Hello again!

For the past few weeks my skin has been acting up by sudden acne attack especially on my cheeks and my forehead. I thought it was just a normal reaction since it was almost 'that time of the month' so it's just my imbalance hormone. But after awhile, I observed that my skin was not clearing up and instead the break out keeps coming back after the old ones were gone away.

And I realized that there's only one thing that has been changing in my daily skincare routine, which is my cleanser. I recently switched my Biore Acne Clear Facial Foam cleanser to Biore Anti-Blemish Facial Foam cleanser. This cleanser have tiny micro-scrubs and I enjoyed the feeling of the scrub when I used this to wash my face, every single day. I thought it was gentle enough to use on our daily basis but I guess my skin is a little too sensitive to use this cleanser twice a day. As the irritation occurs, I guess I was over exfoliating my skin and did a little research about it. So today I thought I will share with you guys about my findings. Hope it helps!

Why should we exfoliate?

Just like our hair, our skin produces oils and the cells on our skin keeps renewing themselves everyday. So, exfoliating is important in order to help shed away the dead and dry skin cells from on top of our skin layer to reveal the renewed skin underneath. Besides, it also helps to combat blackheads and whiteheads which are the major cause for clogged pores.

How often should we exfoliate?

Whether you are using chemical exfoliant or physical exfoliant, it is important not to over exfoliate your skin. As much as we want the dead skin cells to go away, we actually need the epidermal layer of our skin to be thick for protection against bacteria or any environmental toxins, thus promoting acne. And if we exfoliate every single day, we might also be removing the cells that has been renewed from our skin layer. Therefore, the recommended times to exfoliate our skin is once to twice a week. This way, we are still getting the dead skin cells off and at the same time giving our skin a chance to reveal the new skin cells.

Signs that you're over exfoliating

Stripping te protective barrier on the skin surface can cause drying to your skin and other problems such as :

• Irritation
• Tightness
• Excessive dryness/dry patches
• Flaking skin
• Uncomfortable stinging that persists
• Burning sensation 

So, the next time you want to buy a cleanser that contains exfoliant, make sure that claims to be gentle on the skin for everyday uses, and be sure that the beads are not too much and too rough. Otherwise you might ended up to over-exfoliating your skin like me. Remember, be gentle to your skin is the key! I still enjoy using the Biore Anti-Blemish Facial Foam, for twice a week as exfoliator, not for daily cleanser.