Home // Blogs // Zoe's Blog //

Zoe's Blog

Launch Editor ZOE FOSTER

Exfoliation: Is it bad for your skin? Really?

Thu, 2 July 2009 8:40AM

I had the pleasure of meeting Tony Vargas, Vice-President of Elizabeth Arden Research and Development, yesterday. That name and fancy title might mean ‘Jumper Kitten, orange-cow of Elizabeth Arden fork and blender’ to you, but to a beauty journalist, it’s kind of a big deal. He’s a bit of a Skincare Superbrain.

And seeing though we’ve got a bit of a skin theme going for July – next week being Glorious Skin Week – I thought I would tell you what we chatted about. (Hint: Wasn’t toast.)

The reason Tony is in Australia is to present to us a new line in the massively successful Elizabeth Arden Ceramide range, but as it’s not on sale for a while yet, I’m not actually supposed to talk about that. I will. of course, when the time is appropriate. (I fricken love those little golden orbs of Ceramidey goodness.) But because it was such a small little gathering, I had the chance to pick his brain on a few other skin care issues. Like exfoliation. Which, if you’ll recall, I semi-recently also probed the man who (was) in the same role for Estee Lauder, Dr Daniel Maes when he was out here to launch Time Zone, and who was vehement we should stop all the peels.

It’s a bit of an obsession for me, exfoliation. I think there’s a lot of confusion around it, and whether it’s good, or it’s bad. So whenever I am given the opportunity to ask someone who is a leader in the field, I pounce. (And as a lover and great fan of lovely, glowing, line-free skin, I have a personal investment in the answer.)


This woman is actually 67. She exfoliates hourly.

So, I asked the Tonester what the deal was.

Are we meant to exfoliate, or are we not.

Tony says this: If you’re under about 35 years old, gentle exfoliation once a week is fine. This will gently remove the top layer of dead skin cells and let your skincare penetrate and do its thing. Make sure, however, that the product you use has NO harsh, scrubby, ouchy scratchy exfoliating granules. That’s just unnecessarily irritating and injuring your skin. And if you use a physical (over a chemical) exfoliator, choose one that uses gentle, spherical spheres. (Uh, as opposed to squareical spheres.)

This weekly exfoliation business is fine up til about the age of 35. (Or, you know, 30 if you’re sun damaged.) After then? Up it. Do some more. Maybe three times a week with a monthly Big One. (Like DIY microdermabrasion – La Prairie does a great one.)

See, after you hit around 35, your collagen starts to decrease and the rate at which your skin cells reproduce slows down, so they need a bit more assistance. But even then, Tony still believes the more gentle, the better. You do NOT want to over peel, over dermabrasion, over exfoliate, over glycolic and end up with creepy, too-thin skin. Cause it happens. You know it does. We’ve all seen them. They’re scary. Bree off Desperate Housewives scary.

How often do you exfoliate?
What do you use/love?

Posted by:

Comments (20) Print

Tags: , , , ,

20 Comments

  • Posted by: leecie // Thu, 2 July 2009 09:46am

    Twice a week with Kate Somerville ExfoliKate. It’s horribly expensive and you can’t buy it in Australia (hello twice annual trip to Sephora) but it does a beautiful, wonderful, amazing job of taking care of my skin. Twice a week is all I need.

  • Posted by: elmo // Thu, 2 July 2009 10:01am

    Um…daily with my dermalogica daily microexfoliant…and then once a week instead of that I use my elemis enzyme mask, and on a different night I also use (instead of the dermalogica) my alpha-h glycolic mask – is this too much?? I’m 25…

  • Posted by: ponikuta // Thu, 2 July 2009 10:59am

    Its more like once a month for me or whenever I remembers. I am bad when it comes to double cleansing and scrubbing. :x

  • Posted by: Bea // Thu, 2 July 2009 12:47pm

    I use Clinique’s turnaround exfoliator thinggy-doovey. Very nice but it has teeney-weeney grains so now I’m worried…

