Salt as cleanser?

[PollyCazaletWannabe]

Last night it suddenly occurred to me that salt would be a good exfoliation aid. I mixed some in my hands with my usual cleansing lotion and rubbed it over my face before rinsing well. Beating in mind I am not really one for a skincare routine (I know, I know) I am struck by how soft and smooth my skin feels this morning. But is this really bad for my skin? Please advise.

No it's fine, you can use sugar as well if you like. I like them as they dissolve and don't leave bits at the bottom of the bath.

I'd say be careful if you are using big coarse lumps as they might scratch your skin, but other than that I can't see a problem. Moisturise afterwards as well

I would go very gently with it - salt crystals are, well, crystalline, which means the edges are sharp (rather than the beads/granules in most exfoliators which cost more than a fiver, which have rounded edges). The sharp edges can kind of scrape the healthy skin underneath rather than just sloughing off the dead skin on top, which means that although your skin feels baby smooth initially, it starts to damage the skin underneath and start it flaking off before it's ready, leading to dry patches and/or your sebaceous glands going into overdrive and getting greasy. Ask me how I know....

That's interesting Hopefully, as I've been very proud of my home made body exfoliator (2 parts salt to one part baby oil), certainly my skin is very smooth, but I shall be careful with it. Do you think sugar would be better?
I don't use it on my face though as I did think it would be harsh and I have very dry/sensitive skin.

ah I make my own exfoliator using sugar honey and lemon. My skin feels amazing afterwards

The small plastic granules in exfoliation products are an emerging environmental threat, they slip through water treatment plants and get ingested by fish and that way they enter the ecosystem - we end up eating them! I was shocked to learn this and will phase out all products with microgranules.

If you can use a Clarisonic, you can use a sugar peel too. I don't see why salt would be any worse. All exfoliants can be too harsh if you have sensitive skin, but if your skin seems fine, a homemade exfoliant is probably nicer that one with a long INCI list.

I thought the cutting thing was fine and desireable, as that's effectively what microdermabrasion does with the diamond?

Would salt not dry out your skin?

Salt is fine - beauty writers used to recommend it. Just don't use Maldon .. It hurts amhik!!

Maybe I'm extra paranoid because my skin is really sensitive to anything remotely abrasive - I actually don't use granular scrubs at all, I use fruit acid ones like this clarins one. A quick google suggests salt and sugar aren't completely terrible as long as there's some water involved, as they dissolve fairly quickly and get more rounded rather than having sharp edges.

Frugal that's interesting about the micro granules.

However, sharp edges on scrubs are regularly blamed for premature ageing, so i'm not sure I'd be taking the risk with salt too often.

It is great, but I'd be v careful on the face. I often use olive oil and salt on my hands when cooking, it keeps them beautiful. But I'd go very very easy on my face.

I used to use Ocean Salt scrub from Lush on my face when I was younger - it was amazing - but quite harsh and could be scratchy.

Salt, sand, coffee grounds or sugar + any kind of oil makes a fantastic body scrub.