exfoliators such as Vitamin C. retinoids, enzymes and defensins as in the skin care brand Defenage.
2. Apply a soothing barrier repair moisturizer such as Zerafite Soothing and Calming Face Cream.
3. Apply a soothing oil such as Argan Oil overnight
4. Use a gentle non-foaming cleanser and cleanse with cool or room temperature water- not hot.
5. Avoid friction and extreme temperatures

Over exfoliated skin will take 1- 5 days to heal depending on how severe it is.  Scabs, for example can take 5 days while shininess goes away in 1-2 days.

If your skin is stinging or itching, applying a soothing oil overnight can help.

If you stop all exfoliants, the skin should begin to feel better in 2 days.  It may take an entire week to heal. Give your skin 2 weeks before restarting any exfoliating skin care products.

Exfoliating too much or incorrectly can damage your skin.  This why you need to shop for skin care products using your Baumann Skin Type® .

This will keep you from wasting time and money on the wrong skin care products

When the skin’s surface is not smooth, dead skin cells heap upon the top layer of the skin.

This decreases light reflection.

Your skin will look dull, not glow and feel rough.

If you have black skin, you may get a grey ashy skin in dry areas that need exfoliation.

When dead skin cells heap up on the skin's surface, your skin looks less radiant and stops glowing.

These are signs that you need to use exfoliants and exfoliators:

• Ashy skin
• Skin feels rough
• Skin is dull
• Skin does not reflect light
• Skin is not radiant
• Your skin looks old
• Crepey skin with a rough texture

It is easy to exfoliate your skin at home.  Many skin care products will do this.  The hard part is knowing which exfoliators are best for your Baumann Skin Type.

Sensitive skin types, dry types, resistant types and oily types all need different types of exfoliation.

It is best to choose how you exfoliate your skin type.

Know your Baumann Skin Type before buying any skin care products to exfoliate so you do not waste time and money.

How many times a day or week you should exfoliate depends upon your Baumann Skin Type. If you have a Resistant Baumann Skin Type, you can exfoliate every day.

Sensitive Baumann Skin Types should be careful and only exfoliate 2-3 times a week. Some subtypes of sensitive skin such as rosacea prone skin, may not be able to exfoliate at all.  Never exfoliate if your skin if it hurts, or is red or stinging.  

Exfoliate dry skin one to two times a week.  Only exfoliate if your skin is dull or is flaking. Exfoliate in the day time or before an event.  There is no need to exfoliate your skin before bedtime because the dead skin cells will build up on the top layer of your skin again overnight.

It is not good to exfoliate dry skin with exfoliants and exfoliators unless you too often.  Only use them when you need a quick fix to look more radiant or allow makeup to go on smoother. Exfoliating can injure your skin barrier and make dry skin worse.

Yes!  Exfoliating skin injures the skin barrier.  If you want to exfoliate your dry skin, use a barrier repair moisturizer afterwards.

Barrier repair moisturizers to use after exfoliating dry skin:

There are two main types of skincare products that exfoliate skin: 

1. Mechanical exfoliators 
2. Chemical Exfoliators

Skincare products to exfoliate the skin may contain mechanical exfoliators, chemical exfoliators, or both.

Choose exfoliators by your Baumann Skin Type for best results. You can shop and read reviews by your skin type- just look for your skin type octagon with your skin type number and color. This will guide you to the best exfoliants and exfoliators for your skin type.

Mechanical exfoliators use a rough substance s to scratch the surface of the skin removing dead skin cells.

Types of mechanical exfoliators are:

• sugar
• apricot seeds
• jojoba beads
• aluminum crystals
• face brush
• face scrub
• loofa
• microdermabrasion 
• dermaplaning

Chemical exfoliators that use low pH ingredients such as acids or enzymes help dissolve the attachments between cells.

Types of chemicals exfoliators are:

• AHAs
• Azelaic acid
• Gluconolactone,
• Glycolic acid
• Hydroxy acids
• Lactic acid
• Papaya enzymes
• Pumpkin enzymes
• Salicylic acid 

The skin naturally exfoliates itself in a process called desquamation.

In some instances, the face needs help exfoliating because it is not desquamating enough, resulting in retained skin cells on the surface of the skin.

These dead skin cells on the surface of skin make the skin feel rough.

When the surface of the skin is not smooth, the skin looks dull because light is not reflected well.

To renew skin and return it to a radiant and  glowing state, choose an exfoliation method right for your Baumann Skin Type.

You probably do not realize how many exfoliators are in your skin care routine. Many ingredients such as Vitamin C exfoliate but you do not realize it.

When starting a new skin care routine, most Baumann Skin Types should only use 1 type of exfoliation per day.  However, some skin types can use 2-3 types per day.

The key is to not over-exfoliate.  When you begin a new skincare routine,  do not use more than 1 or 2 types of exfoliators at once or you can over-exfoliate the skin.  The amount of exfoliators you use, the frequency that you exfoliate every day, and which exfoliator is best depends upon your Baumann Skin Type®.  

Many medical spas offer skin treatments to exfoliate. These are the types of exfoliating treatments to ask your doctor or medical provider about:

• Body Scrubs
• Dermaplaning
• Exfoliating Masks
• Face brushes
• Facial scrubs
• HydraFacial
• Microdermabrasion
• Chemical Peels
• Laser

List of exfoliants and exfoliators in skin care products:

• AHAs
• BHA
• Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C)
• Azelaic acid
• Defensins
• Hydroxyacids such as glycolic acid, lactic acid, malic acid, and phytic acid
• Jojoba beads
• Retinoids
• Salicylic acid

There are many natural exfoliants and exfoliators that meet clean ingredient standards.  Some examples are:

• Apricot Pits- finely ground
• Almonds- finely ground
• Oatmeal- ground
• Papaya enzymes
• Pumpkin enzymes
• Sugar

Sea salt is very rough on the skin so if you choose to exfoliate with kosher salt or sea salt- be very gentle.  Sugar is a better natural option to exfoliate skin.

