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Welcome to my beauty blog, and you will find a lot of beauty sharings here. As a shopaholic and a skincare maniac, I always like to try new things in market. And the most important thing is I just share what I had tried for at least a month to get most trustworthy testimonial. Besides, as a cosmetic analyst, I'll share with you more interesting facts behind these bottles and jars. Feel free to drop by here and I am looking forward to approaching you soon.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Exfoliation: Physical verus Chemical

Our skin produces dead skin cell every 28-day, no matter oily skin or dry skin. If your skin is dry, the dead skin cell forms more rapidly than any other skin type. After some time, this dead skin cell layer must be removed to prevent congestion and dull skin.


Usually, we exfoliate our face once or twice a week, especially before mask, for better absorption as well as making our skin look glow and radiant.


Scrub is the most common exfoliating product used by the people, it is actually kind of physical exfoliation. Convenient, fast and effective are scrub's advantages. However, acne prone skin with serious pimples is not advisable to use scrub for it will stimulate the growth of acne and cause severe inflammation, making skin look reddish and may enlarge acne scars.


The best and most gentle exfoliation for acne prone skin is enzyme or fruit acid gel based chemical exfoliation, or exfoliating mask. Apply it on your face for 10-20 minutes after cleansing, let the enzyme/fruit acid soften dead skin cell, then remove it with warm water. Plus, fruit acid (AHA, BHA) will increase skin thickness by stimulating secretion of keratin, hyaluronic acid and collagen, it is especially suitable for thin/sensitive skin.


Here are the varieties of and differences between physical and chemical exfoliation methods.

1) Physical

Most abrasive, not suitable for inflamed skin, it irritates skin and worsens inflammation condition. Physical exfoliation is suitable for other skin types, as well as acne skin with whiteheads. If you utilize granular type of exfoliation incorrectly, it will cause pocked marks.

eg: scrub, exfoliating mask, clay peel, peeling, microdermabrasion, diamond microdermabrasion

2) Chemical

Milder, suitable for acne prone skin, not recommended to use the same type of exfoliation method twice in a time, excessive chemical exfoliation may cause dryness and sensitivity on skin. Available also in mask form.

eg: AHA/BHA/fruit acid (lactic acid, salicylic acid, malic acid, glycolic acid, citric acid, tartaric acid and etc), enzyme

philosophy

6 comments:

Jason said...

so.. can SK2 toner replace Chemical exfoliation?

Philosophy said...

cannot, sk2 toner contain hydrating Pitera which is fermented yeast extract, not enzyme nor fruit acid.

~* *··§îlvêr±€ryst壴¯`* * ~ said...

can you pls suggest any scrub for acne-prone skin?

Philosophy said...

silver crystal, try AHA/enzyme based exfoliating gel such as suki, Living Nature or Juice Beauty.

~* *··§îlvêr±€ryst壴¯`* * ~ said...

i know suki is only available in s'pore or only can be purchased online =.=.
How bout juice beuty? where can i get this brand?

currently im using trilogy's scrub, is this ok?

Philosophy said...

juice beauty is available at the garden mid valley, just nearby isetan. Living Nature vitalising exfoliant is cheaper than juice beauty peeling gel. scrub is physical exfoliation, if u wanna use it, u should avoid acne area.