One of the first things to include in any anti-aging skin care routine is a gentle cleanser. It seems silly to so over-wash your skin and strip it of any natural moisture it has, that you then need to use heavy moisturizers to add it back in. That stinging and redness and the tight feeling? I don’t tolerate that nonsense. Those cleansers don’t get used more than a few times, let alone make it to the blog for a review.
The Facial Cleanser from First Aid Beauty is pretty much exactly what I expected from them. It’s a white and slightly pearly creamy cleanser. It’s a bit thicker than most, which means that it works really well with my Clarisonic and doesn’t sink down into the bristles. It has a light lather, but doesn’t become a bubbly mess when I use the Clarisonic (I’m not a fan of bubbles up my nose!)
I’ve seen a few reviews online that complain about the smell, which confuses me, honestly. There really isn’t much of a smell, what there is, is really a faint lotion smell to me. I don’t find that annoying at all, especially since it washes right off anyways.
Here’s what is in the stuff:
Ingredients:
Water (Aqua), SodiumCocoyl Isethionate, Glycerin, Stearic Acid, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Stearyl Alcohol,Sodium PCA, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Chrysanthemum Parthenium (Feverfew) Extract, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Extract, Allantoin, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate, Coco Glucoside, Glyceryl Stearate, Disodium EDTA, Caprylyl Glycol, Phenoxyethanol
Things to notice here:
1) It is sulfate free. There are also no parabens for those of you avoiding them. Note due to the licorice root extract I would avoid during pregnancy.
2) The main surfactant is Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, which is a gentle surfactant derived from coconut oil.
3) While most of your cleanser will get rinsed off, it is true that some of it will get left behind on your skin. Some of the things this will be leaving behind:
• Glycerin: Moisture. Moisture. Moisture.
• Aloe
• Green tea (Camellia Sinensis Leaf) extract, which is full of antioxidant goodness.
• Feverfew Extract: Anti-inflammatory that helps soothe redness
• Licorice Root Extract: Known to have anti-inflammatory and soothing properties. It is also thought to decrease melanin production, so is often included in brightening products.
I’ll stop there, but there is a lot packed into this cleanser!
You can buy this gentle cleanser at Sephora.
I’m a doctor, a mommy and a bit of a beauty addict. If you let me, I can take 2 hours to get ready in the morning. Really. I'm on a quest for faster beauty that works!
Nice review – that definitely has some nice ingredients and sounds like a really nice cleanser. I also love the Awakenings Skin Care MudFace cleanser – made from pure organic mud compound. It really leaves the face clean, fresh, and firm.
Christine,
This looks like a great, gentle cleanser. One thing I've learned over the years is that you have to baby your skin. It will not be scrubbed into submission! Great review.
I've heard so many things about First Aid beauty and really wanted to try their ultra repair cream. But this sounds amazing!
xx Andrea
savingsimplicity13.blogspot.com
I gave it a try and like it so far, but I think the thing about eh smell isn't that it's very strong, but it's VERY soapy. After years of hearing that we shouldn't use actual soap on your face, it's just unappealing in a gut-reaction way, i think. It smells like a bar of Dove, but it rinses residue-free, nothing like soap in that respect.