Oil, cream, or bar? Which kind of face washer are you?
There are a few things to consider when choosing the facial cleanser that’s right for your face. My personal criteria are as follows: ingredients used, method of application, lifestyle, skin type, joy factor.
That last one is really important. How do you want to feel when you’re rubbing your cheeks in a circular motion (hopefully) every morning and night?
Let’s break it down.
Facial Bars
Tea Tree Charcoal Facial Soap & Pink Rose Clay Facial Soap
Plant Power: Charcoal lifts impurities, tea tree essential oil targets bacteria to resolve acne. French pink clay absorbs pollution and dirt, rose petals are antioxidative and exfoliating.
Method: A solid bar that you create a lather with between your hands & then transfer your face to cleanse.
Skin Type: Oily / combo skin—choose Tea Tree Charcoal. Dry / mature / sensitive—choose Pink Rose Clay.
Lifestyle: The ultimate for the multi-purpose, zero-waste lifestyle. This is for the minimalist who likes to have one (and only one) bar of soap in their shower at any given time, for head-to-toe cleansing.
Joy Factor: The texture of the soap between your palms is like a mini massage for your hands—as you lather the scent is released and the botanicals are buoyed. Wash your face, then rub it straight onto your body.
Highlights: Bar soaps contain no water except for what you will add on demand, reducing the carbon footprint of the products in shipment and also making them a breeze to travel with (just wrap them in a piece of thin cloth). Facial bars are concentrated botanicals in a solid format that balance and transform skin with daily use.
Juniper Bergamot Face Cleanser
Plant Power: Juniper, bergamot, basil, and rosemary essential oils balance oil production and inhibit bacteria to resolve acne. Luscious plant oils impart moisture and nutrients for skin regeneration.
Method: An oil cleanser that rinses off with water! Pump into your palms, apply to dry facial skin, massage with wet fingertips, then rinse with water. (You can also use a washcloth.)
Skin Type: For oily, combo, and blemish-prone skin.
Lifestyle: This is for the person who wants effective cleansing for oily skin without the usual stripping and drying feel. You’re ready to spend a couple minutes cleansing, but you want results that match the effort. You seek skin that feels balanced and soft, and you crave herbal freshness.
Joy Factor: Working the creamy cleanser into dry skin feels silky. The milkiness increases with wet fingertips, giving you permission to keep circulating the skin and working that cleanser around those pores. Smells like a freaking meadow full of herbs.
Highlights: Refillable! Don’t toss that bottle. This cleanser gives you the benefits of oil cleansing—balanced oil production and suppleness—with all the ease of water rinsing. Cleanser rinses off, nutrients linger. It can also be used as a shaving cream.
Lemon Rose Cleansing Oil
Plant Power: Hazelnut oil purifies, jojoba oil soothes, and coconut oil offers lightness, while rose geranium oil tones the skin and lemon oil revitalizes it.
Method: Massage over dry skin and eyes, place a warm wet washcloth over face for 30 seconds, then wipe clean.
Skin Type: Can work for all skin types, but is especially for dry and sensitive skin.
Lifestyle: A luxurious, soothing experience for dry or mature skin that relaxes the senses. This is for make-up wearers who want to streamline their routine—now you can remove your makeup and wash your face in only one step!
Joy Factor: It’s all about that warm washcloth. While it gently rests on your face, your pores open and those nutritive oils sink even deeper. Take every one of those 30 seconds of washcloth time to breathe in the scent. Lemon essential oil actually makes you feel happier when you breathe it in—a miracle of nature.
Highlights: Not just for dry skin, oily skin can benefit from beneficial oils, because they send a vital message to your skin cells—”stop overcompensating, we’ve got plenty of oil!” The aluminum bottle is refillable.
Skin Cream (Seriously!)
Plant Power: Nutrient-rich organic tamanu, rosehip, and pumpkin seed oils heal dry, itchy skin while reducing scars and fine lines.
Method: Apply a thin layer all over facial skin, place a warm wet washcloth over for 30 seconds or more, then wipe clean.
Skin Type: Dry, sensitive, or mature skin.
Lifestyle: Indulgent, dreamy, nutritive. This is for the person who craves a weekly deep-moisture cleansing ritual, or perhaps wants a lux cleansing balm as the first step of a simple at-home facial. Luxury, but make it multipurpose and zero-waste.
Joy Factor: So rich and creamy!!
Highlights: It’s a skin cream that you can use to moisturize from head to toe that transforms into an occasional (or all the time!) cleansing balm—yep, in a refillable glass jar.
Washing our faces is something we have to do all of the time anyway (except for when I’m really, really tired, OK?), so why not infuse it with more joy?
Take care of those sweet faces out there.
Written By Vera Kachouh