To Polish or Not to Polish?

Skin polishing refers to any form of exfoliation that removes the uppermost layer of your skin, ranging from gentle buffing with a sponge through to clinic-based treatments such microdermabrasion.  But what if you could achieve the same results without visiting a clinic?  The answer lies with modern facial polishes like CameLife’s new Refining Facial Polish allow you to do exactly that.  So how does it work?

Well, the outer layer of your skin is called the epidermis and is made up of dead skin cells.  Your epidermis acts as a barrier between your body and the environment. The Stratum Corneum is the uppermost layer, made up of flat, dead skin cells called


corneocytes, which form the barrier.  Over time, the dead cells dry out, leaving your skin looking dull and flat.  Regularly turning over these dead cells so that new ones come to the fore gives you a bright, glowing look and that's what facial polishes do.  

But there are risks; the bottom layer of your epidermis, the basal layer, is where pigment is produced.  Over exfoliation will damage the basal layer below, leaving your skin reddened and, perhaps sore.

And whilst there’s no doubt that gentle exfoliation can improve your skin tone, they’re not going to solve deeper issues.  When polishes claim to clear wrinkles and scars, be a little suspicious; both wrinkles and scars are manifestations of damage to the middle layer of the skin, the dermis.  Polishing away dead skin cells is not going to encourage your skin to produce collagen, the building block that keeps it firm and stops wrinkles from forming.  

Refining facial polishes restore dull, tired skin to its former radiance through a combination of mechanical and chemical exfoliation. They contain fine abrasive particles to gently abrade away dead skin cells and usually a mild acid to chemically dissolve the residue.  As ever, read the label.   Avoid treatments that contain micro-beads which harm the environment and steer clear of products containing harsh chemicals such as benzyl peroxide.  

CameLife’s Refining Facial Polish uses natural ingredients.  After plenty of experimentation, we settled on crushed jojoba seeds combined with Dead Sea Salts as an abrasive, with the gentle, natural lactic acid of the camel milk doing the chemical peal.  Seaweed, plantain and wheatgerm extracts complete the ingredients, to plump and perfect your skin texture.

If you do choose to add an exfoliating polish to your skincare regime, remember these tips on how to get the best from your polish.

Up your water intake before polishing. It's important that your skin is as hydrated and healthy as possible when you go into the polishing process. To help with this, up your water intake. Aim to drink anywhere between 10 to 12 glasses of water a day. Do this for about a week before you plan to polish your skin.  

Eat foods rich in vitamins A and E to improve your skin's overall health and help it to tolerate polishing.  We add seaweed, plantain and wheatgerm oil to our Refining Facial Polish to help.  But while you are using a polishing regime, eating things like wheat germ, soy, nuts, eggs, and yellow, orange, and dark green vegetables can really protect your skin.

Cleanse regularly using a gentle, natural cleanser such as CameLife’s Facial Cleansing Bar.  A good cleanser will remove the residues of make up and environmental dirt, keeping you skin in perfect condition to polish. 

Moisturising helps to keep your skin in optimal condition for polishing, stopping those dead corneocyte cells from becoming too dry.  Use a quality daily moisturiser such as CameLife’s Restorative Day Cream.

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