Does the smell of St. Ives Apricot Scrub bring back memories of your teens? Just me? Lol. I remember discovering and using it for the first time and thinking, wow! so shiny and clean!! But life goes on and we need to "put away the things of our youth," as St. Paul tells us. I'm going to make a case for why you shouldn't be using harsh scrubs on your face and offer a few, effective alternatives. Bear with me 😊
What's wrong with St. Ives? It makes my face so clean! Have you ever got a carpet burn or scraped your knee? If you weren't bleeding, you'll notice that that area is swollen and raised. It's called friction. If you apply friction or rubbing to a skin surface, the skin reacts by swelling. When you scrub your face with a rough object, your face reacts by swelling. Granted, you didn't rub enough to cause the skin to break, but that nice, glowy, pore-less look you get after scrubbing your face is caused not because your skin is instantly healthier, but because it's now swollen. And guess what you see less of when your skin is swollen? Pores. But what happens when the skin calms and the swelling subsides? Your pores reappear.
But what about scrubbing all the dead skin off my face? Good point. Dry, dead, flakey skin is not appealing. So you should exfoliate your skin. St. Ives just isn't the most skin-healthy way of doing it. When you scrub your skin with a harsh scrub, you're making tiny tears in your skin that you can't see. What happens to tears when they heal? They become scars. Over time, continual scarring will cause your skin to become rougher. Also, little tears are open wounds, which open your skin to infection... acne and breakouts.
I need to scrub my skin to clean out my pores! Have you looked closely at the size of the apricot seed granules that are in St. Ives? Have you looked at the actual size of your pores? There is no way that those large granules are going to fit inside your pores (no matter how huge they seem to you!) and clean them out. The smaller pore size you notice after using St. Ives isn't your pores being cleaned... it's that your pores look smaller because your skin has swollen. Also, all the moisturizers in the scrub make your skin softer and mask the appearance of pores.
So what. This product works for me. True enough. I get instant gratification as related to skincare. We all want that instant fix. So if you're really sold on this product, or ones similar, I get it 😜 If you're on the fence, keep reading for some alternatives I've found that work even better.
Exfoliating your skin means you're rubbing dead skin off your face and revealing cleaner, fresher skin. You are constantly shedding skin. However, because of the moisturizers, primers, foundations we put on our face, skin turnover is slowed. Then you'll notice dry, skin flakes, enlarged pores, greasiness, and blackheads. Exfoliation also prepares your face to better absorb all the healthy things you're putting on to your face because it peels off the dead skin that keeps skincare products from being absorbed.
There are two types of exfoliation - manual and chemical. Manual means that you're literally rubbing skin off your face. Chemical means that you are using a product that encourages health skin turnover. A little of both can be very effective.
Manual exfoliation:
St. Ives scrub is an example of manual exfoliation. For reasons discussed, it's not one I recommend. Here are a few products and tricks I like to use instead.
First favorite! Biore Baking Soda Cleansing Scrub. You can buy this at Walmart or Amazon for $8.00. I bought one a year and a half ago haven't used it up yet, so I'd say a bottle lasts 2 years with daily use. It's a powder cleanser, meaning that you dispense a small amount on your wet hands, rub it slightly together to soften it, then rub your hands on to your wet face. As you rub, you can add more water to soften the mixture for a gentler cleanse, or you can add less water for more exfoliation. As you rub, the product dissolves into a light foam, which you can then use to wash around your eyes. It's gentle enough that I've never had any stinging or irritation when using on my eyes to remove mascara residue. It also thoroughly removes mascara if you first used an oil cleanser to dissolve mascara. It is also incredibly effective at cleaning out pores. Look at how small a granule of backing soda is. It's much closer to the size of your pores, compared to apricot seed granules. If you really want to cleanse pores and reduce blackheads, this product gently and effectively does the job. I really, truly love this product! It can be as gentle or deep a cleanser as you want, depending on how much water you add. And it dissolves into foam before you can over-exfoliate (rub too much) your face. The only con is the smell. It reminds me of what sweaty horses smell like when you're shampoo-ing them. If you were not in the habit of bathing sweaty horses in your younger years, you may only notice a slightly sweet, baking soda-y smell. Otherwise, you've been warned.