  • Posted by: Jess // Thu, 2 July 2009 12:57pm

    I don’t think tiny grains matter, it’s more the big chunky bits that you might find in a body scrub. I use St Ives apricot scrub, always have. Says its fine to use daily….. but maybe i will tone it down now

  • Posted by: kendall // Thu, 2 July 2009 05:59pm

    face scrub of foaming cleanser wih added bicarb soda once a week, and a lip exfoliant of nice olive oil and suger whenever my lips get dry and gross

  • Posted by: Laura18 Newbie // Thu, 2 July 2009 06:54pm

    I use St Ives peels once a week :) x

  • Posted by: MayaS Devotee // Thu, 2 July 2009 08:55pm

    I use the derma-genisis daily exfoliator about 3-4 times a week but i’m thinking i might pull back a little now too! That has granules in it though – is it better to use a peel rather than a scrub?

  • Posted by: Burbie Newbie // Thu, 2 July 2009 09:53pm

    You’re gonna laugh, but I ust the inside, fleshy bit of fresh pineapple skin. The acids and enzymes soften and release dead cells and the spongy texture wipes them away. Costs nothing(that bit was going in the compost anyway) and works a treat

  • Posted by: ZF // Fri, 3 July 2009 09:40am

    GRIBBLES! For the love of skin, keep those gloves, far, far away from your face. Even if you have thick, resilient skin now and feel that kind of abrasiveness is fine, the long term damage is going to be enormous. Consider a weekly gylcolic acid mask instead. Please? Please. Pleaseplease.

  • Posted by: B // Fri, 3 July 2009 03:59pm

    Burbie – you’re a genius! Does it really make your skin fresher and more glow-y? Or does it just feel fresh??? Gotta get me a pineapple………

  • Posted by: Kerry Schulstad // Fri, 3 July 2009 05:31pm

    I’m using nutrimetics Restore exfoliant twice per week and and the Ultra Care Microdermabrasion kit once per fortnight. Great stuff.

  • Posted by: Burbie Newbie // Sun, 5 July 2009 08:58pm

    It defo works for me…skin is smooth and luminous and, of course, feels fresh. Best bit is it doesn’t cost anything to try out to see if it works for you

  • Posted by: gribbles Newbie // Wed, 9 September 2009 01:48pm

    I use those plain old body exfoliating gloves (for the shower) on my face, with whatever foaming cleanser I have at the time. Cheapest, and most effective scrub ever. Mind you, I have elephant hide, oily, thick skin. I can imagine for sensitive skin this would be akin to medieval torture.

  • Posted by: gribbles Newbie // Wed, 9 September 2009 01:48pm

    Noooooo Zoe nooooooooo! Don’t take my beloved face-scraping gloves away! It can’t be any worse than say, a salt based facial scrub, surely? :(

  • Posted by: Jessikah Newbie // Wed, 13 January 2010 02:13pm

    hi all, im new to primped but i love reading zoe’s blogs.

    with regards skincare, i was just wondering if anyone has used the clean start range by dermalogica? i use them regularly and love the product range – well worth giving them a go!

  • Posted by: blackmagic Enthusiast // Sat, 14 May 2011 02:07pm

    I exfoliate too much and regret it. I have to cut back to once a week because my skin has been awful and irritated due to it. My bad… :/

  • Posted by: Roxymisha // Sat, 14 May 2011 03:54pm

    Great article. My thoughts exactly on exfoliation. Unfortunately too many young women exfoliate far too often.

  • Posted by: pinkdivamua Enthusiast // Sun, 12 June 2011 12:10pm

    I love Clinique 7 Day Scrub, but right now I am obsessing over Microdermabrasian from my local Ella Rouge salon. Never and I mean ever has the skin across my chin and nise felt so baby smooth before…. well not since I can remember anyway!

  • Posted by: Bantam Master Fan // Fri, 4 November 2011 04:32pm

    I used to exfoliate almost everyday when I was a teen because I thought that was the way to get rid of zits and it sort of ruined my skin :( I only do it 2 or 3 times a week tops now…

Independent Digital Media Network