Exfoliation is an essential step in your skincare routine but over exfoliated skin is not healthy skin.

Over exfoliated skin causes acne. If you over-exfoliate your skin you damage your skins natural moisture barrier and allow bacteria and irritants to enter your skin, this causes acne. In addition, over-exfoliation leaves your skin dry. When dry your skin produces sebum in excess, the execs sebum clogs your pores.

We usually think that acne is the result of diet, not using birth control, constantly touching your face and not washing your face. And it can be! But acne can also be caused by over-exfoliating your face.

It’s easy to accidentally do and if you’re over-exfoliating you might not even realize it. This article looks deeper into if over-exfoliation can cause acne.

Can over-exfoliating cause acne?

Yes, over-exfoliating can cause acne. You need to do more than just washing your face to get rid of acne. If you’re over-exfoliating that can cause acne as well. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing.

Over-exfoliation will make your skin dry. When your skin feels too dry it overproduces sebum (your skins natural oil) in an effort to moisturise itself.

The excess sebum will mix with acne-causing bacteria and dead skin cells then clog your pores and cause acne.

In addition, if you over-exfoliate to a point where you are damaging your skins natural moisture barrier your skin will be vulnerable to external irritants.

A damaged moisture barrier has tiny openings where irritants can enter. These irritants include bacteria that can cause acne.

You also need to ensure that you are not over-exfoliating. This can remove live cells that keep your skin healthy.

Other effects of over-exfoliation:

You’ll realise that you’re over-exfoliating if you suddenly experience burning, dry skin, breakouts, irritation, redness and some tightness on your skin.

The effects of over-exfoliating are similar to what you have if you are over-washing your face (read more here), your skin barrier becomes damaged.

Ways you can be over-exfoliating your skin:

We might not realize it, but many of our skincare products can contain ingredients that exfoliate our face without us knowing.

The result is that we end up over-exfoliating our skin. There might be an exfoliating agent in your cleanser, toner, mask or your treatments.

You might be over-exfoliating by using your products in an incorrect way.

If you don’t use the products in a way that the instructions suggest you could end up over-exfoliating your face and damaging it.

An example of this would be using your exfoliating brush for too long or using a scrub on dry skin.

If the product is too strong for your a face, and your skin gets red and irritated as a result of product use then this can mean that you are over-exfoliating your skin.

The product and your skin are not playing nice and you need to find a more gentle exfoliator. Perhaps a gentle chemical exfoliator like this one.

Is exfoliation really necessary?

Yes, if you want healthy, glowing skin then you need to exfoliate on a regular basis.

Exfoliating removes the top dead layer of your skin so that your other products can actually do their job.

The process of exfoliating will help improve your skin’s appearance. This will allow the products you add afterwards to really penetrate into the skin to work as they needed.

Every person doesn’t have to necessarily exfoliate in the same ways but every skin type needs to be exfoliated. This is a gentle exfoliator that works on all skin types.

How to treat over exfoliated skin?

Stopping the exfoliator cold turnkey is too drastic for your skin. You need to wean yourself off of it slowly. This allows your skin to have time to heal itself in a natural way.

If necessary and if your skin is very irritated then you can apply a cool compress to calm the skin down. This can be in the form of a washcloth soaked in cold water.

Don’t rub it on your face, simply pat it or lightly press it on your skin.

Apply some aloe vera gel. Aloe vera gel is great at soothing skin and calming it down.

For added effect leave the aloe vera gel in the fridge to get cool then apply it. This aloe vera gel is a favourite

Use a thick moisturiser on your skin to help prevent dryness on your skin and to help the skin rebuild itself in a moist environment.

Moisturizing your skin overnight will also be beneficial. This moisturiser contains ceramides which will help rebuild your skin.

You can apply a layer of hydrocortisone cream on the affected area. This will calm the irritation on your skin very effectively.  It is also a great barrier against environmental irritants such as germs or bacteria.

If you don’t plan on being out in the sun then you can apply a vitamin C cream or vitamin C serum.

This will also help to calm and heal your skin, it will also allow the skin to heal faster.

If you need to go out in the sun I don’t recommend this option as vitamin C makes your skin sensitive to the sun. Cover up if you have to go out into the sun.

Use a good sunscreen (like this one) when you are going out in the sun.

The sun can do some damage to your skin and you don’t want this on your already over exfoliated sensitive skin.

How long does it take to heal over exfoliated skin?

It will take around a month for your skin to heal from being over exfoliated.

This is how long it will take the skin to get back to the stage where it was before you started exfoliating, taking it back to its baseline texture.

A month is the length of the skin cell cycle. After this time the over exfoliated skin layer will be replaced with a new layer of skin.

Is cleansing good for acne?

Yes, cleansing your face is very important for acne.

When you have acne your dead skin cells, excess sebum on your face and acne-causing bacteria combine and clog up the pore.

Cleansing with the correct acne cleanser will help regulate the sebum levels on your skin and will kill off acne-causing bacteria as well.

This is a gentle cleanser that can be used on over exfoliated skin as it helps rebuild the skin.

Can over-cleansing cause acne?