Tatcha Rice Enzyme Powder. $15-$65, Sephora. This is another powder cleanser that I've bought more than once and loved. It works similarly to Biore, with perhaps less foam. If you have very sensitive skin, this might be the item to try because rice is a popular ingredient in sensitive skin products. The main differences are that it doesn't smell like wet horse, and the rice granules do not dissolve completely like the baking soda does. Also, the mini is much smaller and lasts me 2 months or less.
Neogen Bio-Peel pads, Amazon $16.50. These.are.awesome! There are three "flavors." The green tea one is for sensitive skin and it targets acne with green tea and tea tree oil. The wine pads contain resveratrol, an anti-aging, anti-wrinkle ingredient. The lemon ones are packed with a variety of AHAs and work well to clear skin, brighten, and clear acne. (See The Klog article here for more information). Basically, it's a container of little, circular pads that feel like soft scrubbies. One side is soft and smooth, like a wipe. The other side is woven and feels rougher on your face... perfect for exfoliation. The instructions tell you to use a couple times a week, after cleansing and before applying face products. You wipe your face, then rinse. What I like to do is use them every other morning, after cleansing. I only use the rougher side, wiping all over my face, especially around my chin and jawline where hormonal acne attacks the worst. Then I leave it on long enough to brush my teeth and hair. Then I rinse it off with cold water and put on toner. Because I'm a cheapy and because I don't share these pads with anyone else, I put the pad back into the container with the soft, unused side down on the other unused pads. This way, the pad reabsorbs more product, doesn't contaminate the rest of the jar, and I can get several more uses out of the pad. I throw it out when the pad starts disintegrating or looks gross. There are about 30 pads per container and you can so many more uses if you try this trick. Or not 😋
Ye olde towel-oil-tweezer trick. Every so often, my nose starts peeling. It's super annoying because it makes my foundation/bb cream look like crap. When this happens, my go-to solution is to wash and dry my face, then get a wet towel and rub my nose. Looks super red after, but at least no peeling skin. If your skin is sensitive, use a wet towel, but first add a little oil to it. Any facial oil will work. This not only exfoliates, but also moisturizes the already dry area and prevents further flaking. If that doesn't work, I use my tweezers to gently peel off the offending skin. This is very effective. It should not hurt. If it does, the skin isn't ready to be removed.
Gommage. I love writing the word "gommage" because it's such a cool word! Ok, maybe that's just me. Gommage is a type of manual exfoliation that uses a product to exfoliate. I posted earlier about my favorite gommage products. Basically, you use this gel-like product and rub it all over your face (not eyes). As you rub, the product reacts with your face and starts to ball up and congeal. As your rub and the product balls up, dry, dead skin becomes attached to the product. Lots of people think that the stuff you see balling up is your skin. No. But if your skin is really dirty, you will notice the congealed product change color and darken as it removes dead, dirty skin. What's really cool is that you can use this anywhere on your body where you notice an accumulation of dry dead skin, like your legs, knees, elbows, or shoulders. Just do it in the shower (with the water off) because the product sheds all over the floor. After you've rubbed the product until it's dried out, rinse off with cold water. The effect you get from this is very similar to using a scrub. But the difference is that you're not tearing the surface of your face with rough granules.
Cleansing sponges. These are pretty popular in Korean skincare and are gaining popularity here, as you will find them in nearly every beauty aisle. There are essentially two kinds. The konjac sponge, when wet, is very poofy and soft. If you have sensitive skin, but want to add a little exfoliation to your face wash, use this rub it and remove suds. I personally didn't think they did anything for me, although it's really fun to watch them with your kids as they swell up and expand in water. What I do like and use frequently is a cellulose sponge. It's thin and flat and looks like the yellow sponges you use to wash dishes. They can be as soft or rough as you chose, depending on how much water you're using. I use mine after cleansing with soap in the morning, to rub in the suds and help rinse them off. I do suggest using them lightly and gently because I think they're rough enough to cause abrasion and tearing. If you really like the scrubbed clean look you get from St. Ives, this is a good product to try. They're cheap, too.
This covers manual exfoliation. Stay tuned for Part 2, where I'll be discussing chemical exfoliation and good uses for St. Ives scrub that don't include your face 😉
No comments:
Post a Comment