A Crash Course In Exfoliation
Your fast-track to soft, smooth, spot-free skin
Exfoliation, confusing as it may be, is actually one of the best ways to treat your spots and smooth your face.
But our skin, specifically our skin barrier, is a sensitive thing, so it’s important to strike a balance so that you end up baby-soft... but not burnt. But where to even begin?
Lucky for you we’re well-versed in all things skincare, so we’ve mapped out a few exfoliating basics below.
FIRSTLY, WHAT IS EXFOLIATION?
In a nutshell, exfoliation is the process of sloughing off dead cells from the surface of our skin. This process does happen naturally, but certain lifestyle factors, age and genetics can slow it down, leading to dullness, flakiness and congestion (hi, breakouts).
WAYS TO EXFOLIATE:
So there’s three main ways to exfoliate your face: Physical and chemical. Both have their place in skincare, but chemical is often the method of choice for pimple-prone complexions. Let’s break it all down here.
Physical:
This involves a gritty ‘scrub’ to manually remove dead skin. It’s easy to go overboard, so proceed with caution — but overall a light physical scrub can be a nice way to smooth and brighten the skin. Look for something with rounded, gentle beads (no jagged apricot kernels) and massage in once a week at most.
Chemical:
While it sounds intense, chemical exfoliation is actually one of the most effective ways to care for your skin. There are two main types of chemical exfoliators: Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHAs) and Beta Hydroxy Acids (BHAs). AHAs are water soluble, and only take off the ‘dead’ upper layer, whereas BHAs are oil-soluble, so can get in and clear out a pore. BHAs — like salicylic acid — are MVPs of Skin Control because of their acne-killing superpowers.
Then you also have enzymes, which are very gentle, and a great way to enter the world of exfoliation if you’re sensitive or new to the game.
OUR FAVES:
Now for the fun part! Here are some of our favourite products to brighten and clear your face.
Skin Control Breakout Bar: This cleansing bar is made with salicylic acid, a known BHA that is really effective and dissolving oil and unclogging pores. It’s also packed with tea tree and charcoal to deeply cleanse the skin, so work it in for a good 30 seconds.
Skin Control Breakout Bar (available at Chemist Warehouse, Woolworths, Big W or skincontrol.com.au)
Skin Control Blemish Banish: Think of this as a targeted exfoliating spot treatment to help reduce breakouts overnight. Formulated with salicylic acid, calamine and tea tree, it dries out spots and reduces redness — for a calmer face by morning.
Skin Control Blemish Banish (available at Chemist Warehouse, Woolworths, Big W, IGA or skincontrol.com.au)
