How to Use Exfoliating Gel to Improve your Skin

April 30, 2021

Irritants such as pollution and environmental stress challenge our skin daily. A plethora of factors work in unison to take away the skin's radiance and health. These include piled-up dead skin cells, stress, weather changes, and oil residue building upon the skin.

The human skin cells constantly multiply over time, pushing the dead cells to the surface. This leads to the build-up of layers of dead skin cells. This, too, is responsible for reducing the skin's radiance.

Don't worry! Here's when an exfoliating gel comes to the rescue. Exfoliation is the best method to return to the skin its natural glow. But wait, what exactly is exfoliation? Exfoliation is the process of removing the dead and dried-up skin cells debris from the outer layer of skin using exfoliants. An exfoliant may either be physical or chemical. An exfoliating gel provides an abundance of benefits to the skin, which gives you every reason to leverage it into your skincare routine.

Benefits of using an exfoliating gel

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In addition to improving your skin's radiance, clarity, and health, exfoliating the dead skin cells helps the other skincare products penetrate deeper into the skin. This allows your expensive skincare products such as moisturisers and serums to do their job effectively.

Smooth skin

Sloughing off the dead skin cells is the primary action of an exfoliating gel. This action renders the skin soft and smooth. Elbows and knees typically present with driest and scaly skin. Exfoliating these areas helps to smooth out these dry parts. However, a moisturiser is recommended after using an exfoliating gel over these areas to trap the smoothening ingredients.

Unclogs the pores and helps fight acne

Exfoliating and then cleansing the skin prevents surface debris from entering into the pores. This protects the skin pores from getting blocked and preventing blackheads, breakouts and, acne.

Makes the skin tone even

Exfoliating gels promote skin turnover by removing the dead cells and surface debris and stimulating the multiplication of new skin cells. So, suppose you have acne scars, hyperpigmented skin, dark spots, skin with uneven texture, or other blemishes. In that case, exfoliating may be the perfect option to even up your skin tone.

Biological benefits

Exfoliation helps increase blood circulation and lymphatic drainage of the skin. Fresh blood is essential for the skin's recovery and health, while stimulated lymphatic drainage works like 'skin detoxification' by removing toxins from the skin.

Exfoliation increases the skin's cell turnover, revealing the new and healthy skin layer under the dead cells' debris.

It also increases collagen synthesis. Collagen makes the skin-tight, keeps it hydrated, and helps lessen the wrinkles on the skin. Overall, increased collagen production has an anti-ageing effect on the skin.

How to use an exfoliating gel?

Don't worry! Using an exfoliating gel is not some rocket science. Just take out a bit of the gel in your fingers, rub it on the skin in a circular fashion (with your fingertips), and then rinse off.
Try not to use a body wash on your skin simultaneously with an exfoliating gel, as it may cause the skin to become severely dry.
Also, keep the following points in mind-
Never apply excessive pressure while applying the exfoliating gel as it may lead to the erosion of healthy skin tissue along with the dead one.
It is recommended that you use lukewarm water to soften your skin to prepare it for exfoliation.
Don't hesitate to try the gel on a small part of the skin first to see how your skin reacts to it. This is very important if your skin is sensitive to specific chemicals/ingredients the gel may have.

Which type of exfoliant should you use? Physical or Chemical?

A physical exfoliant has coarse and grainy granules that you massage gently on your skin to exfoliate the surface debris. In contrast, a chemical exfoliant has various chemicals (safe for your skin) that help loosen the dead skin cells and help detach them from the underlying layers of your skin. These chemicals include alpha and beta hydroxy acids and fruit enzymes.

It is up to you to choose which exfoliant you should use. Maybe, you should better let your skin tell you that. Some people prefer physical exfoliants over chemical ones and vice-versa.

How often should you use an exfoliating gel?

Although it's hard to comment on how often you should use an exfoliating gel as there are no fixed set of guidelines. However, as a general guideline, you may start using the gel once a week and then gradually increase to three-to-four times a week, depending on your needs and skin type. Everyone's skin responds differently. If you use the gel too harshly, you may end up aggravating an underlying skin condition or render your skin irritated. However, if you use it too sparingly, you may end up not exfoliating your skin at all.

Which exfoliating gel to use?

Be careful! Not all the gels are the same. Some gels may have harsh and abrasive ingredients that may damage your skin. We recommend using Avène Gentle Exfoliating Gel for Sensitive Skin. It has incredibly tolerant exfoliants (Jojoba wax beads and niacinamide) and a unique active anti-irritant (Avène Thermal Spring Water). It also has citrate and tocopherol, which brighten your skin tone and provide defence against free radicals. The salicylate present in the gel penetrates the skin and performs its exfoliating action. It should be used before a mask or moisturiser to improve the efficacy of the ingredients and refine the skin texture, leaving it radiant and healthy‐looking. This exfoliating gel is suitable for all skin types, eliminating dead cells and impurities without aggravating or drying.