Why exfoliating can make you look younger

Want to know Gwyneth’s secret for glowing skin? The star swears by the Clarisonic (below) for a thorough cleanse.

We sat down with Trilogy co-founder Catherine de Groot to get you the 101 on exfoliation.

Back to basics

‘Your skincare regimen should be simple,’ Catherine says. ‘Cleanse daily and exfoliate once every three days. It’s a way of refreshing, renewing and unclogging your skin to provide the optimum situation to absorb your beauty products and get a healthy glow.’

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Decode the different types

Physical: These exfoliants contain products such as seeds and beads that ‘mechanically massage off dead cells’.

Chemical: These use alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) to exfoliate, but Catherine says this form is ‘best left to the experts in professional salon treatments’.

Fruit enzymes: ‘These are a great way to go,’ Catherine says. ‘A catalyst for a chemical reaction with the skin gently breaking down and digesting the proteins that plaster dead skin cells to the top of your skin, revealing new cells underneath.’

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Make your own

Being a working mum, Catherine loves a good DIY solution. Her fave at-home creation? ‘Throw pawpaw in a blender with honey to help adhere the mixture to your skin and you will get a super-renewing, gentle fruit exfoliation.’

Exfoliating products we love:

Trilogy Gentle Facial Exfoliant, $36.95, St. Ives Naturally Clear Green Tea Scrub, $9.99 and Clarisonic Mia, exclusive to David Jones, $149.

Final fact: ‘Exfoliating is the fastest way to see and feel an improvement in your skin, especially for women over 30, as they are in the slowdown period of skin cell turnover,’ Catherine says.