Cleansers- The Good, The Bad and The Useless

After a request from a friend to source a decent cleanser, I decided to pop it all down for your eyes.

Cleansers are so important if you wear make up, live in a city or have skin that likes to crew you around. Finding the right one is difficult. There are 4 main contenders:

• Heavy Duty – Think Clearasil, Clean and Clear and Neutrogena – Lots of foam and scents
• Natural – Simple, Vitamin E, Perfume Free
• Mid Range – Garnier, Loreal, etc – Tend to promise ‘brighter’ skin
• Soap Bars- From Dove, to Clinique or organic bars.

Add to this mud masks, primers, toners, plus moisturizers and more and you are in with a good chance of wasting money!

I want to try help cut down your spending!

I will say that Sallyic acid is a bit like wearing tight shoes to relieve the pain when you have them off. Eg. Your skin clears up for that date, but 2 days later, your spots have doubled. You now have to use the acid everyday. Natural is the way forward, in my experience.

Here are my top cleansers.

Combination/Oily Skin:

Lush mud mask - Love Lettuce– used as a cleanser – it comes in a black tub and it’s about £3 and also does you for a nice thick mask at the weekend. It has bits in it, a nice scent and it lasts for ages. Keep it in the fridge though!

Oily skin that needs a kick without resorting to acid and chemicals.:

Simple oil balancing - nice and better than the standard simple cleanser in that it actually takes off make up whilst the small granules can slough off some dead skin particles. It doesn’t smell, hurt sensitive skin or leave you with that tight feeling.

For normal skin/ well behaved moments:

Waitrose baby bubbles bathtime. A brilliant cleanser that’s soft and free from nasties. If it’s good for baby, it’s good for you.

For blackhead ridden/dull skin:

I like the St Ives apricot scrub although I find £4 a bit much for it so I get it from the pound shop! (The trick is to go in with your head held high. We were hit by a recession, dammit!)

For an all round champion:

The Clinique soap bar is a bathroom champion. It lasts for ages, comes in a little soap dish for travelling with and does the trick. It will take some getting used to, and will leave you a little tight skinned, but from my experience this isn’t a case where the skin will go into sebum production overload, and you should be okay.

How to use them:

A for my use of the above, I tend to rotate them, so if my skins being all combination I go for simple, mud mask for when it’s a bit dull, when it’s behaving I use the organic baby bubbles and when it’s blackheady or spotty then I use the scrub.

How to hide a spot:

If I have a mega spot as well I mix up the most natural face wash I have on my hand with some water to make a paste and pop it on- it dries it up overnight and they don’t vanish but they ‘hide’ and aren’t as red for a few hours in the morning.

Did you know that bog standard aspirin tablets have a lot of the same bacteria zapping stuff as some of the benzyl? Bargain! You just mash a tablet up with water to make a paste and apply it as you would a £6 spot cream from one of the big name brands. Not one to try for a sexy night with the man.

DIY Cleansing:

If you enjoy going all DIY then I can also wholeheartedly recommend cleaning with half a lemon and some salt, gently- you won’t get a freshness like it, promise. I have also had some success with using olive oil as a cleanser after taking make up off with a wipe. Smooth it on with a damp cotton pad. This works in the same way that Blu tack comes off with the aid of more blu tack. Fight oil with oil! - Note- You will smell like a salad.

Things that don’t work:

• Sudocream. Unless you want to clog up your pores and look like Casper, stay away from nappy ointments.
• Savlon – Your skin will sweat underneath this emollient like a pig in a blanket. You will also smell like a school nurse.
• Vaseline- permanently enlarges the pores and is also very heavy.
• Cold Creams- These are for grandmas who haven’t been able to see anything in a standard mirror for 20 years. These will clog your face up like no-ones business.
• Nivea cream – I have only ever broken out with Nivea.
• Toners- Not a fan. I never have been, when it comes to wasting money. If you want a deep cleanse, double wash and apply a mix of tea tree, lavender and de-ionised water to a spray bottle and use this. Natural and clean.
• Facemasks made of strawberries- These are 100% better when ingested and despite having astringent properties, I've always regretted not chowing down on them with some sugar and cream. Well- you need it after all that energy spent beautifying!

So! The good the bad, and the ugly.

Ladies. It’s a long hard road, but well trodden. Share your skincare secrets with the world!