Clear Face Cleanser

Effectivness

A good skin care routine starts with a good cleanser.

Besides having good personal hygiene, proper cleansing also ensures maximum performance from your other skincare products, allowing them to penetrate deeply and be more effective. Washing your skin in the morning also gives you a fresh face for makeup application. While cleansing can do all of these things, it’s very important to not over clean.

You should generally wash your face no more than twice a day, once in the morning (to remove oil, bacteria, and pillow-grime build-up from the night before) and once in the evening (to remove makeup, sunscreen, and the day’s yuckiness). Sometimes you can wash your face after sweating but just make sure you don’t overdo it.

You also want to wash your skin with lukewarm or room temperature water. Using very hot or very cold water can cause broken capillaries on your skin. Using really hot water can also be a bit drying and make your skin turn red.

When picking a cleanser, you want to find one that strikes a balance with your skin. Your cleanser has to be strong enough to clean but not so harsh that it leaves your skin feeling stripped and dry. You want to remove sebum, grime, and pollution from your skin, but you don’t want to wash away your natural skin barrier.

To pick the right cleanser for your skin, consider the following three questions before you buy a new face wash:

1. Is the cleanser too drying or stripping?
   if you use a cleanser and it makes your skin feel immediately dry, taut, or squeaky, then it is way too harsh and you need to choose one that is less drying.
2. A good cleanser should make your skin feel pretty much the same (except a bit lighter) as how it feels before you wash your face
3. Does it have any “bad” ingredients? Such as sodium lauryl sulfate or alcohol?
   Large amounts of detergents like sodium lauryl sulfate can be quite drying. Sodium laureth sulfate is often mistaken for sodium lauryl sulfate, however sodium laureth sulfate is milder and gentler, but nonetheless, still irritating for some people.

Many people also use two different cleansers. Some people use lighter cleansers during the winter, when skin is more prone to being dry, and stronger cleansers in the humid summer months. Other times, people use a light cleanser in the morning when there isn’t much to wash off and then one that’s a bit stronger in the evening. Do you really need to use two different cleansers? It all depends on your skin.