The true importance of cleansing is often underestimated. Cleansing is critical for achieving healthy skin and aging gracefully. Everyone should wash their face with a cleanser at night, regardless of gender or whether you wear makeup or not. I don’t think we truly recognize how much our skin accumulates build-up throughout the day (see below) and how much we touch our face.

Factors that contribute to build-up:

• Natural shedding of dead skin cells (10-12 g/day)
• Dirt (naturally accumulates throughout the day)
• Sweat (1-3 teaspoons/day)
• Microbes (bacteria replicates every 20 min. on our face
• Touching our face
• Placing phones to our face
• Pollution (exponential increase in oxidative stress on skin if living in a city)
• Walking by a car
• Smoking

If we don’t cleanse our face, all the items listed above remain on our skin which can lead to irritation and enhanced and accelerated aging. It’s also important to start with a clean face before applying any products to allow them to be most effective and less irritating. If we do our skincare routines before cleansing it traps all the build-up on our skin.

The goal of a cleanser is to thoroughly cleanse the face without stripping the skin. If our face feels tight or has the squeaky-clean feeling after cleansing, it most likely means we’ve stripped our skin of its natural moisturizing factors. While these natural moisturizing factors do replenish over time, by stripping our skin we’ve offset our skin’s natural, healthy balance and repetitive stripping of the skin can change our skin’s natural pH and lead to issues down the road.

Finding a cleanser that works for you is a challenging task. There are many things to consider when looking for a cleanser such as your skin type, your environment and climate, if you wear makeup or sunscreen (which should be everyone!) and personal preference on the type of cleanser you like (water-based, oil-based, foaming, non-foaming, light-foaming, etc.). Let’s breakdown the main differences between water and oil-based cleansers.

Water-based cleansers:

Water-based cleansers are most popular and come in many forms. Although having options is a good thing, with too many options, it can be hard to determine what you need. The cleanser world is overwhelming and complicated. Water-based cleansers utilize surfactants to cleanse (see previous post- can we embed the link within “see previous post”?). Below highlights some of the pros and cons between common types of water-based cleansers:

Common forms of water cleansers:

• Bar soap- typically have higher pH and can be very stripping
• Powder cleansers- can provide a little exfoliation
• Gel cleanser- typically a good choice for oily or combination skin
• Cream cleanser- typically a good choice for dry skin
• Wipes- can be convenient but are wasteful

Oil-based cleansers:

While not as popular as water-based cleansers, oil-based cleansers provide other benefits and offer a different sensorial experience. As the name suggests, these cleansers do not contain any water in the formula. Oil cleansers are great for breaking down sweat, makeup, sunscreen or anything oil based. This is because of a concept known as “like-dissolves-like”. This principle stems from the structure and composition of a compound. In general, if two molecules are similar, they are able to interact with each other. If you’re wearing heavy or stubborn makeup, using an oil cleanser will make removing your makeup much easier and can be much gentler on the skin. While there are various ways to use an oil-based cleanser, it is most common to apply the product to dry skin and gently massage into the skin to breakdown makeup, sunscreen and oils. Once thoroughly massaged, add a small amount of water to emulsify the product and rinse.

Oil-based cleansers can be a nice option for people with oily and dry skin. If you have highly oily skin, a good oil cleanser can help balance oil levels on the skin. If you have dry skin, oil cleansers can be a good option as they can provide additional hydration and prevent that stripping feeling.

Common forms of oil cleansers:

• Cleansing oil
• Cleansing balm

There is a cleansing method that utilizes both a water-based and oil-based cleanser known as double cleansing. Double cleansing starts with an oil-based cleanser and is followed up with a water-based cleanser. This is a great way to ensure your face is thoroughly cleansed and, in some cases, cleansing this way has led to fewer sebaceous filaments, reduced pore appearance and generally less congested skin. However, double cleansing and the frequency at which you double cleanse is heavily dependent on your skin and double cleansing is not a requirement to achieve clean, healthy skin.

A good cleanser should help balance and manage oil levels and sustain a healthy skin barrier. It may take a few weeks for your skin to adjust to a new cleanser and because everyone’s skin is different and our climates and habits are different, you have to find what works for you.