face brush for scrubbing?

[egerandi]

Anyone using manual or electric dermabrasion brush to cleanse face? I'm wondering if it's worth trying one and which. I bought a cheapo one once, and it was way too tough on my skin (or I was), but I've been reading nice things about the Dermalogica one and Clarisonic, and its dupe, Pretika. The dermabrasion cream is nice, but would it be better buffed in? Or using the brush with regular milky or foaming cleansers?

[Cupcake]

Not really, but on a very tenuous connection, in the UK there's a dermabrasion facial brush being marketed which is little more than an over-sized, glorified sonic toothbrush. Adapting a home made version using a very soft brush (maybe a baby's toothbrush) taped to the sonic toothbrush to carry the vibration through it, you could do a quick and simple test run to see if your skin would like it before purchasing a real one? (Crazy idea?)

[zeebs]

Yeah, I wanna know this too!

[karen]

I've never heard a bad thing about the Clarisonics- apparently people really love them quite a bit. I wouldn't use anything mechanical with the microderm cream- it's really easy to overscrub with it, and it hurts. It took me forever to formulate it because I could only do a trial or 2 every other day- otherwise it left my skin raw. At one point I had a Neutrogena system that had a soft pad on a vibrating head- that was a pretty cool scrubber.

The idea behind microdermabrasion is that it removes a fine layer- and in the process it does a little bit of damage (microscopic) so that it trigger's the skin's natural healing to rebuild collagen. I think Clarisonic works on a similar principle- but the brush is softer so they say it's safe to use it every day. **Edit** I've been tossing this around in my brain a bit more, and I kinda want one too-but I know with my skin that it probably isn't a great idea...dry or sensitive skin can get stripped very easily. If I feel like I need more scrubbing I go for a chemical exfoliator like AHA- oddly enough it feels more gentle to me because it's a good water binder, so it helps with the flakes, but I know that most people are a bit tougher than me.

[egerandi]

I would still kinda consider using a manual face brush, as they are not that expensive, and I can regulate the speed... just not sure if it's worth it. Tossing the idea of double scrubbing with the microderm cream, would it still be useful as manual exfoliation using say the foaming or any other mild cleanser? My pores are ok, but you can never have smooth enough skin, right? I'm already using scrubs and a waffle-patterned microfiber cloth, so I guess I'm all set if the brush is a no-go.

[packgal]

everyone be careful about exfoliating too much. the other day i used the microderm cream and then my regular bha/aha mix a couple hours later. my skin turned RED and it stung SO BAD. i thought my skin was much tougher but that was wayyyy too much. it took about 10 minutes for it to stop burning!

[karen]

For $30 the Rite-Aid one looks like it's worth a try...in reading the MUA reviews it looks like it's really good for congested skin. If you're really dull, flaky, or congested it seems like it might be a cool gadget. I'm still a big fan of AHA, and occasional microdermabrasion rather than scrubbing- but my skin is super delicate.

Oooh Packgal I've been there before...I used to use a low pH vitamin C, and after microdermabrasion it was one painful experience. I put a warning on the microdermabrasion cream page about not using it directly before or after another exfoliator but I think I'll do a separate info page as well because there's a big instinct that if a little is good, more is better- but it's really easy to overdo it with exfoliation.