How Much Should I Exfoliate?

How Much Should I Exfoliate?

Question: How Much Should I Exfoliate?

Answer: Women should exfoliate using a scrub once or twice a week. You want to be sure not to overexfoliate or use a product with granules that can tear at the skin (I'm thinking of those hard, rock-like exfoliators you can buy over the counter, avoid those at all costs). Rub the product in a circular motion for 30 seconds and then wash off. If you have oily skin, large pores or acne-prone skin, you can try an at-home microdermabrasion system.

Try: L'Oreal Paris Dermo-Expertise Scrub Cleanser (under $6) or or Lancome Resurface-C Microdermabrasion Kit ($85)

Make Your Own Homemade Face Mask

Stockbyte/Getty Images

You can use basic ingredients found around the house to make your own simple, hydrating masks. If you have oily or acne-prone skin, mud or clay-based masks are great for balancing out your skin. Dry skin will benefit from hydrating masks made from glycerin, honey and oils. Ginseng or green tea masks are great for soothing sensitive skin.

Masks (homemade or otherwise) should stay on for 10-15 minutes, should follow with a thin layer of moisturizer.

Here are recipes we've gathered over the years arranged by skin type.

All Skin Types

Egg White Face Mask for All Skin Types
Model Shalom Harlow calls this face mask, "so moisturizing and soothing." The best part? It only has 2 ingredients.

Oatmeal and Yogurt Mask for All Skin Types
This is a great basic face mask that includes just 3 basic ingredients.

Rejuvenating Pumpkin Mask for All Skin Types
Pumpkin pulp is full of antioxidants. This recipe is adapted from one in Vogue Magazine that was created by a well-known Santa Monica facialist.

Homemade 'Cat Litter' Mask for All Skin Types
We got this recipe off a TV show years ago. The beauty expert (Diane Irons) swore cat litter is made of the same ingredients as special clays found in $100 spa facials. We tried this and loved it.

Yogurt Face Mask for All Skin Types
This refreshing face mask is made up of only 2 ingredients.

Homemade Clay Mask for All Skin Types
This clay mask will make skin super soft.

Natural skin brightener recipe from India (July 2008 Cosmopolitan Magazine) Mix a tablespoon of turmeric powder in 1 cup of plain yogurt. Leave on for 5-10 minutes, then rinse off.

Oily, Acne-Prone Skin

recipe requires super-ripe bananas and a bit of honey.

Crush aspirin and mix in water/oil/honey for a mask meant to dry up pimples. Makeupalley.com users swear by this mask (out of 2030 reviewers at the time of this writing, a whopping 85 percent said they would "try it again").

Strawberries are a natural source of salicylic acid. Recipe from Janice Cox, author of "Natural Beauty at Home."

How To Body Scrubs & Salt Scrubs -

How To Body Scrubs & Salt Scrubs - - How to Make Your Own Homemade Salt Scrub

Filed In:

1. Skin Problems
2. > Dry Skin Fixes

Make your own homemade salt scrub like ones you can buy in stores

Head to a posh spa and you can treat yourself (for a mere $100-$300) to an all-over body scrub. Or you can spend up to $50 on a fancy salt scrub. Why buy when you can make a homemade body scrub out of basic ingredients yourself? All you need is salt or sugar, body oil and a nice, warm bath.

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 10 minutes

Here's How:

1. For this body scrub, use whatever salt you have in the house: Sea, epsom or basic table salt. I like to use Turbinado sugar (packaged as "Sugar in the Raw" in stores). Sugar can be gentler on the skin. If you have super sensitive skin, go with dark brown sugar.
2. Choose an oil. You can use baby oil or any of the following: organic extra virgin coconut oil (my absolute favorite, which you can buy at a health food store), almond oil, safflower, vegetable. Skip the olive oil, it stinks.
3. You want 1 part salt to 1 part oil. Place anywhere from a few tablespoons to a cup of salt in a container. Place equal amount oil. Mix with a spoon. Don't freak out if the salt settles to the bottom. It's virtually impossible to keep it mixed.
4. If you want your salt scrub to smell divine, put 5 drops of an essential oil into your mixture. Mix with spoon.
5. Now onto the bath itself. I find scrubs work best on dry skin. Step into a bath tub and put on loofah mitts. I like the mitts that you get in health food stores. They really scrub your skin good. If you don't have a bath mitt, don't worry, you can use your hands.
6. Take a spoonful of the mixture into your loofah and then rub the mixture all over your body in a circular motion. Rub harder on tougher areas such as the bottom of your feet, elbows and knees. Avoid your neck and face. If you feel the salt is too harsh on your skin, rinse off the loofah and then spoon only the oil onto the loofah.
7. Once entire body is scrubbed well, rinse thoroughly
8. Pat skin dry. You should be good and cleansed. The salt (or sugar) should have exfoliated your skin nicely with the help of the loofah and the oil should leave skin soft and moisturized. You shouldn't even need to follow the bath with a moisturizer.
9. The only bad part about this scrub is the oil can build up on the bathtub bottom. Make sure to clean it up so the next person who gets in doesn't slip.

