Go to any beauty shop, and you'll find shelves full of pumice stones, loofahs, and other devices that are supposed to smoothen skin. The use of scrubs can be traced to as far back as the ancient Egyptian civilization. Being very conscious of their appearance, the Egyptians used abrasives such as pumice stones on their skin. This was especially true among royalty, for whom being beautiful was a priority.

Eventually, experts discovered that there is such a thing as scrubbing too much. Exfoliation is a natural process. Dr. Marivic Dizon of Makati Medical Center estimates that every 311 hours, dead skin starts pushing up to the surface. It eventually sloughs off without any help from us. If that didn't happen, we’d have incredibly thick skin.

It can't be denied, however, that women love their exfoliating creams, face towels, loofahs, and pumice stones. All these serve to hasten the natural process of exfoliation, clearing away dead skin and revealing the new. You just have to use these beauty products prudently. Dr. Dizon gives us some guidelines, which you can check out by browsing through the gallery below.


(First published as “The Scrub Up” in the “Beauty Notebook” section of Good Housekeeping Philippines’ January-February 2001 issue. Adapted for use in Female Network. Photo by Steve Johnson via Flickr Creative Commons)