[PSA] While there are better methods of exfoliation for most, there is no evidence that you will develop "micro-tears" from St. Ives scrub or similar physical scrubs. If it works for you, great.

Beauty Tips For Body Care
I've been coming to this sub for years now and have gotten a lot of great advice on how to take care of my face. One thing that I've heard repeatedly is that physical exfoliators like the dreaded St Ives scrub cause "micro-tears" that allow bacteria into skin and can cause permanent damage. That sounded bad, but I didn't really use those kinds of products anyway and I knew better than to try it because r/SCA had told me repeatedly to stay away. Then I realized my mom had been using this stuff for something like 30 years and her skin is flawless. That didn't prove anything to me; just because she had flawless skin doesn't mean she wasn't doing something potentially unhealthy for it. I asked her how she uses it and she said she uses it very gently about once a week. Interesting, that's not what it says on the package. It says to use it 3-4 times a week. I told her about the "micro-tears," that she could develop, and she told me that she tried many chemical exfoliators but none gave her the results like St Ives did for her. Interesting, I thought...So I decided to dig deeper, and I realized that the only places I had read such things were on this subreddit, and on certain skincare websites. I got really curious and decided to look for some actual substantiation for these claims.Turns out there is a good reason this case was thrown out by the judge when St Ives was sued for causing these supposed "micro-tears". Aside from the fact that people have used products like this for decades with no issue, the laughably small study that was done to come to these conclusions, combined with a simple look at the issue from another perspective (LOTS OF THINGS could "tear" your skin if you press or scrub too hard), makes this whole thing no more than a gross exaggeration of the truth that spread quickly.What's important to note here that St Ives is probably not the best choice of exfoliator for you or most people, and this misinformation was spread partly because it actually IS good advice to stay away from harsh scrubs. Chemical exfoliators really are superior most of the time. However, there are certain individuals who really benefit from the use of physical exfoliators like St Ives, because they have particularly congested skin that doesn't respond as well to chemical exfoliators, and isn't damaged at all with proper, gentle use of a physical scrub. St Ives needs to update their packaging, because using this stuff 3-4 times a week would probably cause 95% of people to develop raw, over-exfoliated skin within 1 week. Many people couldn't even use it once.But that doesn't mean it's bad for everyone, and it doesn't mean that we should be spreading misinformation. There is no real evidence for St Ives causing "micro-tears" that are in any way dangerous or unhealthy. It's just rough and will probably be too much for your delicate face. That's it.
Girls Blog 2015
Submitted by RoystenMantis