Desquamation often becomes patchy or slows down when skin
ages or becomes damaged. Inadequate desquamation is what underlies dry or
blemished skin. Dry skin simply looks flaky. Blemished skin may include clogged
pores, acne, skin spots, or redness. Each of these conditions can benefit from
actively exfoliating your skin to renews its youthful, glowing appearance.
Herbal skin care products can be especially powerful for
promoting desquamation. The key is to use natural skin care products that are
not irritating and that provide deep cleansing.
Removing Dead Skin Cells
It may be surprising to learn that the outer layer of
your skin consists entirely of dead skin cells. You are literally covered with
them! Normally these outer cells have been dead for at least a month. They are
crucial for forming a protective layer against damage by microbial infection
and by environmental toxins, including overexposure to UV light. Normal skin
sheds millions of dead skin cells every day. The amount of skin shedding is
balanced with the formation of new cells for maintaining the integrity of the
outer protective layer of cells.
This natural balance gets thrown off kilter when shedding
slows down due to aging or external damage. This imbalance may cause the
normally protective layer of dead skin cells to thicken beyond what is
necessary, which causes dull-looking skin. That is when taking an active role
in skin exfoliation becomes important for restoring the proper cycle of
shedding and regeneration.
Exfoliating Dry Skin
By the way, skin begins to dry out even before it becomes
flaky-looking. A simple home test will tell you whether your skin is getting
too dry. Gently rub a small piece of clear tape on your forehead. After you
carefully remove it, look for any little pieces of flaky skin on the tape. They
indicate dead skin cells that are not being removed quickly enough by healthy
desquamation.
Removing dry skin cells is particularly important before
using rehydrating creams. Rehydrating dead cells makes little sense. They
should instead be removed beforehand by active exfoliation. Winter is the
season when exfoliation is particularly important, since skin dries out more in
cold air that holds less moisture. Indoor air in winter can be super-dry when
it is heated by a natural gas furnace.
Exfoliating Blemished Skin
Skin cell buildup can clog pores, trap oil in follicles,
cause patchy redness, and promote the growth of acne-causing bacteria. Any of
these conditions will benefit tremendously from an active exfoliating program
with the right herbal formulas. Such formulas consist of a mixture of herbs
that cleanse, disinfect, and reduce inflammation while invigorating skin in
preparation for applying anti-aging and moisturizing products.
Care must be taken to avoid common skin care ingredients
that are overly drying or inflammatory. Such ingredients often include strong
anti-bacterial agents and inflammatory organic acids. Especially watch out for
substances such as alpha-hydroxy acids (AHA; e.g., glycolic acid) and
beta-hydroxy acids (BHA; e.g., salicylic acid), since these are powerful
oxidizing agents. Oxidizing agents may temporarily reduce wrinkles by inflaming
cells to make them puff up to look smooth. However, this not truly beneficial
for skin.
Reversing Skin Wrinkling
As the skin's natural desquamation slows, the
accumulation of dry skin cells create a wrinkled appearance. This is when herbs
that promote the structural proteins, collagen and elastin, in the lower levels
of the epidermis can trick the skin into acting young again.
Many herbs impart such activities, led by green tea and
also including Chinese Angelica root, white mulberry, and white peony, among
others.
Check out the all-natural herbal formulas for exfoliating
skin and for reversing the effects of skin aging, available online at
NaturalSkinRX.com. Top products include the Exfoliating Scrub and the Vitality
Anti-Aging Serum by Jadience Herbal Formulas.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Dennis_Clark,_Ph.D.
