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From Over-Exfoliation to Revitalization: 12 Healing Strategies
When it comes to keeping your skin looking and feeling healthy, exfoliation is key. However, go overboard with your exfoliation efforts and there’s a good chance that you could end up with over-exfoliated skin. Whether you’ve exfoliated too much or you’ve used an exfoliator that’s too harsh for your skin type, the redness, sensitivities, dehydration, and other symptoms that over-exfoliation can cause are never fun to deal with.
What can you do about this? Read on as OROGOLD shares some strategies to help your over-exfoliated skin feel restored, balanced, and revitalized once again.
1. Stop Exfoliating For a While
If you’re suffering from over-exfoliation, the last thing your skin needs is more exfoliation. Over-exfoliation severely damages the skin’s natural protective barrier. This needs some time to heal before you start interfering with it again, which exfoliation does.
Of course, not only does this mean putting your exfoliator away for a while, but you’ll also need to stop using any exfoliating cleansers or toners that you may have. Anything that even slightly removes the surface layer of your skin will only make your symptoms of over-exfoliation so much worse.
2. Switch to a Gentler Cleanser
It’s not just exfoliation that can strip away the skin barrier – cleansing can do this too. However, while there’s nothing wrong with holding off on the exfoliation for a while, the same can’t be said about cleansing. This is something that you need to be doing every single day. Skipping the cleanser will only allow irritants to exacerbate the inflammation and discomfort that you’re currently experiencing. This will make it much harder for your over-exfoliated skin to heal.
So, while your skin may usually tolerate an exfoliating or foaming cleanser without any problems, switch to a gentler, moisturizing blend while your skin is repairing itself. The OROGOLD 24K Mousse Cleanser would be a fantastic choice. The lather that it forms is rich and creamy, leaving the skin feeling soft and supple rather than irritated and sensitive.
3. Focus on Calming the Appearance of Inflammation
Over-exfoliation can cause a variety of symptoms but inflammation tends to be the most common. If you want your skin to feel restored, soothing the feeling of inflammation should be a priority.
How can you do this? Start by making sure that you aren’t unknowingly making your inflammation worse. In addition to cutting out exfoliation for a while and switching to a gentler cleanser, this also means putting a hold on any other products you’re using that contain potent active ingredients. Retinol, for example, is an incredible ingredient but can make over-exfoliated skin feel even more inflamed.
It would also be a good idea to invest in one or two products that are capable of lowering the feeling of inflammation. The OROGOLD 24K Purifying Toner would be a great choice. With aloe vera leaf juice, chamomile extract, cucumber extract, and allantoin, your skin will feel calmer and less inflamed in no time.
4. Seek Out Ingredients That Strengthen the Feel of Your Skin Barrier
Do all of the above and you’ll be helping your skin barrier to feel stronger, simply by removing the potentially irritating products from your routine. However, if you’d like to speed this process up, it would be worth considering using ingredients that are known for leaving the skin barrier feeling thicker and more resilient.
Niacinamide is an ingredient that does this well. Peptides, aloe vera, and sodium hyaluronate are also known for the revitalizing sensation that they give to the skin barrier. Find a product that combines all of these barrier-loving ingredients, just like the 24K Rose Gold Age Glow Duo from OROGOLD, and you’ll be onto a winner!
5. Use a Gentle Form of Vitamin C
As you now know, the use of potent active ingredients should be avoided when dealing with over-exfoliation. However, vitamin C isn’t an ingredient that you should completely shun. This popular antioxidant has been proven to be a superstar at repairing the look of skin damage and soothing the feeling of inflammation.
The problem is that some of the more powerful forms of vitamin C can be extremely irritating when used on over-exfoliated skin. So, while the ingredient is beneficial, look for a product featuring the antioxidant in a gentler form, such as the 24K Rejuvenating Skin Serum. It makes use of tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate, a highly stable and skin-friendly form of vitamin C. It also boasts a blend of complexion-calming oils, including hemp seed and wheat germ.
6. Give Your Skin Some Extra Hydration
It doesn’t take long for over-exfoliation to lead to dehydration. With the skin barrier compromised, it’s not capable of retaining moisture in the way that it should. Instead, you’ll end up losing moisture from your skin cells at a much faster rate, with this simply evaporating into the air uninhibited.
