Winter Woes: Best Exfoliators

Exfoliation is especially important during the cold weather months, when the skin tends to get dry, build up layers of dead skin cells, and lose its glow.  Exfoliating at least twice a week, depending on your skin-type and sensitivity, will not only help deep-clean and smooth your skin, it will also unclog pores and accelerate the skin's natural shedding process.  This is key to your skincare routine because it allows your serums and moisturizer to penetrate your skin's layers to work their magic, rather then floating on the surface of dead skin cells.

I've tested a number of exfoliators lately looking for gentle, but effective scrubs for different skin types.  Here are my favorites:

St. Ives Apricot Scrub
An oldy, but a goody.  This classic affordable scrub is gentle and hydrating enough not to irritate dry skin, but still has enough scrubbing power to get rid of those dead skin cells.  Because the exfoliating pieces are larger, this is not the best for cleaning out clogged pores despite the fact that the label indicates that it eliminates blackheads.  If blackheads are a concern, I would recommend one of the exfoliators with finer particles.  Otherwise, this is a great gentle scrub that most people with oily to dry skin can use at least several times a week without causing irritation.  However, I would not recommend this scrub for extremely dry or extremely sensitive skin.

Lush Coalface
One of my all time favorites from my combination-skin days.  For oily to normal and combination skin, this bar-form scrub is ideal.  It will clean out your pores thoroughly and make your face truly squeaky clean. Seriously, very squeaky, try it.  This is not a scrub for the faint of heart, but it is also surprisingly non-irritating for its effectiveness.  Perhaps because it is all-natural, I can still use this scrub occasionally even though I have drier skin now, and it does not leave my face red or irritated.  This is not, however, a skin-softening exfoliator.  This is the best scrub for men too:  it will clean out the pores around hair follicles on the face, giving men a cleaner shave and preventing in-grown hairs.  My fiance's been diminishing my supply. 

Kate Somerville ExfoliKate
This exfoliator is the creme de la creme of exfoliators.  It's not cheap and it's not gentle, but it's so effective, all you have to do is apply it like a mask without rubbing it in and leave it on for no more than 30 seconds.  The enzymes do the work for me, and my skin feels soft as a baby's when I'm finished.  I can only leave it on for about 20 seconds before it starts to irritate, and I certainly can't use it more than twice a week, but it is the very best exfoliator in that my skin feels both clean and soft after use.  And I feel like I really get the most out of my serums after using ExfoliKate first. 

Cosmedicine Medi-Morphosis
This is a self-adjusting exfoliator with tiny scrubbing crystals that dissolve automatically when your skin's had enough.  Well, that's how it's supposed to work anyway.  I feel like this is THE BEST exfoliator by a landslide for those with severely clogged pores and stubborn blackheads because the crystals are so fine.  That said, I cannot use this exfoliator all over my face.  It's simply too irritating for my cheeks and forehead.  I occasionally use it around my nose and chin when I get clogged pores, and it is supremely effective.  I feel like this would be ideal for anyone with oily to combination skin no more than once or twice a week.  Also, I once used this product the morning after using an acne-spot treatment, and my skin peeled.  So this is simply too powerful of a scrub to mix with any acne treatments.  I suspect that it would probably not interact well with retinol-based products either.  This is very effective, but I would just caution to use it with care, and not at all if you have sensitive skin.

Ole Henriksen Sugar Glow Face Scrub
Alright, for those with dry and/or sensitive skin, this is the one you've been waiting for.  It's from my favorite active-natural skincare line, and it's very gentle and leaves the skin feeling soft and hydrated.  It just gets rid of those dead skin cells, which even dry skin needs, without irritating.  And it smells good enough to eat (like an orange dream bar). 

Homemade Oatmeal Scrub
For those with extremely dry or extremely sensitive skin or just a glamazon on a budget, a homemade oatmeal scrub is an easy, inexpensive treat that will still get rid of those pesky dead skin cells without drying or irritating your skin.  Simply take 2 generous tablespoons of oatmeal, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and add enough warm water to make a paste.  Then simply scrub your face in circular motions (concentrating on the T-Zone) and rinse with warm water.  Your skin will feel smooth and softened. 

Face Scrubs & Exfoliants by Kate Somerville

Winter Woes: Dry Flaky Scalp

Even those of us who don't have dandruff or psoriasis of the scalp can experience dryness, irritation, itchiness, and flakiness during the cold dry winter months.  And those who have had dandruff or psoriasis before know that it's hard to get rid of and most over-the-counter treatments and shampoos, if they work at all, are very damaging to the hair.

I offer the best winter-scalp savior on the market: Ecco Bella Organic Hair and Scalp Intensive Therapy.  This wonder-oil improves the health of the scalp overnight, delivering results.  And with continued use, not only rids the scalp of symptoms of dandruff and psoriasis but also helps hair grow longer, faster.  It is available at www.eccobella.com as well as many health and natural food stores.  Locally in the Sacramento area, you can find this product and a host of other organic goodies at Sunshine Natural Foods in Fair Oaks.

Winter Woes: Dryness Around the Eyes

Especially during the winter months, when skin is usually at its driest, eye makeup remover is rough and strips the delicate eye area of its moisture even more.  All that dryness and rubbing and tugging at the skin around the eyes to get that last bit of mascara off inevitably leads to unwanted lines and dark circles.  But a girl's gotta remove her eye makeup.  So might I suggest the ever-classic and ever-affordable Aquaphor ointment, which is available in the tube, the giant tub, and the tiny tube, which is wonderful for chapped lips or travel makeup-removal (the uber-serious TSA agent at the New Orleans airport confiscated my giant tub on my return-trip even though the S.F. TSA was cool about it because it only had a few ounces of product left, not that I'm bitter or anything).

Anyway, this ointment (and the generics at chain drugstores) will effectively remove all traces of your eye makeup without stripping the skin.  In fact, in leaves the eye area feeling moist without feeling greasy.  And unlike some eye makeup removers which are alcohol-based, this stuff won't irritate if it gets in your eyes.  It's also much more cost effective.  And highly useful for other purposes including its label-designated use: dry, chapped skin.  It's great for wintery elbows, knees, and feet (especially overnight with a pair of cotton socks).  And it makes a phenomenal lip balm for chapped lips.  Not to name names, but you'll never go back to $26 Bi-Facil again.

Body Lotions & Creams by Aquaphor