Burt's Bees Citrus Scrub- Keep your skin dewy this winter

Its winter and your skin will not like it because the harsh cold weather does not do any justice to it. Cold air reduces the moisture content of your skin resulting in a dry flaky skin (also affects the elbows, heels, lips etc). Keeping yourself hydrated by drinking lots of fluids (avoid caffeine), moisturising reularly, avoiding the cold weather when you can and staying in a low humidity area are all ways of reducing this problem.

A fast and very effective way of keeping your skin healthy is exfoliation. When you exfoliate you remove the dead skin cells on the surface, leaving the skin looking dewy all year round. This is especially important in the winter when your skin is more vulnerable to accumulating dead cells than it would normally be.
Exfoliation is very easy and is something you can do as part of your morning routine. I usually do this twice a week, in the shower after I've cleansed my face. Try not to exfoliate too often because you then get rid of most of the protective layer of your skin and it becomes irritable/inflamed.
I know there are a lot of exfoliating agents out there but I am going to tell you about one that I believe really works.

Burt's Bees Citrus Scrub (£8.81 @ boots)









HRP rating:


Ingredients: glycerin, sweet almond oil, sweet almond seed meal, oat kernel flour, citrus sweet orange peel powder, rose flower powder, pecan shell powder, grapefruit extract, nutmeg fruit powder, clove flower powder, rosemary leaf extract, tocopherol (Vit E), soybean oil, water, glucose, fragrance, canola oil, sodium chloride, glucose oxidase, lactoperoxidase, geraniol, limonene.

As you may have guessed I am obsessed with natural products. I love this scrub very much. It comes dry in a 57g glass jar, which I suspect will last for months (at least 3 months I'd say). You only need a tiny amount to work into a paste. I've been using it for about 2 months now and when I use it I can feel it exfoliating away. Sometimes I get to the point where it starts to feel 'tingly' and I know I have to stop scrubbing away. This is why I would not recommend using it more than twice a week- it is quite strong. The orange oil is moisturising and gives it a kind of sweet scent. My skin always feels lighter and softer after I've used this, ready for toning and moisturising.

Do not exfoliate on a day where you use another pore cleansing product e.g a pore cleansing mask or a facial treatment. It will most likely be too harsh for your skin.



The problem with this scrub is that you have to work it into a paste and it takes a while to get going (about 30 secs, which is considerable time if you are rushing in the morning). Also, because of the way it is packaged dry in a glass jar, using it in the shower is a problem. Water can easily get into it and you must not allow that to happen.
If you want to have a ready made scrub then this is not for you, try the Peach and Willowbark Pore Scrub from Burt's Bees (I havn't tried this). There will be inevitably be many exfoliants if you walk into drugstore X or visit any cosmetic website. Find the one that works for you but I sincerely believe that exfoliation is an important step to include in your skin care regime and this is the exfoliant I would recommend.

If you do not live in the UK, I believe you can get this from most drugstores also. I got mine from ecohamster at 8.50 and 1.49 shipping.

Stay beautiful...