You want me to rub WHAT over my body? WHY?

No, it’s not just a girl-thing and no, it’s not about just looking lovely and having glowing skin, although that’s a pleasant side effect. What are we talking about? Exfoliating. Ex… what? Exfoliating. The process of rubbing something mildly abrasive over your skin to remove dead skin cells and improve circulation. “Don’t dead skins cells fall off all by themselves?” I hear you asking. Well yes, they do. Eventually. But before they do they clog up the skin’s natural elimination processes and reduce the body’s ability to sweat effectively and release toxins.

The skin we’re in isn’t just a wrapper to hold all the bits together. Our skin is involved in a huge range of bodily processes that all combine for good health. Our skin is the largest elimination organ in the body, efficiently removing waste; it regulates body temperature, engages us with the world around us through touch, prevents infection and enables our bodies to absorb sunlight and produce important nutrients like Vitamin D. Making sure your skin functions at its best means that all those bodily functions will also function at their best.

In many ancient cultures, coarse salt or sand are used for exfoliation. Both are great but in the modern bathroom tend to play havoc with your drainage. If you do use coarse salt, you’ll need to pour a lot of hot water down the drains afterward to make sure it dissolves fully and doesn’t form a solid layer in your pipes.

If you use one of the many loofahs, mits or scrubbers on the market, please be aware that they bring a hygiene risk after the first use unless you boil them. Sitting damp in your bathroom for days on end and being full of dead skin cells and bacteria isn’t so great - the next time you use it, if you have even the slightest nick or cut on your skin, you risk infection. Brushes are good and can be used on the skin wet or dry, but also need cleaning after each use like a loofah or mit. Or you can use our new Clay Exfoliating Tablet – a bit like a big piece of soap but made from fine white unfired clay. It exfoliates gently and you also have the benefit of the clay helping to draw impurities out of the skin.

How hard should you scrub? Definitely you are aiming for nothing more than the slightest pink glow afterwards. Exfoliating is much easier after a soak in the bath or a longish shower, which softens the dead skin cells and makes them easier to remove. Be aware that areas of the body with poorer blood circulation, like outer thighs, knees, elbows, buttocks, feet etc, tend to have greater dead-skin build up and need exfoliating more often.

After exfoliating, dry yourself off and apply a natural plant-based oil all over. Why? The plant-based oil will nourish new skin, hopefully (depending on oil quality) add antioxidants and natural vitamin E to your skin and help to keep it soft, moisturized and also offset any dryness or irritation.

Think about adding regular exfoliation to your normal self-care regime for better health. Guys, that means you too! Stimulating your skin’s blood circulation and cleaning away the old dead skin cells is not unlike cleaning the filtration in your swimming pool or airconditoner. Everything works more efficiently afterwards, and you have the added benefit of glowing, smooth skin that is a pleasure for you, and others, to touch.