Do not use baking soda to exfoliate your face! Baking soda has a pH of 8 and is very alkaline and irritating to your skin.  You can cause a chemical burn.

Ascorbic acid is an exfoliant. Vitamin C is an acid called ascorbic acid. 

Most vitamin C serums are at a low acidic pH.  The Vitamin C serums that are pH 3 or lower are exfoliants.  For example, SkinCeuticals CE Ferulic is an exfoliant.

Vitamin C creams are not a low pH in most cases- so Vitamin C creams do not exfoliate skin like serums do.

However, Vitamin C serums are strong exfoliants.  They are also antioxidants and tyrosinase inhibitors. 

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is not an exfoliant.  It is a glycosaminoglycan and a humectant.  It helps skin hold onto water but HA does not exfoliate skin.

It increases penetration of other ingredients and can increase effectiveness of exfoliants and exfoliators.

Niacinamide is not an exfoliant.  It is an anti inflammatory ingredientand a skin lightening ingredient that blocks the PAR-2 receptor.

It can be used to soothe over-exfoliated skin.

Retinol and other retinoids are one of the best exfoliants which is why you peel when you first begin a retinoid.

The exfoliant properties of retinoids is part of the cause of side effects seen with retinol.

Be careful when beginning retinoids. You can easily over exfoliate.  I recommend using no more than one other exfoliant when beginning retinoids.

The best exfoliant for your face is one that will make your skin glow but will not over exfoliate. Which is best for your face depends upon your Baumann Skin type and what other products are in your skin care regimen.

Here is some general advice and tips from dermatologists to help you decide which dermatologist recommended scrubs, exfoliants and exfoliators exfoliators are best for your face or body.

Our top recommendation is to take the quiz and shop for scrubs, exfoliants, and exfoliators by your Baumann Skin Type.

Sensitive skin is more prone to inflammation.  Too much inflammation can lead to uneven skin pigmentation and skin aging.

Exfoliators can increase inflammation in sensitive skin types and hurt your skin! They can also cause hyperpigmentation if you get inflamed from overuse.

If you have sensitive skin, you should only use exfoliating ingredients that are right for your Baumann Skin Type®.  This is important because every day in our dermatology practices we see patients who have made their acne, rosacea, or irritated skin worse by using the wrong exfoliating ingredients.

Salicylic acid cleansers might be right for you if you have oily sensitive skin and hydroxyacid cleansers might be right for you if you have dry sensitive skin, but please take the quiz and get our recommendations before using any type of scrubs, exfoliants and exfoliators.

Misuse of exfoliators is one of the biggest mistake that I see my sensitive skin patients make!

The best exfoliators for dry skin are hydroxyacid cleansers or creams that contain hydroxyacids.

Here are some low strength hydroxyacid creams that can be used to exfoliate dry skin:

We like these facial scrubs for normal and combination skin:

For oily skin, we prefer salicylic acid cleansers or toners.

Here are some exfoliating salicylic acid toners for oily skin. Toners should be applied after cleansing the face.

Our dermatologists recommend exfoliating the face with a low pH cleanser.

If you are dry, chose a hydoxyacid cleanser.  If you are oily, choose a salicylic acid cleanser.

You can learn more about shopping for cleansers by your skin type here.

In some cases you made need two different cleansers.

The best face wash to exfoliate the face daily will have chemical exfoliators.  These can be natural skin exfoliators like papaya or pumpkin enzymes that are gentle or strong exfoliators like glycolic acid, lactic acid, and phytic acid.

The best face washes to exfoliate oily skin types are salicylic acid face washes.

The best face washes to exfoliate dry types are hydroxyacid face washes.

Essences, which are another name for facial toners, may contain exfoliating ingredients such as hydroxy acids and enzymes. 

The best exfoliating face toners for oily skin or combination skin have salicylic acid to clear pores.

The best essences and face toners for dry skin should have hydroxy acids like glycolic acid.

There are many face scrubs to exfoliate the face, however, many have come under scrutiny because they can hurt the environment. In fact, plastic microbeads have been banned from beauty products in the US because of plastic buildup in the waterways. 

Environmentally friendly, eco-friendly, sustainable face scrub ingredients include:

• Coffee grounds- Can have sharp edges that are too rough for sensitive skin
• Jojoba beads - Do not have rough edges that can damage the skin. Come in different sizes that can determine mild, moderate, or deep exfoliation.
• Oatmeal- Best exfoliating ingredient for sensitive skin but not very exfoliating
• Sugar- A very common DIY at home exfoliator, but very harsh and irritating due to small size and large surface area, causing increased amounts of friction.

There are many good face brushes to exfoliate the face. Face brushes should be used with the best cleanser for your Baumann Skin Type.

Face brushes are not advised for dry skin types because increased friction can impair the skin barrier. 

Sensitive skin types should not use a face brush. (See discussion of exfoliation for sensitive skin above).

If you choose to use a face brush, you should only use one other type of exfoliation in your skincare routine, and this includes the type of cleanser that you are using with the face brush.

So- if you are using a retinoid and a face brush, do not use a hydroxy acid cleanser, toner, or face cream to exfoliate the skin.

More recommendations are coming soon.  Our doctors are still in process of evaluating all the masks.

For now- we like these mask to exfoliate the skin:

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