Have you ever noticed a new wrinkle at the corner of your eye or maybe an age spot on your forehead? You may be wondering why these signs of life and aging seem to appear on the face, where they’re highlighted for all to see. Why can’t they appear first on, let’s say, the back of your leg, where they could go undetected a little longer? There’s a reason they appear first on the face. The skin on our bodies is different from the skin on our faces.
Skin On The Body VS. Facial Skin
Facial skin is much thinner – up to ten times so – than the skin found on other parts of our body. Our faces are also constantly exposed to environmental stressors, such as UV rays from the sun, wind, cold, and pollution. In addition, there are many more nerve endings in our facial skin compared to our body, making it drastically more sensitive. Our facial skin wants very little exfoliation, craves more water, and is very hungry for dermal nutrients. Yes, we can feed our skin instead of scrubbing it, which brings incredible benefits. Our facial skin has these strong preferences while also being very opinionated about what bothers it, which can vary greatly person to person.
Facial Skin Guidelines
The use of all “pore minimizing” products and astringents will only lead to dehydrated skin while increasing the chances of perturbing our skin. This leads to more congestion and wrinkles in the long run. For an optimal facial routine, follow these guidelines…
- Cleanse: All skin types love a gentle cleanser, especially if you have acne or aging skin. Heavy makeup and SPF may require a gentle cleanser, otherwise, most makeup and natural SPF can be removed perfectly with water, steam, and an optional gentle washcloth. As a rule, using a gentle cleanser in the morning is unnecessary.
- Exfoliate 1-2x a month — enzymes only. Skin that is clearing acne can be exfoliated weekly, but only in conjunction with a skincare routine that maximizes hydration, provides dermal nutrients, and barrier restoration.
Body Skin Guidelines
Most people are over-cleansing and exfoliating their body skin as well. All of us beauty and skin consumers have been trained to think this will solve all skin woes, but in my opinion, it causes more problems. Nonetheless, the skin on our bodies does enjoy more exfoliation than our delicate facial skin. Body skin is also easier to hydrate as long as we have the right timing and moisturizer.
- Use gentle soap only in the armpits and other sensitive areas (you know what I mean)…otherwise, water and steam often do the trick. A gentle washcloth and or coconut oil can remove the sunscreen.
- Salt-sugar scrubs are wonderful to use weekly or at least monthly. Always follow up with a dense moisturizer immediately after drying off to trap water in and restore the barrier for moist skin that stays hydrated.
Skin Repair Butters For The Body & Face
I created three different Skin Repair Butters (Trinity, Truce & Unity) that are perfect for our face and body. My fourth moisturizer is also dual purpose but with extra intensity for extreme dryness. They are safe to use all over and won’t clog our pores. They will increase much needed hydration that will support our skin’s native release & detox function.
- Trinity: Trinity is a luxurious chocolate cake for the skin. It is soft, thick, and fluffy. Inspirited with Organic Bulgarian Rose Water for divinity, fair trade organic cacao for bliss, and freshwater pearl powder for earthy healing angel sweetness.
- Truce: Truce is a rich creamy green tea latte for the skin. It is soft, thick, and fluffy. Inspirited with all Organic Green Tea for smooth inspiration, Vanilla for confidence, and Honey for rare sweetness.
- Unity: Unity is a delicious white chocolate for the skin. It is soft, thick, and fluffy. It is inspirited with Cocoa and Shea Butter and is free of drying and irritating essential oils. Superb, no fuss everyday moisturizer.
- Lamina (medical moisturizer): Ideal for face but also for stubborn crepey body skin.
It’s extremely important to use a lipid-rich moisturizer and sunscreen all year-round for all exposed areas, limiting exposure to overly exposed areas. Modest exfoliation, optimal hydration, dermal nutrients for the face, dense moisturizers, and use of sunscreen will help our skin be resilient from free radicals and harmful UV rays that cause skin damage, sunspots, premature wrinkles, discoloration, and even skin cancer. Let’s give our facial and body skin their own unique differences.

About the author
I took many wrong turns when I started learning about skin at 19. The more I spent on skincare, equipment, and training, the further I felt from actually helping skin. I was frustrated with only being able to offer temporary and superficial solutions at best. What emerged from the disappointment and turmoil, I now call, The Regenerative Skin Process. Skin Harmonics is a dedicated medical fusion holistic skincare clinic that provides a root cause approach delivering lifetime skin health through medical grade skin care products, new learning, and Deep Pore Cleansing Facials.