3 Signs You Are Not Exfoliating Enough If You’re Over 40

Have you noticed the dreaded duller-looking skin when you look in the mirror? Do those smile lines and wrinkles around the face seem to appear more pronounced than before? Has your skin felt puffier and more irritated? Or have you noticed that uneven skin and sun spots are now more prominent?

If it’s one of the above, these could all be signs that you are not exfoliating enough if you’re over 40. Cue the dramatic music. Exfoliating is a crucial step in any skincare routine no matter the age, yet it becomes an essential part of skincare after 40 to be able to retain a more youthful and radiant complexion overall. 

What are the 3 main signs you’re not exfoliating enough?

Even though there can be quite a few red flags to reveal that you should be exfoliating more often, there are 3 main culprits to keep an eye out for. 

Why is my skin so dull?

Great question, and the answer is probably that you aren’t exfoliating enough (we’re sure you saw that one coming). Due to dead skin cells build-up, this blocks out the fresh-as-a-rose glow of new skin, and instead masks it with a bland and often yellowish layer of skin. Not want we want at all. By exfoliating daily, this prevents dramatic build-up of spent skin cells and allows that even and more colourful complexion to come through, while stimulating new cell growth. Ultimately, that will keep up your skin’s elasticity and boost that lovely youthful glow we all want to keep. 

Why am I using so many skincare products?

If you feel like your skincare products are piling up higher and higher, it’s most likely due to the dead skin cells doing the same and preventing any of them from actually working. If you’ve noticed you’re constantly adding another serum or moisturiser or oil to your daily regimen with limited success, exfoliating will not only decrease the need for more products but increase their effectiveness. Clearing away the dead skin cells will allow skincare products to penetrate into the deeper dermal layers, which helps anti-aging products like our Restorative Trio of moisturisers and oils to boost collagen production and increase overall skin health and appearance. 

Why is my skin so dry and irritated?

When your skin struggles to shed spent skin cells fast enough to make way for new ones, it also struggles to breath and retain moisture as well. This causes a build up of dead and dry or flaky skin cells, and prevents moisture and skincare products from reaching the layers beneath. Yet, if you’re struggling with this exact issue, exfoliation will go a long way in helping to reduce the dryness and inflamed appearance. Using a good AHA exfoliator, like our Rejuvenating Mānuka Oil Exfoliant, will gently clear away the dead skin cells to allow your skin to finally breathe better, while helping it to retain moisture and keeping cell turnover and collagen production running at its highest levels. 

Why is exfoliating so important after 40?

All of the above reasons and more! As much as we’d love to freeze time, time doesn’t play by those rules (if only…) and while it’s impossible to halt the aging process, we can slow it down. Or, better yet, we can age more gracefully and assist our skin to remain healthier and stronger for longer. Exfoliating plays a significant role in this. No matter how many products you throw into the mix, be it expensive serums or the latest wonder treatments, without exfoliating properly these will all end up being far less effective or not effective at all.

Our skin naturally exfoliates itself, shedding the dead skin cells while forming new ones. Super convenient, high five skin! But as we get older, all of our skin’s functions fade a bit. Not convenient! Which is when accelerated signs of aging suddenly seem to hit us, and this happens at a much faster pace when we don’t help our skin clear away all those spent skin cells that can build up. So while the 3 skin challenges above are signs you should be exfoliating more, you should be exfoliating daily even if you haven’t experienced those. 

What Exfoliant is Most Effective after 40? 

Adding in an effective natural exfoliant like the Rejuvenating Mānuka Oil Exfoliant will scrub those disruptive dead cells away to give your skin the polish it deserves, leading to renewed and revitalised skin complexion. Yet it’s important to choose an exfoliant that is equal parts gentle and effective. Combining lactic acid, one of the most popular natural exfoliants for anti-aging, this helps loosen the bonds of the spent skin cells clinging on while the jojoba beads even out skin textures, fine lines, and wrinkles. The dynamic plant-powered magic of rosehip oil and East Cape mānuka oil then get to work boosting collagen production and increasing your skin’s ability to beat back the clock and remain at its peak level of health for longer. All while remaining perfectly wonderful for even the most sensitive skin types.