Dehydration will only make the symptoms of over-exfoliation worse, making it important to take control of this ASAP. How? By ensuring that your skincare routine contains plenty of hydrating yet gentle ingredients. Some of the best examples include sodium hyaluronate, squalane, glycerin, sweet almond oil, and avocado oil. You’ll find them all in the OROGOLD 24K Golden Dew Serum-in-Cream. It’s a lightweight formula that will immediately bump up your skin’s hydration levels.
7. Turn to Creams Rich in Emollients and Occlusives
Of course, even if you hydrate your skin with the most hydrating ingredients, it’s only a matter of time before these also evaporate away. Ideally, you want to keep them in your skin for as long as possible. This is why it would also be a good idea to start using a cream that’s rich in emollients and occlusives.
Emollients are commonly used for dry and cracked skin. They fill in those tiny gaps in the skin, which helps the skin barrier to feel more complete. Meanwhile, occlusives form a thin film over the skin’s surface. They basically create their own barrier, giving your natural barrier some time and space to recuperate.
If you don’t yet have a cream that’s brimming with emollients and occlusives, treat yourself to the OROGOLD 24K Overnight Cream. With a blend of shea butter, sweet almond oil, jojoba oil, and safflower seed oil, it provides a great balance of occlusives and emollients, along with fatty acids that will help to keep your skin feeling smooth and supple.
8. Shield Your Over-Exfoliated Skin From the Sun
As we’ve discussed, keeping damage to a minimum is vital when you have over-exfoliated skin. After all, your skin is already showing signs of damage – it doesn’t need more!
Unfortunately, as soon as you step outside, you’ll be subjecting your skin to more damage unless you’ve covered it in a layer of sunscreen. If your usual go-to sunscreen is only further irritating your skin, give the OROGOLD 24K Skin Tone SPF 30 a try. Since this formula functions as both a moisturizer and a sunscreen, it will leave your skin feeling soothed and revitalized while it protects against sun damage.
9. Soothe Your Complexion With an Overnight Mask
Face masks are a great way to give the skin some TLC. With various masks designed for just about every purpose, finding one to meet your skin’s needs is easier than ever. When it comes to over-exfoliated skin, you need a mask that’s going to do everything that we’ve already discussed; soothe the feeling of inflammation, provide moisture, and bolster the feel of your skin barrier.
This is where the OROGOLD 24K Nano Hydra Silk Mask comes in. It’s full of ingredients that will do all of the above. From sodium hyaluronate and squalene to a cocktail of superfruit extracts, it provides everything that over-exfoliated skin could want. The fact that it’s a leave-on mask makes it even more beneficial. Rather than only giving your skin 10-15 minutes to soak up its ingredients, they’ll have so much more time to penetrate and work their magic.
10. Apply a Cold Compress When Your Skin Feels Particularly Irritated
What should you do when your skin feels overwhelmingly irritated due to over-exfoliation?
If you’re looking for instant relief, a cold compress is the answer. This is a common method for reducing the feeling of inflammation, which is the reason behind your irritation. If you enjoy the relief provided by a cold compress, you may want to store some of your skincare products in your fridge. This will treat your skin to the same cool temperatures each time you use them, resulting in the same feeling of relief that you felt when using a cold compress.
11. Give Your Skin Enough Time to Heal From Over-Exfoliation
How long does it take for the skin to bounce back from the symptoms of over-exfoliation?
This varies depending on exactly how over-exfoliated your skin is. For some, it takes just a few days. For others, it can take weeks. Meanwhile, for the unlucky few, they have a few months to wait.
Either way, you need to give your skin as much time as it needs to heal. You’ll know that this has happened once your skin returns to its baseline texture, meaning that it will start to look and feel just like it did before over-exfoliation took its toll.
12. Reconsider the Exfoliator That You Were Previously Using
Before jumping back into exfoliation, make sure that you don’t make the same over-exfoliation mistake by taking a good look at the exfoliator that you were using. There’s a good chance that the product is too harsh for your skin, so consider switching to a gentler formula.
The OROGOLD 24K Multi-Vitamin Deep Peeling + Mandelic Acid, for example, combines a few gentle exfoliants to provide a thorough yet skin-friendly exfoliation. At the same time, it’s also packed with hydrating and complexion-soothing ingredients. Even if you do happen to make the mistake of exfoliating too often, these ingredients will help to prevent the appearance of over-exfoliation from arising again quite so quickly.
Summary
It’s important to take things slowly and gently when dealing with over-exfoliation. Give your skin plenty of time to heal while adjusting your skincare routine and you’ll soon be sporting a healthier complexion again in no time.
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