How do I Choose the Best Gentle Facial Scrub?

Having healthy skin, especially on the face, sometimes requires a little extra help. With regular use, a gentle facial scrub that exfoliates and cleanses deep pores where makeup and dirt hide can restore a natural glow to the face and improve the overall quality of the skin. However, choosing the best facial scrub can be a concern especially for anyone with sensitive skin or skin that has special needs such as acne, aging or dullness.

Facial scrubs come in a wide variety of different types and brands. From natural herbal and organic ingredient scrubs to sugar and salt scrubs to bath and body scrub bars to warming and acne-reducing scrubs designed for special skin conditions, it can be confusing to choose the right kind of gentle facial scrub for your particular needs. Knowing what’s in the different kinds of facial scrub products and what they actually do for the skin can help determine which brand to choose.

The most prevalent facial scrubs on the market are those made from natural or organic ingredients which are generally more gentle on the face and don’t include any harmful chemicals. Natural facial scrubs are often made from a fruit-based paste and include scrubbing particles made from ground nuts or sugar or salt that gently exfoliate and clear the skin from dirt and debris. Natural-based scrubs are a good choice for anyone with sensitive skin or skin that is prone to break-outs from artificial ingredients found in other beauty products, and they usually rinse off better.

Another type of gentle facial scrub is the warming variety, which includes ingredients that heat up when friction is applied during the scrubbing motion. This warming is used to open up pores so that dirt and oil trapped below the surface of the skin can be better flushed out. This leaves the skin cleaner and less prone to whiteheads and blackheads caused by excess oil in the pores. Warming scrubs often contain more moisturizing agents as they can cause skin to be drier with repeat use.

In addition to addressing the needs of people who have problems with acne, there are gentle facial scrubs that have added anti-aging benefits currently on the market. These products have pectin or retinol based ingredients that provide a more aggressive "sloughing" or “peeling” of the outside layers of skin where wrinkles and age spots tend to accumulate. Once the old layers of skin are removed, which is a painless procedure, younger fresh skin cells are revealed, giving a more youthful appearance and feel to the skin.