The Need for Speed – D’Allaird

by Michelle D’Allaird

The concept of exfoliation is nothing new, and this most certainly is not the first article you have ever read on the topic. There are ever changing products and equipment for exfoliation. However, the one thing that doesn’t change is the physiological way your skin functions. With that in mind, let’s talk about what it is, why we need it, and how to determine when enough is enough!
The concept of exfoliation has been around longer than we can even imagine. The first practice of exfoliation is given to the ancient Egyptians, if you will recall, Cleopatra used to bathe in milk, a.k.a. lactic acid! In the Middle Ages, wine was used as a chemical exfoliant, with tartaric acid as the active agent. In Asia, the practice of exfoliation started hundreds of years ago. Uses of exfoliation were not simply to beautify the skin, but also noted for ridding the body of illness, rites of passage, detoxification, and removing evil spirits! For purposes of the 21st century, let’s stick to beautifying and improving the health of the skin.

A Little Skin Physiology
We all understand the concept of cell renewal. New skin cells are created in the basal layer of the skin, via a process called mitosis. Over time, cells migrate to the surface of the skin, undergoing a process known as keratinization, becoming more acidic and resulting in hard, flattened keratinized skin cells, called corneocytes. Keratin, the protein substance that makes up our hair, nails, and skin, plays a crucial role in protecting the skin from outside elements. In young, healthy skin, the approximate time it takes for a cell to travel from the basal layer to the stratum corneum to be sloughed from the surface is about 28 days.

The Reality of it All…
The skin is a truly amazing organ. Without it, no other organ would survive; it has the ability to control body temperature, waste removal, detoxification, provide structure and protection, as well as to make us look good. It also has the unique ability to completely replace itself, all on its own. The reality is that it is designed to do it by itself! Until of course, you throw in… the “human factor.”
Now, we won’t take all of the blame, but let’s look at factors that influence the rate of cell turnover. As we age, especially following menopause for women, the natural process of skin erosion becomes uneven, which results in a loss of retained water, a dry, rough, and uneven texture. Obviously, we can’t stop the natural aging process, but we can do something about factors that contribute to the “unnatural,” or pre-mature aging process. External factors such as pollution, UV exposure, smoking, poor diet, stress, medications, illness, improper product use, and excess exfoliation all contribute to early aging of the skin, and an inhibited rate of cell turnover. Now I don’t know about you, but I can’t even come up with a dozen people that I know that have not fallen to one of the factors on
that list!