Exfoliating is right up there with cleansing and moisturizing. It is absolutely basic to having beautiful skin. Some people say you can benefit from exfoliating even as a teenager. I know people who avoided teenage acne altogether and believe it was because they exfoliated regularly.

Most doctors agree that exfoliating should start from the mid twenties when the rate of new skin cell development slows down. That is when the buildup of dead skin cells starts to result in a grayer, duller complexion, eventually leaving us with a more sallow look in our fifties and beyond.

The good news is you can easily restore the bloom of youth, no matter how old you are, once you learn how to exfoliate your skin. Exfoliating simply means removing dead skin cells.

There are two main ways to do it. One is by applying chemicals to the skin and letting them do the job. Some facials work that way and it is what happens when you go for a peel. Although there are kits sold for home use, I do not recommend this method. That is because there is a much safer and quicker way to do it using a scrub or brush to physically scrape off dead skin. I do not advise brushing your face or neck. Brushing is too harsh for those areas, but brushing works fine for the rest of the body. In fact, that is what I do myself.

For the face and neck, a gentle, effective scrub is what you need. It should be coarse enough to rub off dead skin cells, but not so coarse as to cause irritation. Bear in mind that you may be a little red right after you exfoliate your skin. That is mainly because the blood vessels get a workout. Any redness should go away after a few minutes. All you do is gentle rub the scrub onto your skin, in small circles, always with the emphasis on the upward direction. It should not take long. You should be able to work your whole face in a minute or so.

If you have very sensitive skin, you may need to experiment with different scrubs. Start with a mild one, and test it on a small area of your cheek before working the whole of your face. Go gently!

You massage the scrub into your skin, and presto, the dead cells are removed, leaving your skin more alive and glowing. It is that simple and that fast. Once you learn how to exfoliate like this, you will be able to freshen your skin in a minute or two, with no muss and no fuss.

Not only is it quick and convenient, this kind of exfoliating is also remarkably inexpensive. Some people make their own exfoliant using coffee grounds or sugar mixed in a base of olive oil. The idea is to have something grainy that will rub off the dead skin, yet something moist enough to stay on your face while you are working it. Home made scrubs work fine and are recommended if your budget is really tight. I use a natural exfoliant of sea salts and emollients. It leaves me feeling refreshed and moisturized, so I get multiple benefits from the one treatment.

Having learned how to exfoliate, you will see the results right away, and the improvements keep coming. If you have coarse uneven skin, you could exfoliate every day for five days or so; otherwise twice a week is just about right for most people.