Silky smooth touchable skin below the neck

Exfoliating and then moisturizing is sort of like taking off your pants before you put on your body lotion. Taking off that layer of dead skin cells helps your skin absorb moisture so much more effectively. It also makes your skin feel super silky smooth and begging to be touched.

First thing you need is a pair of  handy, cheap exfoliating gloves. You can use these with any body cleansing medium from soap to body wash, and they will turbocharge any body scrub. Just be careful, a lot of pressure isn't necessary. Just massage gently and be patient for your results.

Next you'll need an exfoliant. Body scrubs are generally the easiest way to exfoliate your body. I prefer a creamy, non-greasy body scrub with plenty of exfoliating particles. I like sugar & salt because they dissolve easily with water, which is good so you don't clog up your shower drain with walnut particles or jojoba beads. Sugar dissolves more quickly, so you have to work fast, salt is more purifying & detoxifying but it burns like crazy if you've just shaved. It's usually a better idea to shave after exfoliating, because it helps lift and expose the hair so you get a closer shave.

And now for my favorite body exfoliants:

Bella Lucce Exotic Date & Wild Honey Buff, starring turkish coffee, vanilla beans, pomegranate, almond, wild honey, and juicy dates. This creamy scrub delivers an all-natural heavenly vanilla-sandalwood fragrance and a non-drying super deep exfoliation. It goes so well with the Moroccan Incense Massage Oil, used as a body oil after showering. That stuff is is super light and sinks in quickly, and it smells SO GOOD I totally want to bathe in it.







Bella Lucce Avocado & Ootanga Body Scrub, yeah I know... it's the same brand! I can't help it if all of their scrubs are awesome. This one is so rich, luscious, and nourishing it's remarkable. Avocado and watermelon seed oil silkify (oh yeah auto-correct? I think it's a word!) and protect. This one is great during summer, when it's too hot to bother with a body lotion. It leaves the skin smooth, with a perfectly sexy sheen and a yummy fragrance.


Osea Undaria Body Polish takes it to a whole new level. This is super gritty, firming, and packed with EFAs. Antioxidants, polishing pumice, and ultra-firming seaweed combined with an amazing citrusy lavender fragrance means you can have a spa moment in your own shower whenever you want. I love this stuff!!! Finish it off with the Undaria Algae Oil when you get out of the shower. YUM!


Another way to exfoliate the body is an AHA or BHA cream, lotion, or wash. I love the SkinScript Glycolic Wash for super deep cleansing for both the face and body.

I'm a big DIY fan, and there's nothing in the world that's easier than whipping up a good body scrub at home. I like using a mix of butters & oils, plus salt & sugar. Some of my favorite oils for body scrubs: Avocado, Apricot Kernel, Almond, Andiroba, Argan, Virgin Coconut (Garden of Life smells the best, see my last post). For butters I like Mango, Shea, and Cupuacu. I do a water bath, add about half liquid oil and half solid butter together and allow it to melt slowly. Fill a bowl or jar most of the way with salt or sugar or both, then drizzle with the oil blend until it's sort of a paste. I prefer it to be slightly more grains than oil. You can add fragrance oil or essential oils to give it a good scent, and you can add dried powdered herbs and spices... But be careful of cinnamon & paprika/cayenne. They can be way too intense. Also: take it from me, lemongrass is best left out. It can cause serious redness & sensitivity in most people. Homemade body scrubs are a cinch, and they make a good gift.

Aging + Inflammation

As an esthetician, I've always known that when a client comes in with rosacea or seriously inflamed skin and wants to focus on anti-aging, the best way to target signs of aging is to target the inflammation. First of all, the inflammation can't be ignored. No amount of anti-aging peptides or acids or retinoids provide any kind of results on inflamed skin until the inflammation is resolved. Inflamed skin can't tolerate any active ingredients that are too strong, too stimulating, or too exfoliating. I treat (and respect) the inflammation first and foremost in the treatment room, and I always recommend products that are specifically appropriate for sensitive skin for home care.

Inflammation, according to an article I recently read,  is the body's response to a perceived threat. It throws the body into attack mode, as if it were trying to protect against, say, a bacterial infection... Even if the culprit is, say,  cigarette smoke or sunlight (UV rays). The body can't win the fight because it's fighting against a trigger which doesn't fight fair (it doesn't behave like an infection, it's usual sparring buddy).

When the inflammatory response has begun, for whatever reason, it doesn't stop. Inflammation is cyclical and self perpetuating, and this "attack mode" is indiscriminate, causing serious tissue damage. Inflammation decreases ATP which is the main energy source of your cells, so your cells don't work as well or as quickly. As it's decreasing the energy source of your cells, it's increasing oxidative stress which causes aging. If we can control inflammation in the skin,  we can help control signs of aging.

Here's what you can do:

Oral antioxidant supplements are very helpful, but rarely are effective for the skin. Still, I want everyone to take an antioxidant supplement regularly. Two of the great ways to incorporate antioxidants into your diet are to drink more green tea, and to eat more turmeric (an ingredient of traditional yellow curry). If you prefer a tablet or capsule, try Garden of Life Vitamin Code Raw Antioxidants which is a great multivitamin with antioxidants.

When you're trying to affect change on the skin, there really is no better way than to use potent products topically. With inflamed skin, it's best policy to use products designed to be used on sensitive skin and not try to go for the "strongest thing out there". You'll have better results if you keep in mind that we're trying to calm the skin, not overload it. Hylunia Healing and Restoring Cream is specifically for very sensitive skin, used with iS Clinical Pro Heal Serum Advance + you can effectively treat aging and inflammation in one go, without overstimulating the skin.

Come see me at re:surface skin for a re:covery facial to help calm inflammation and heal tissue damage from inflammation. You can pick up the Hylunia cream and the iS Clinical serum while you're here!
www.resurfaceskin.com

Current love affairs...

1. Osea Cleansing Mudd
This is a wonder-cleanser. The minty tingle is verging on painful, just the way a masochistic esthetician like me prefers my tingle (minty or otherwise). It foams very very mildly, looks like mud from some secret cave in Sedona, and has an almost gel-like consistency from the insanely high concentration of red algae (which gives it that seaweed-silky texture). I like to use it in the shower so the steam can activate the minty-ness and I generally leave it on for a few minutes as kind of a mini-mask. I have very sensitive skin, and although I find it invigorating I never experience irritation from this beloved product. I use it about twice a week, it's all about decongesting and clarifying and brightening.


2. Hylunia Healing and Restoring Cream
This is the most soothing, calming cream I've ever had the pleasure of falling in love with. Recently I gave myself a 55% Lactic Acid chemical peel with a salicylic/lactic prep, and my skin was peeling so much I felt like I was moulting. I slathered this cream on, at first it stung a bit because my skin was so raw (masochist, right?) but I just layered it on and when it absorbed I layered on another coat. After only a few hours it was in much better shape, and a few days later, I'm almost back to normal. It's really a miracle. If you're using a prescription retinoid, this needs to be part of your night time routine. It's meant as a body cream so it comes in a huge tube and retails for only $30! I think it's an amazing night cream for dry, sensitized skin.

3. iS Clinical Super Serum Advance+
Whoa. I thought SkinCeuticals made some awesome vitamin C products... Until I met this bottle of bliss. This doesn't sting like the SkinCeuticals, it doesn't smell as much like a hot dog stand in summer, and it
works BETTER. I mean like way, way better. I can't live without my vitamin C serum, and now I can't live without this stuff. My skin is calmer, more even, firmer, smoother, and younger looking.

http://www.resurfaceskin.com/