How To

How To Use: Layering Body Butter and Body Scrub for Best Results

If you've got a body scrub and a body butter and you're using them more or less at random, good news: there's an actual order that makes both of them work better. Get it right and you'll feel the difference immediately.

Here's the routine I recommend:

1. Cleanse first. Wash with your regular body wash or cleanser before exfoliating. This clears away surface dirt and sweat so your scrub can get straight to work instead of fighting through the day's grime.

2. Exfoliate with your scrub. Apply to wet or damp skin using gentle, circular motions, focusing on rougher areas like elbows, knees, and heels. Rinse thoroughly. This step sloughs off dead, flaky skin and leaves a smooth surface that's primed and ready to soak up moisture.

3. Optional hydration boost. Feeling extra parched? Apply a water-based body serum, lotion, or aloe gel immediately after patting your skin dry. These lightweight hydrators sink in fast and set the stage nicely for the next step.

4. Apply your body butter while skin is still slightly damp. A dime-sized amount is genuinely plenty for an entire arm or leg, this stuff is concentrated. Scoop it into your hands and rub between your palms first. The warmth of your skin melts it into a smooth oil that glides on easily and seals everything in.

Went a little heavy-handed with the butter? No harm done. Give your skin about five minutes to soak up what it can, then gently blot any shiny spots with a clean, dry towel.

Now, how often you scrub depends on your skin type, and this is the part most people skip.

• Oily or acne-prone skin can typically handle exfoliating 2 to 3 times a week, since this skin type produces more oil that can trap dead skin cells and clog pores.

• Normal or combination skin does well with about 2 times a week, which keeps texture smooth without stripping away natural moisture.

• Dry or mature skin generally does best with 1 to 2 times a week. Push it further than that and you risk compromising the skin barrier and ending up with flaking instead of glowing.

• Sensitive skin usually only needs 1 time a week, or even once every two weeks, since this skin type gets red and irritated more easily than the rest.

Body butter, on the other hand, is the friend you can see every single day, no matter your skin type. And if you're layering in any other lightweight products like a body oil or lotion, those go on before the butter. Thinnest to thickest, always. Get the order right and a scrub and body butter genuinely become a team. The scrub clears the runway, and the butter sticks the landing.