Is Your Facial Cleanser Cream Destroying Your Skin?

A good facial cleanser cream should accomplish the following:

• be soap free and detergent free
• be pH balanced
• thoroughly cleanse the skin -- leaving feeling soft, moist and protected

The best facial cleanser should be safe for acne prone skin too.

How Does Your Facial Cleanser Make Your Face Feel?

I would RUN for the moisturizer because I thought my skin would crack …….it felt so tight and dry. And I thought this was normal!!

When I was a younger I always used Ivory soap, not knowing how harsh it was on the skin. I had no idea that it was stripping the protective oils from my skin, upsetting the normal pH balance, and even worse, destroying the healthy acid mantle.

Back then, I didn't know anything about facial cleanser creams, pH balance or acid mantle......

What Does pH Balance Mean and Why Is It Important For Healthy Skin?

The pH measures the amount of acid or alkalinity in the top layer of the skin. On a scale of 0-14, 7 is neutral. Anything below 7 is considered more acidic and above 7 is more alkaline.

Normal healthy skin is usually in the range of 4.2 to 5.6. And a good facial cleanser cream should also be within this range.

At this level, the acid mantle is in good condition and is able to protect the skin from dehydration and other damaging elements of the environment like wind, sun or bacteria.

Can You Say Acid Mantle?

The acid mantle is essentially the sebum (or oil) on your skin's surface. Its job is to protect your skin from environmental assaults and keep it hydrated.

Many people have never heard about the acid mantle or how important it is not only for healthy skin, but also good looking skin.

But if you have acne, skin allergies, eczema, or sensitive skin that gets irritated easily, chances are the pH balance of your skin is off -- due to harsh facial cleansers. The acid mantle can help protect the skin against:

• the formation of blackheads
• blemishes -- because it can inhibit bacterial growth and fungus
• irritants, skin allergies, acne and other disorders

Check the pH balance of your current facial cleanser – especially if have been or are experiencing skin disorders such as allergies, acne, eczema, irritation or other problems. Or if you are following any of the skin remodeling techniques on this site.

Just because your facial cleanser cream says “Mild” on the label doesn’t mean that it’s the proper pH. Many cleanser that are too mild, (having a pH of 9.5-11) can disrupt the natural acid balance and protection of the skin.

So What Are The Best Facial Cleanser Creams and Oils?

Basically, you need a mild cleanser that is within the skin’s natural pH range, that is free from harsh detergents, foaming agents and one that will clean the skin too.

My favorite facial cleanser is ZenMed pH Balanced Cleanser. It cleans without over drying and won't leave my face tight.

Facial Cleanser Research

An interesting article published in the Indian Journal of Dermatology presented the results of a study on the pH range of commonly used facial soaps/cleansers. Researchers found that very few cleansers had a pH balance closest to normal healthy skin. Most common facial cleansers in the market were too alkaline.

The article stated the following:

The soaps commonly recommended and used by the population at large have a pH, which is neutral to alkaline in most cases, ranging between 7 and 9 ...... Even the glycerin and baby soaps, which are the so called mild soaps showed a neutral to alkaline pH.

From the evidence available, the pH of the skin changes depending on the pH of the cleanser used. This has a multi-fold impact on the skin in terms of the moisture content, the irritability and the bacterial flora. Thus, before recommending a cleanser to a patient especially in case of dermatitic, sensitive and acne prone skin, due consider the pH of the cleanser needs to be given.

A good facial cleanser cream doesn't have to be expensive, but it should be as natural and gentle as possible. Especially, if you suffer from any type of skin condition like dry itchy skin, eczema, psoriasis, acne, or have dry skin due to menopause.

As an advisor, I've had a chance to review many different types of cleansers and found ZenMed Gentle pH Cleansing Cream. This very unique cleanser cream is a vegetarian formulation and pH balanced. It created specifically to not over dry or strip the skin of vital oils.

Additional Reading