How Often Should You Exfoliate

By now many of you know how important I think daily exfoliation is to help improve the color and texture of your skin, to help prevent acne breakouts, and even to reduce the frequency of occurrence of pre-cancerous keratoses. As a matter of fact, I often say there are three skin care products that you need to use everyday, and gentle chemical exfoliants are one of them.

The confusion arises when the labeling on some glycolic products states to use them on alternate days (not everyday). It is very easily explained: it is just a matter of strength or concentration. With what we call starter products like 8% lotion, or an 8% cream, or even a 10% cream, you can and should use them every night for exfoliation.

At a certain point when you get to stronger products for a more effective exfoliation, such as a 15% gel or even a 20% pad, the labeling specifically states these are not starter products and should be used on alternate days. So, as you get to that strength, you should use those products on alternate days until your skin becomes accustom to them, and than you can resume the weaker, starter products on the days in between the days that you are not using the stronger pads.

So for more beautiful and healthier skin, yes, you should be exfoliating everyday, but just read the labeling instructions to make sure that you are using your product properly.