What we mean by scrubbing here means exfoliating of the dead skin cells. Skin cells are constantly growing. As new skin cells form, the old skin cells die off. Our skin naturally exfoliates. This natural exfoliation is how the skin rids itself of toxins. When we bathe the skin, we are helping the skin in the exfoliation process. As a result, exfoliation becomes an important, preventative skin care regimen for healthy skin. By exfoliating/shedding of the dead skin cells, the atmosphere for bacterial infection is greatly decreased.

“Assisted exfoliation”, where a loofah, buff puff pad or other exfoliating cleansers are used to slough off the dead skin cells, should not be done in a harsh, scrubbing manner. In addition, and keeping in mind that “assisted exfoliation” is a preventative skin care maintenance practice, you don’t want to scrub or exfoliate the skin when the skin is irritated/inflamed/infected. If you were to scrub/exfoliate, you would slow down or reverse the healing process. In essence, it would be like picking a scab.

The scab, (hard, crusty skin) serves as a protective barrier for the new skin cells forming underneath the scab. As more and more of those skin cells form and thicken, they’ll replace and push that hard scab lesion off of the skin to reveal the new skin underneath. If you pull the scab or scrub it off before the new skin is ready (completely formed underneath the scab), then you will run the risk of reopening the wound and reinfecting it. This starts the whole process over again. As a result, if you really want to nourish the new skin cells underneath the scab, then you would need to focus on feeding the cells the nutrients internally. This is where the diet with a focus on replenishing nutrients through whole food consumption comes into play. Vitamin E, essential fatty acid, and beta carotene foods/drinks are just some of the examples of the nutrients that would benefit/nourish the new skin cell growth. Remember that they are growing from the inside out. The internal care is essential for those cells. Scrubbing the crusty, hard skin layer to get to the new skin would cause more damage than good.