How to Choose the Best All Natural Face Cleanser for Your Skin

Last week I spoke to a woman about her dry skin. Over the past couple months, she had been getting consistently dryer and dryer, even though she was using products that have, “for dry skin” and “for sensitive skin” listed on the label. It seemed like such a mystery but somewhere in the conversation, a lightbulb went off and I asked her what products she was using. We went over all of the individual products together, looking at the ingredients and talking about what may or may not be working with her skin. What we found was that all of the products had alcohol in them—a lot of alcohol—and her cleanser was an alcohol-based spray. Aha! Alcohol is both drying and dehydrating to the skin.

We got her set up with a nourishing new beauty regimen, starting with quitting her current facial cleanser and working with a revitalizing natural cleanser instead.

Why the Organic Cleanser You Choose Matters

What’s the first thing you use in the morning and the first thing you use when your day is over? Right! Your cleanser is the most important part of your beauty routine because it’s the first thing to touch your skin.

Finding the right natural cleanser for your routine is kind of a goldilocks puzzle. If your cleanser isn’t strong enough it won’t give you a deep enough clean, leaving build up on top of the skin and the rest of your products won’t be absorbed properly. A cleanser that is too strong for your skin can strip the natural oils, compromising your acid mantle, which can increase sensitivity and lead to the appearance of premature aging. Since everyone’s skin is different, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer but finding the organic cleanser that is just right for your skin will make all the difference in your skin.

Sometimes we get the feedback that a natural cleanser just isn’t cleansing enough or doesn’t entirely remove makeup. If you feel like your natural cleanser isn’t cleaning enough, we suggest working with physical accessories to achieve the goal rather than a slew of synthetic face washes. Using a face brush or a washcloth will help you get the deep clean that you’re looking for and if you’re having a difficult time removing makeup with a regular washing, it can be helpful to start with a light oil or extra facial cleanser on a cotton ball to remove your makeup first.

Check out your Ingredients

There are a lot of reasons that you want to look at the ingredients in your skincare. One of them is, like the woman I spoke with that found alcohol in all of her skincare, that there are a lot of lines that use marketing terms like ‘sensitive skin’ or ‘anti-aging’ but in the long run the ingredients in those products aren’t beneficial to the skin and might even be making the problem area worse over time!

We don’t think it’s a rebellious idea to want to know everything that we’re putting on our skin but there are a lot of companies out there that count on you not flipping the bottle over and doing the extra research on the ingredients they have listed. The skin is a permeable organ and though it’s very good at keeping things out, transdermal absorption is possible and there are some chemicals (ethanol being one of them) that can increase the skin’s permeability for certain chemicals.

While there all sorts of ingredients companies can put in their skincare, one thing we find that people love about their synthetic cleansers is that they have a rich lather. The foaming cleanser feels good and makes the skin feel extra squeaky clean but the ingredients that make that luxurious foam are sulfates. The most common sulfates you’ll find in skincare are sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate. Studies have shown that these foaming sulfates are actually corrosive and not only can cause some pretty uncomfortable skin symptoms but have been linked with some serious health issues. We use sodium lauryl glucose carboxylate as our surfactant. It still offers a nice lather (albeit a little less foamy than it’s sulfate counterparts) but it doesn’t have the same health concerns attached to it and is rated to be very safe by PubMed and the EWG.

Know Your Skin Type

We’ve talked about this before but when you’re choosing the best natural cleanser (or any organic skincare product) for yourself, you always want to choose it based on your skin type. This is a really important part of the decision-making process because it’s going to play into the goldilocks complex of choosing a face wash that’s just right.

If you’re working with dry skin, a gel cleanser or a cleanser that has ingredients like witch hazel or willow bark might be too strong for your skin and add to the dryness. You want to choose a cleanser that is going to offer you that great clean feeling along adding some moisture to your skin.

With oily skin, a cream cleanser or one with extra oils added to it could be pore clogging. You’ll want to choose a facial cleanser that has ingredients that are high in salicylic acid (like the willow and the witch hazel) and probably look for a gel cleanser for a deeper clean.

If you’re working with normal or combination skin, we suggest playing around with your skincare a little bit. You will want to be sure to choose a pH balanced cleanser that won’t throw your acid mantle out of whack.

Once you’ve checked to make sure your trust your brand, trust your ingredients and found the type of cleanser you think you need, it’s all about trying it out and paying attention to your skin. Ask yourself, “do I need more moisture?” and “am I getting a deep enough clean?” and “do I want to include a face brush?” to get really dialed in with the perfect cleanser for yourself. Don’t be afraid to try new cleansers when you find one that has the ingredients you’re looking for and fits with your skin type but make sure you allow transition time for your skin.

What’s your favorite organic cleanser? Let us know below!

The following post How to Choose the Best All Natural Face Cleanser for Your Skin was first published on Annmarie Gianni Skin Care.