Yes, too much of a good thing is a bad thing and over-cleansing your face can cause acne.

Over cleansing, your face will strip your face of its sebum. Sebum is an oil that is naturally made by your skin to moisturise itself and keep it from being dry.

If you wash too often, with a drying cleanser, and you strip your face of its sebum your skin can become dry and this will trigger your skin to overproduce sebum.

If sebum is overproduced and mixes in with your dead skin cells and acne-causing bacteria you will develop acne.

Is it ok to exfoliate daily?

It depends on which exfoliator you use and your skin type.

It is ok to exfoliate your skin every day if you are using a gentle chemical exfoliator and your skin is not sensitive.

There are chemical exfoliators designed to be used on your face every day and using them daily won’t lead to over-exfoliation. This one can be used daily.

Caution: You need to be very aware of the ingredients in your exfoliator, accidentally using one that’s too harsh will damage your skin.

If your skin reacts badly to the daily exfoliation then you need to take some time off between uses.

How often should you exfoliate?

If you’re using a physical exfoliator (something that contains sugar, salt, nutshell granules, or beads) then you should exfoliate your skin at a maximum of 3 times a week.

That’s if you have oily or combination skin and only if your skin really needs it that often. If you have normal skin you should be exfoliating once or twice a week

If you’re using a chemical exfoliator (a product designed to dissolve dead skin cells or break up the bonds between healthy and dead skin cells) then you can get away with exfoliating daily if the exfoliator is gentle enough.

These new exfoliators won’t result in over-exfoliation, as long as you’re using the correct one.

Is it better to exfoliate in the morning or at night?

The best time to exfoliate your skin is during the night-time. This is the best time to do your overall skincare routine if you choose to only wash your face once a day.

As we go throughout the day our face is exposed to everything in the air. This includes external irritants, pollution, debris, dirt bacteria, all of this gets attached to the sebum on our skin

Cleansing and exfoliating your skin at night removes all that gunk from your face and is a good prep for all the work your skin does as your sleep.

The skin works the hardest as you sleep. Giving it an optimum clean and fresh environment to work in will make it work better. Read more about how sleep affects skin here

In addition, if you exfoliate your skin at night you don’t have to worry about the suns rays damaging your fresh skin.

You don’t have to remember to apply sunscreen as a shield. And you also won’t be transferring the gunk of the day onto your pillow to sleep on for 8 hours. 

What should I put on my face after exfoliating?

After your exfoliation session, your skin is at an optimum state to receive any skincare products you use on it so you need to use something that will nourish the skin.

Your skin is also at its most vulnerable because the top layer of dead skin is gone

You can use serum onto your skin after exfoliating. Your skin will absorb the nutrients and minerals in the serum for the best possible usage of it.

You also need to use a good ultra-hydrating moisturiser as well. This will ensure that your skin stays hydrated and the moisture is locked into your skin

To protect your skin from any damage from the sun’s rays you need to use a good sunscreen to keep your new fresh skin protected.

This is assuming that you’ll be going out in the sun after you exfoliate. If you aren’t going out in the sun or you’re exfoliating at night you can just stick to your serum and an ultra-hydrating moisturizer.

What is the best facial exfoliator?

The best facial exfoliator is this the Paulas Choice–SKIN PERFECTING 2% BHA Liquid Salicylic Acid Exfoliant.

It’s a lovely chemical exfoliator that contains BHA’s which unclog pores, remove dead skin cells and get rid of large pores.

This exfoliator is gentle enough to be used on a daily basis and even twice a day if you really want to.

It contains salicylic acid and green tea. The salicylic acid will help the top layer of dead skin cells shed quicker.

It will, as a result, improve your skin texture, and reduce fine lines and wrinkles. The green tea will soothe the skin, teat skin irritations and help your skin recover from sun damage.

How can I avoid pimples?

If you want to avoid getting pimples you need to switch your lifestyle completely.

You can avoid pimples by practising a good skincare routine, feeding your body the right nutrients and changing things in your behaviour and environment that cause pimples

The behavioural changes include not touching your face.

Your hands touch more things than you know on a daily basis and all that oil, dirt and bacteria on your hands will transfer onto your skin if you keep touching your face.

You also need to keep your pillowcase and your cell phone clean to avoid getting pimples

With regards to the environment, you need to be keeping your skin moist and hydrated even if you’re living in a dry environment.

This will include keeping the moisture levels in your home at a comfortable humidity level by using a humidifier.

This humidifier is a favourite.

Does drinking water help acne?

Yes, drinking water can help with acne. Acne can be triggered by dry skin. Your skin naturally produces sebum (the skin’s oil) to moisturise itself.

When your skin is dry your skin becomes trigged to produce this sebum but it may overproduce the sebum which then can mix with dead skin cells on your face as well as acne-causing bacteria forming acne.

When you drink water your skin becomes moisturised and hydrated and as a bonus, you’ll have more soft supple skin.

I hope you enjoyed this article looking at how over-exfoliating can cause acne. I hope that you are more careful now when it comes to exfoliating to keep your skin safe. If you enjoyed this article please share it.