What You Need:

• salt or sugar
• oil (I prefer organic extra virgin coconut oil, but you can use baby oil)
• a bowl
• essential oils if you choose
• a spoon
• loofah mitt (or you can use your hands)

What Is A Body Treatment?

Body treatments are essentially a facial for your whole body and leave your skin feeling velvety smooth and soft. The idea behind a body treatment is that is just as important to cleanse, exfoliate, and hydrate the skin on your body as it is the skin of your face.

The most popular body treatment is a body scrub, sometimes called a body polish, salt glow or sea-salt scrub. This is an exfoliating treatment that takes place on a massage table covered with a sheet and a large, thin piece of plastic.

As you lay on your stomach, the massage therapist rubs a mixture of sea salt, oil, and aromatics like lemon into your skin. This exfoliates the skin and leaves it feeling velvety soft.

Once your whole body is scrubbed, which takes maybe ten or fifteen minutes, you shower it all off without soap, leaving a nice coating of oil. It's an invigorating treatment, and it's a good idea to get your scrub before your massage if you're having both.

Variations can come from the essential oils or scrub materials: you might get an orange blossom/peppermint salt glow or a cucumber salt glow, or a body scrub done with coffee grounds, finely ground pecan shells or Napa Valley grape seeds. Sometimes a hydrating lotion is applied afterwards.

A body mask and body wrap often takes place after a scrub. After you rinse off the salt you return to the treatment table. If you're slathered with mud, algae, or seaweed and wrapped in a thermal blanket, it's a "detoxifying" treatment that stimulates your metabolic system, speeding its ability to carry away waste products. If the product is cream or lotion, it's a "hydrating" treatment.

A body wrap can also be a wrapping treatment used to treat cellulite. It sometimes has a diuretic effect that aids in temporary weight reduction.

What Is A Facial?

The Basic Steps of A Professional Facial

A facial cleans, exfoliates and nourishes the skin to promote clear, well-hydrated skin. A facial is the second most popular spa treatment after massage. It is sometimes called a "deep-cleansing facial" or or "deep-pore cleansing" facial because of extractions.

The Basic Steps of a Facial

Cleansing. A facial begins with a cleansing with cotton pads or sponges and a product chosen for your skin type (normal, dry, oily, combination, sensitive, mature.)

Skin Analysis. The esthetician covers your eyes and looks at your skin through a brightly lit magnifying lamp that reveal various skin conditions.

Exfoliation using a mechanical or chemical exfoliant. Mechanical exfoliation has a gritty texture and usually happens while a steam vapor is directed at your face. A chemical peel can be a stand-alone treatment or part of the facial. It is generally an "upgrade" and done in a series.

Extraction of blackheads or whiteheads if you want it and need it. (It can cause broken capillaries and discoloration if done on sensitive skin, or done improperly.) People have different pain tolerance for extractions. They can be uncomfortable, especially on thin or ruddy skin.

Facial massage using classic strokes like effleurage to both relax you and stimulate your skin and facial muscles.

A facial mask targeted to your skin type (dry, oily, combination, sensitive, mature) and condition.

Application of toners and protective creams.

Advice on home skin care.

Is massage right for everyone?

Is massage right for everyone?
Of course not. There are a number reasons why massage might not be right for you. Please review this list as you consider massage as an option.

* Fever
* Infectious Disease
* Recent Operation
* Skin Diseases
* Varicose Veins
* Cancer
* Pregnancy
* Cuts or Abrasions
* Thrombosis
* Heart conditions
* Hypertension
* Edema
* Angina
* Epilepsy
* Bell’s Palsy
* Sunburn
* Neuritis
* On prescription meds

All massage sessions are one-on-one, which gives you the opportunity to converse with the therapist as well as get the personal attention you need to get results. You can ask questions about how you compare with other people. Feel free to ask the therapist what approach he or she will be taking so you know what to expect. The massage therapist has many different techniques to use to deal with your back pain, and some are better than others.

Be aware that sometimes a massage therapist can get distracted with other problem areas. It is in your best interest to keep the therapist focused on your back and associated ailments. You may need to try several different therapists before finding the one that works best for you—and with you.