Beauty

[Sugipine]

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@Love2Laugh wrote:

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@Harpa wrote:

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@Sugipine wrote:

When you exfoliate then you are removing your skin's natural acid mantle. When you do this then that makes your skin vulnerable to environmental factors such as dry air, bacteria and pollutants. So you don't want to exfoliate too often. It can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 15 hours for your acid mantle to restore, depending on how much of it was removed in the exfoliation process.

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My understanding about natural acid mantle is not necessarily destroyed by exfoliation, (since your skin does this on its own on a daily basis) but has more to do with the pH of the soaps and/or other things you use that are too alkaline.

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I agree with Harpa here. I don't believe the acid mantle is destroyed through chemical exfoliation. My understanding of the acid mantle is the skin has a natural acidic balance that is maintained naturally on the skin all the time to protect the body from invading organisms. So the "mantle" or in this case, "acid mantle" is only destoyed when higher pH products (alkaline) are applied to the skin thus destoying the acid mantle. The acid mantle is maintained at about 4.5 to about 6.5. Anything above about a 7.0 on the pH scale destoys the acid mantle. 7.0 is kind of the "neutral zone" for you Star Trek fans. Most chemical exfoliation products are in the low pH range. 

L2L

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If you re-read my post, I did not say anything about the acid mantle being 'destroyed' by exfoliation. I said exfoliation removes the mantle, more or less of it from exfoliation. There's more than one way to disrupt the mantle and physical exfoliation is only one way, chemicals are another. The mantle is just a layer which can be removed by many things. The mantle is very dynamic, contains living bacteria and is constantly regenerating.

[Knit-Chick]

I've been using First Aid Beauty's Facial Radiance pads, which exfoliate.  I use them once a day.  They're pretty gentle.  

[Porcelain]

The acid mantle isn't just pH. It's a lipid layer. Over-exfoliating strips that off just like overwashing does. If a person continually removes their protection and forces it to regenerate itself, that's a lot of unnecessary stress on the skin. It's one reliable way people give themselves sensitized skin and have to go to the dermatologist to fix it.