Winter is good not only for snug- gling beneath a blanket on the sofa, with a cup of hot cocoa and watching your favorite series.
It’s also a great opportunity to give your skin a make- over, otherwise inadvisable during the sunny summer months. It’s the time of year when many women de- cide to reach out for some heavy-duty skincare, like retinoids or exfoliating acids, with the end goal of re- vealing a fresh, renewed and younger-looking com- plexion. Sounds tempting right? If only it was that easy!
If you have tried it, or are planning to, there is a strong chance your skin will go fussy on you. Don’t panic, it doesn’t necessarily mean you should ditch your new skincare routine. It is possible your skin is just purging, and as weird as it sounds, and as bad as it feels, skin purging is actually a good thing!
What is purging and what can you expect from it?
Purging happens when your skin is adjusting to the increased cell turnover rate, provoked by an active ingredient in your peeling (usually some form of reti- nol or exfoliating acid). During this process, what also happens is that while your skin cells are shedding, and being replaced by new cells faster than they normally would, other stuff inside your skin is being pushed out to the surface as well. Leaving you with a pimple, or two, or 10…
The fact that most skin turnover accelerating products are irritating, doesn’t help either, as they trig- ger even more inflammation. Don’t worry though, as annoying as purging is, it’s also temporary. All these pimples aren’t just coming out from nowhere, they were already inside your skin, and they will go away eventually (usually within 4 to 6 weeks from the begin- ning of your new exfoliating routine) leaving you with fresh, smooth and radiant skin.
What should you do if your skin is purging?
Just take it easy. Continue your exfoliating treatment, but also stick to the basics. Get yourself a gentle, sulfate-free cleanser, a soothing moisturizer for sensitive skin and a high SPF sunscreen. That’s it.
Don’t pop your pimples and don’t, by any means, add more drying products. Your skin’s turnover rate is al- ready accelerated and any additional stimulation might just make it worse. Just relax and hold on, purging will pass.
If I get a rash, pimples, or a dry patch on my skin after using peeling agents, is that purging?
No! Although purging is normal with strong peeling treatments, it is also very possible that you are simply breaking out because your skin doesn’t agree with some ingredients in your peeling formula. The product might be clogging your pores, you might be sensitive to one of the ingredients or you might even be having an allergic reaction. In any of the cases above, the best thing you can do is to ditch the product right away.
How then, can you distinguish between purging and breaking out?
If you are reacting to any product that isn’t a strong peel- ing, you are most probably just breaking out. This is also the case if your skin is getting pimples or dry patches in places where you don’t usually get them.
If you get skin issues in the usual place of your breakouts and if they go away quite fast, then your skin is most probably purging. Simply said, if you, for exam- ple, have a tendency for cysts on your jawline and it is getting worse along the exfoliation treatment, then that’s purging…
As I said at the beginning, winter is a great opportu- nity to play around with stronger peelings. If you do, just please remember to go easy on your skin and to listen to what it is telling you. If you do breakout, just quit the product, and if you’re purging just go easy. Not every skin is equally resistant, yours might be more on the sensitive side, and that’s OK. Just go slow, start with 1-2 applica- tions a week to ease into the treatment. Be patient, your post-purging, radiant skin will be worth the trouble and effort.