Fashion and beauty go hand in hand and I am often asked by friends for advice or suggestions regarding their beauty routines. It's not because I have perfectly smooth glowing skin (YET!) It's mostly because I have the most sensitive skin on the planet and I am always on a quest to keep my routine as natural and chemical free as possible.

That being said – you know how you always hear people saying how important it is to moisturize your skin daily? Well, they’re correct but what always gets left out is how important it is to exfoliate regularly as well! Moisturizer is completely useless if you’re applying it to dead skin that needs to shed and some of you guys spend way too much money on your moisturizers to be applying it to dead skin!

Our skin sheds naturally every so often. However, it’s a good idea to exfoliate to aid the elimination of dead skin. It enables your moisturizers or other topical creams to absorb on the fresh new skin you need to treat or moisturize!

I exfoliate just about every day. I used to be able to buy a bath mitt at Target (one of my favorite places ever) that was made of some sort of plastic mesh material that was gentle enough for me to use in the shower every day. For years, I would use this mitt and when it stretched out of shape, I’d replace it until I was no longer able to find it. I could find the glove version and the “puff” but neither of those worked for me like the mitt, so I continued to use that last one until it came completely apart on me and then I didn’t know what to do!

Enter the internet!!!

What I did not know is that you’re supposed to exfoliate before you apply self-tanner because, well obviously I have no need for self-tanner! However, that is how I found my new exfoliation mitt! I got excited and bought three of them – you know – just in case!

So long story short, if you’re not exfoliating regularly, consider it, and find the method that’s best for you. Below are a few natural suggestions:

For the face:

Lemon juice – alpha hydroxy acid (used in most chemical peels) is a super concentrated version of citric acid. Lemon juice is good for mild exfoliation. I use it every morning on my face and hands with them lemon half I used after squeezing the juice in my morning hot water.

Baking soda – this is a good mild scrub that I used mostly for my lips. Just grab any oil that you use to moisturize your skin (I use vitamin E), put the oil on your skin and then put some baking soda on a damp face cloth and gently scrub.

For the body:

Brown sugar, salt, and olive oil – I keep this mixture in a jar in my shower and scrub about once or twice per week. Salt is important in the mixture so you don’t end up with ants in your shower! Also, the salt is thought to pull toxins out of your body!

There is also a thing called dry skin brushing. I tried it years ago but it wasn't a habit I kept up!

Good luck if you're trying exfoliation for the first time!