How to Choose a Facial Cleanser for Your Skin Type

Washing your face and maintaining your skin clean is crucial to your skincare routine and allows other skin products to work better. A good face wash helps unclog your pores, levels the oils on your skin, and improves your skin tone and texture. Because they are such essentials, most skincare and cosmetics brands offer facial cleansers where they incorporate their own formula to create a branded version of the product. This makes the options for which cleanser to choose from endless, so how do you pick the face wash that is right for you? Just as you can differentiate facial cleansers by brand, most companies label their products by which skin type it is suitable for. If you check the ingredients on the back, there will be a combination of cleansing agents that will be intended for the labeled skin type. Still, you should become familiar with some of them to know which ingredients to avoid and keep an eye for the ones you know interact best with your skin. If you don’t already know what your skin type is, research or consult a specialist to help you determine.

Be careful when looking for a cleanser for dry skin as a lot of products contain ingredients that are too harsh, and strip your skin of its natural oils. Cream cleansers are often gentler than other face washes, making them ideal for people with dehydrated skin. If you have dry skin, you should try to avoid facial cleansers that contain alcohol which can damage the skin’s protective layer. Keep an eye out for ingredients that hydrate your skin such as glycerin and emollients such as petrolatum, ceramides and lanolin, these are great for moisturizing dry skin. Sensitive skin has similar conditions to dry skin for choosing a cleanser. Find something with a lightweight formula and avoid cleansers that can irritate sensitive skin such as those containing alcohol, dyes, and fragrances.

If you have oily skin, your goal will be to find a face wash to clean off the excess oil on your skin without over-drying it and causing more damage. Look for non-alcoholic ingredients that can do the work without taking away your natural moisture and causing your skin to become even oilier in the long term. Gel-based products are perfect for oily skin and deep-pore cleansing. Keep an eye out for those that contain glycerin which is great with moisturizing oily skin, and salicylic and glycolic acids which are especially helpful for preventing acne. Finding a facial cleanser for combination skin is a bit more complex because you need to find something that has the right formula to work for your whole face. A lightweight, balanced cleanser is ideal. You may need to try out a few products to find what works for you.

Dry, oily, sensitive, and combination skin types all have certain factors to narrow down your search as you browse through hundreds of facial cleansers. These helpful tips are here to help you with that process as you integrate this important product into your skincare regimen.