While staying on top of your hygiene, your skin might feel bumpier and more textured. It feels thick and rough, looks dull, and you might even suffer from more acne breakouts.
This is a common sign of dead skin buildup, an accumulation of dead skin that hasn’t shed off as regularly as it should. So, let’s look at the importance of understanding dead skin buildup and how to fix it at home. Before you know it, your skin will feel soft and supple.
What Is Dead Skin?
When it comes to understanding dead skin buildup and how to fix it, you must first understand what dead skin is. Dead skin refers to dead skin cells that the human body sheds and replaces with new cells. The human body sheds between 30,000 to 40,000 skin cells on a daily basis. Over the span of 30 days, your body goes through a process called cellular turnover.
When dead skin cells get sloughed, it leaves the skin looking and feeling brighter and less textured. However, with dead skin buildup, skin cells don’t shed as they usually would. This results in dull and flaky skin.
Cause of Dead Skin Buildup
Dead skin buildup can occur for many reasons. Some aspects such as age, cleansing routine, weather and sun exposure, dehydration, and underlying skin conditions can cause the skin to not slough as often as it should.
As you age, your bodily cellular turnover rate slows down, resulting in wrinkles, age spots, loss of elasticity, and dullness. Other factors—such as sun exposure and free radicals—can accelerate the cellular breakdown in your body, causing your skin to age at a faster rate.
Signs and Symptoms
Finding the signs of dead skin buildup is easier than you’d think; dead skin cells make up the first 18 to 23 layers of your skin. Some signs of dead skin include:
- Itchy skin
- Dry, flaky skin
- Dull, scaly skin
- Acne breakouts
- Thick, rough skin
If your skin feels rough and textured to the touch, taking time out of your day to exfoliate can help bring the texture down and leave the skin feeling soft.
Dead Skin Buildup Remedies
There are a few different ways to go about removing dead skin buildup. You can try chemical or physical exfoliators at home to help remove skin debris. There are two types of chemical exfoliants: Alpha- or Beta-Hydroxy Acids (AHAs or BHAs). They are the gentlest form of exfoliation, making your skin feel soft. As for mechanical exfoliation, you can stick with powders, dry brushing, and washcloths to keep the skin clean. Stay away from exfoliants containing sugars, nutshells, beads, microbes, baking soda, and coarse salt to prevent micro-tears and damage to the skin.
Your skin deserves to look and feel its best. Before you know it, your skin will look brighter, younger, and more supple after an excellent exfoliator.