Top 7 Benefits Of Using A Body Scrub

When was the last time you took time out for self-care? How about some pampering from head to toe using a body scrub? If it's been a while, or if you need some tips on how to do this better. Barbie's Beauty Bits is here to help with seven benefits of using a body scrub for a full body exfoliation!

Gone are the days of banned microbeads that damage the skin and mess up your bathtub drains. Today's approach is a luxurious upgrade with moisturizing and beneficial physical exfoliators that leave your skin feeling and looking its best.

Exfoliate My Body; I Thought This Was For My Face
When most think about exfoliation, they think of one used on the face. But what about the rest of your body?! Just like the skin on your face, your scalp, lips, back, and even those feet could use a little exfoliating to slough away dead skin and build-up. In layman terms, where there's skin, you should be exfoliating for better skin health inside-out.

Today, we will discuss the benefits of a body scrub that should inspire you to make a full body exfoliation part of your beauty routine. So let's read on for the scoop.

So What The Heck Is A Body Scrub
Body scrubs are a body care product used to help remove dead skin cells from the skin by exfoliating. They have been around for centuries dating back to the Egyptians, who, at the time, they used a mixture of sand and Aloe Vera.

Today's formulas, like body polishes and scrubs, are more advanced. Body polishes and scrubs are similar as they both exfoliate the skin to remove dead skin cells. But today, I will only discuss body scrubs, like the body scrub from BodyandEarth.

A scrub's effectiveness depends on its exfoliants. Most body scrubs employ sugar and/or salt to exfoliate the skin. However there are other ingredients out there like grains, charcoal, and green tea. Each of these has unique benefits.

And let's not forget about my favorite which is coffee grounds. A coffee scrub not only smells amazing, but it also stimulates the skin to regenerate cells, tightens the skin, and decreases inflammation by constricting blood vessels.

The best body scrub treatment is combined with hydrating ingredients since super-abrasive scrubs can deplete your skin's natural moisture barrier, leaving it prone to dryness and irritation.

What Are The Benefits Of Body Scrubs

As with all exfoliants, the goal of a body scrub is to remove dead skin cells and encourage the healthy production of new ones. However, body scrubs are known to have other benefits other than exfoliating the skin. Here are some of them:

Speeds Up Skin Cell Turnover With Effective Exfoliation
"Cell Turnover" is a term often used in the skincare and beauty world. So why is it essential for our skin, and how does exfoliation from a body scrub improve it?

Besides being a natural and healthy process that naturally occurs in our body, aesthetically wise, the result of cell turnover is what we call a "more youthful look" and a "luminous complexion."

Sadly as we age the skin's natural ability to shed dead skin cells slows down. It can also slow down from an unhealthy lifestyle and overexposure to the sun. Hence making you look much older than you are. The bottom line is that having naturally slow cell turnover can lead to multiple unpleasant aging side effects, like lackluster skin, wrinkles, and crepey, dehydrated skin.

Since the outermost layers of the stratum corneum (layers of your skin) cannot dissolve naturally, regular exfoliation with a body scrub will act as a breaking agent and boost your skin cell turnover process. When you remove the dead skin cells, you increase blood circulation resulting in new skin cells forming much quicker, promoting smoother, youthful-looking skin.

Exfoliating With A Body Scrub Reduces The Appearance Of Dark Spots
We all love the sun, but the truth is it does not love us back. While accurate, the day-old terms of promoting vitamin D are minimal compared to the damage the sun can do to our skin. Sun damage in the forms of dark spots, liver spots, hyperpigmentation-whatever you would like to call it appear. And the good thing is you can minimize the appearance of these dark spots by regularly exfoliating with body scrubs.

Exfoliating With A Body Scrub Promotes Collagen
Anti-aging is the holy grail of the skin world. And one little beauty secret I am letting you on today, by introducing exfoliation with a body scrub into your beauty routine, you can help prevent premature aging.

That is right. Exfoliation can boost the collagen synthesis of the skin regardless of skin type. How? When you exfoliate the surface of your skin, the skin is shocked, and this type of trauma to the skin causes it to try to repair itself automatically.

So, in turn, your body reacts by increasing collagen production, which activates the fibroblasts, producing more elastin collagen—ultimately improving the tone and texture of the skin. 

Body Scrubs Help Unclog Skin Pores
Granular exfoliation helps unclog pores so that they can shrink and get visibly tighter and smaller. Skin blockage is usually caused by dirt, access sebum, dead skin cell build-up, and toxins that destroy your skin's health. These impurities ultimately cause acne, pimples, ingrown hairs, and those pesky razor bumps.

One body scrub I use is Body and Earth's Puresoak Bath Himalayan Salt Body Scrub Set. Through osmotic actions, salts absorb the toxins in the skin and draw out dirt and excess oils.

A bonus with using a Himalayan Salt body scrub is that it balances your body's pH levels (high acidic skin is what causes dryness).

It also reduces signs of aging, sagging skin and improves sleep quality, which is why I love to use this scrub before I go to bed!

Your Body Moisturizers Will Work Better If You Exfoliate The Skin
Removing the outer layer of dead cells is like removing a film from your skin. Consequently, products like those moisturizers and creams you apply after exfoliating will work better and faster, providing longer-lasting results since they won't sit on top of lots of dead skin build-up.

This is also why it is advisable to look for body scrubs that contain natural oils, such as olive and coconut oil, to boost the skin's glow.

How To Use A Body Scrub Effectively
Now that you know the benefits, how do you use a body scrub?

Well, beauties, it is not that difficult.

1. A relaxing, warm shower or bath is always the first step in body scrubbing. Warm steam gently opens your pores in preparation for the exfoliating treatment.
2. Gently massage the body scrub into your slightly wet skin using gentle, circular motions. By doing this, the body scrub removes dead skin cells and promotes blood circulation.
3. After exfoliating your entire body, rinse off the body scrub and lightly towel dry.
4. Finish the indulgent treatment using hydrating body oil, lotion, or butter.
   

Over Exfoliating And How To Avoid It
As you can see, regularly getting rid of skin impurities has benefits. However, too much of a good thing can happen, especially when it comes to over-exfoliating the skin! Yep, if you exfoliate too often, the skin's barrier function can become compromised!

You see, our skin produces oils to keep your skin healthy and youthful. Overdoing it can strip your glowing skin of all its protective and nourishing elements, and it can leave the skin raw, resulting in cracked, dry skin, which leads to premature aging.

As a general rule, it is recommended to exfoliate the skin once or twice a week to reap its benefits: Yup, one to two times per week. So beauties, if you've been slathering on the exfoliating acids daily, there's a high chance you are overdoing it.

So despite the many benefits of body scrubbing, it's more about consistency than frequency.

Do you have a favorite body scrub tip? If so let us know below. Until next time!