Facial Cleansers

Facial Cleansers

Patients are always asking me what I think is the best facial cleanser available. And I tell them to think about it like this:
We put a cleanser on our faces, and then wash it off very quickly.  So cleansers stay on our faces for only about 15 seconds twice a day.  It’s hardly long enough to have any therapeutic effect on your skin.

So you want a facial cleanser that cleans your type of skin, rather than a cleanser that promises a lot of skin therapy.

If you have normal to dry skin, a cleanser that doesn’t dry out or strip oil from your skin is best.  A liquid cleanser, in particular, can be great for this.

Contrary to popular opinion, you don’t need to that squeaky clean feeling for your skin to actually be clean (that squeaky feeling is just the soap stripping all your natural oils off of your skin). As long as the product is not overly irritating or drying, it’s fine.

If you have very oily skin, on the other hand, you’re likely best off with a facial cleanser that’s formulated specifically for acne or your skin type; these do tend to be drying—a good thing for some of us.

Recommendations

Here is a link to some facial cleansers that I like.

Dr. Irwin

See Dr. Irwin’s expert answers to other reader’s questions on cleansers:
Any Opinion on Cetaphil Cleansers?
What Would Be an Alternative to Obagi?
Help! I’m confused about my products!