The Cosmedics
Cleansers
What cleanser should I choose?
Cleansing gels, foaming cleansers, balms, oils, creams, bars. What cleanser is best for my skin? There are some fantastic products on the market but it’s difficult to know which one to select? This guide should give you a few tips on what’s important when it comes to choosing a cleanser.
Foam
Before discovering how to formulate a facial cleanser I was pretty sure of one thing- that the more luxurious the lather, the better the cleansing ability. Imagine my surprise when this one simple piece of information turned out to be simply not true. Foam stability is dependent on the type of cleansing agent and it’s ratio in water. It’s actually complex (beautiful) surface chemistry and has absolutely no bearing on how well it cleanses. So don’t rule out a product just because it’s a little lighter on the lather.
When looking for a good cleanser that’s gentle on skin then start with looking at the ingredients in baby wash. Any ingredient designed to wash a baby’s skin is likely to suit yours just fine. Try a facial wash containing Decyl or Lauryl glucoside. From a formulators point of view these surfactants are liquid gold. They give a creamy, luxurious lather, a rich foam and are ‘gentle’ on skin (meaning they have less of a reputation for causing irritation).
Fragrance
We admit it. We love skin care with fragrance, it’s one the main part of the cleansing experience. A cleanser without a decent whiff of wake me up or send me to sleep fragrance usually goes to the back of the bathroom cabinet. However, a carefully selected fragrance in a cleanser can increase the price of the product quite a lot (read our blog: bigger budget better skin); and let’s face it, we are rinsing the majority of it down the sink. So if you’re mixing and matching products then maybe forgo the fragrance.
Texture
You’ll here this word from us a lot.. texture! The texture of the product is what sets it apart from others. Cleansers unlike other skin care products really go to town on texture. You can find gels, balms, creams, foams and liquid cleansers. Remember they all do the same thing. They remove dirt from the upper surface layers of your sun, which smoothes the surface allowing light to reflect more off of the skin. This reflecting light makes your skin appear more radiant and therefore improves the appearance of your skin. So if you’re following the Cosmedics Daily Skincare Routine then you’ll know to use a cleanser in the morning and evening. We love skincare and tend to use a foam cleanser in the morning and evening then a balm style cleanser for our second cleanse at night. Why? No particular reason other than the action of the foam cleanser feels invigorating and wakes us up so feels like it’s better for the morning. Whereas a balm cleanser is so indulgent that it feels like we’re giving our skin the pampering it deserves. But we can not stress enough that a cleanser is a cleanser so find the right one for you according to what you like. No right answer here.. it may even be as simple as affordability or the packaging looks great in my bathroom!