This mild cream cleanser is made to cleanse without leaving your skin tight or dry.
This cream cleanser uses mild cleansing ingredients, but contains alcohol that may feel drying for some.
What's inside
What's inside
Benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Water
Skin ConditioningSodium Cocoyl Isethionate
Cleansing
Glycerin
Humectant
Coco-Glucoside
Cleansing
Cocos Nucifera Oil
Masking
Stearic Acid
Cleansing
Cocamidopropyl Betaine
Cleansing
Glyceryl Stearate Se
Emulsifying
Phenoxyethanol
Preservative
Xanthan Gum
EmulsifyingOpuntia Vulgaris Extract
Skin ConditioningCocos Nucifera Fruit Juice
Emollient
Sodium Chloride
MaskingGlyceryl Polyacrylate
Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate
ChelatingWater, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Glycerin, Coco-Glucoside, Cocos Nucifera Oil, Stearic Acid, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Glyceryl Stearate Se, Phenoxyethanol, Xanthan Gum, Opuntia Vulgaris Extract, Cocos Nucifera Fruit Juice, Sodium Chloride, Glyceryl Polyacrylate, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate
Water
Skin ConditioningCaprylic/Capric Triglyceride
Masking
Stearic Acid
Cleansing
Butyrospermum Parkii Butter
Skin Conditioning
Cetearyl Alcohol
Emollient
Cetyl Ethylhexanoate
EmollientGlycerin
Humectant
Glyceryl Stearate Se
Emulsifying
Bis-Diglyceryl Polyacyladipate-2
Emollient
Phenoxyethanol
Preservative
Acacia Concinna Fruit Extract
Skin ConditioningBalanites Aegyptiaca Fruit Extract
Coco-Glucoside
Cleansing
Benzyl Alcohol
Perfuming
Coconut Alcohol
Emollient
Citrus Aurantium Dulcis Peel Oil
Masking
Gypsophila Paniculata Root Extract
Skin ConditioningEthylhexylglycerin
Skin ConditioningSodium Hydroxide
BufferingDehydroacetic Acid
Preservative
Limonene
Perfuming
Linalool
Perfuming
Citral
Perfuming
Water, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Stearic Acid, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Ethylhexanoate, Glycerin, Glyceryl Stearate Se, Bis-Diglyceryl Polyacyladipate-2, Phenoxyethanol, Acacia Concinna Fruit Extract, Balanites Aegyptiaca Fruit Extract, Coco-Glucoside, Benzyl Alcohol, Coconut Alcohol, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis Peel Oil, Gypsophila Paniculata Root Extract, Ethylhexylglycerin, Sodium Hydroxide, Dehydroacetic Acid, Limonene, Linalool, Citral
Ingredients Explained
These ingredients are found in both products.
Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.
Coco-Glucoside is a surfactant, or a cleansing ingredient. It is made from glucose and coconut oil.
Surfactants help gather dirt, oil, and other pollutants from your skin to be rinsed away.
This ingredient is considered gentle and non-comedogenic. However, it may still be irritating for some.
Learn more about Coco-GlucosideGlycerin (or glycerol) is a compound naturally found in your skin. It's a powerhouse humectant that pulls water into the stratum corneum.
Topically, glycerin does several things at once:
Your skin makes glycerin on its own (mostly from sebaceous oil breakdown) and shuttles it to your outermost layer of skin, or your epidermis, via aquaporin-3.
Aquaporin-3 is a transporter that is essential for normal skin hydration, elasticity, and repair. Interestingly, mice lacking in AQP3 have dry and less elastic skin that can be fully corrected with glycerin.
This ingredient is non-irritating, plays well with almost every ingredient, and works across all skin types. Typical use is anywhere between 3-10% but can go up to 79% in some leave-on products.
Just know very high concentrations (>40%) can feel tacky in low humidity.
Glycerin is the name for this ingredient in American English. British English uses Glycerol/Glycerine.
Learn more about GlycerinGlyceryl Stearate SE is a self-emulsifying (SE) form of Glyceryl Stearate. It comes with a small amount of soap (usually potassium or sodium stearate) that gives it the "SE" part.
That soap lets it pull oil and water together on its own which is why it shows up as an emulsifier, thickener, and emollient.
Industry survey data shows this ingredient is used around 1-5% but Glyceryl Stearate goes as high at 17% in a leave-on deodorant.
Safety-wise, it's pretty boring: it's been deemed safe for topical use in 1982 and again most recently in 2021 by the CIR. Human repeat insult patch tests come back non-irritating, non-sensitizing, non-phototoxic, and non-photoallergenic.
This ingredient does carry a comedogenic rating of 3 from the old rabbit-ear assay. Just remember testing finished products in humans showed that formulas built with "comedogenic" ingredients are not necessarily comedogenic themselves. It's worth patch testing if you're breakout prone, and always listen to your skin.
The Malassezia yeast can potentially metabolize the stearic acid in this ingredient, so it may not be fungal acne safe.
Allergy is rare: a 310-patient patch test study of common emulsifiers found this ingredient was not a meaningful reactor. Isolated case reports do exist so a true contact allergy is possible but uncommon.
Learn more about Glyceryl Stearate SePhenoxyethanol is one of the most widely used preservatives in skincare (and for good reason!).
It has a large spectrum of antimicrobial activity and especially effective bacteria, yeast, and mold while only having a weak effect on your skin's natural microbiome.
On a cellular level, it disrupts the cell membranes of microbes by poking holes that make the cell leak. This shuts down the chemical reactions the microbe needs to make energy so it can no longer survive.
Another perk of this ingredient is that it stays functional across a wide pH range (3-10).
You'll often see it paired with boosters like Ethylhexylglycerin; one study showed that a 1:9 ratio of Ethylhexylglycerin to Phenoxyethanol damages bacterial membranes as effectively as doubling the Phenoxyethanol concentration on its own.
Typical use concentrations range from 0.3-1% depending on the formula, and this ingredient is capped at 1% int the EU.
Safety-wise, the fear mongering does not hold up to the evidence. The EU's Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety and FDA consider it safe as a preservative at up to 1%, including for children of all ages.
Adverse systemic effects only showed up in animal studies at exposures roughly 200x higher than what people get from cosmetics. And despite its very widespread use, this ingredient is a rare sensitizer and allergic reactions are uncommon.
Learn more about PhenoxyethanolStearic Acid is a fatty acid that is already found in your skin. It's one of the free fatty acids that works alongside ceramides and cholesterols to maintain your barrier.
In cosmetics, it is a multitasker:
Safety-wise, the CIR Expert Panel has concluded it to be safe in cosmetics when formulated to be non-irritating and non-sensitizing.
Free stearic acid is a C18 fatty acid that the Malassezia yeast can substrate, so this ingredient may not be fungal acne safe.
This ingredient does have a comedogenic rating of 2-3, but this doesn't mean a formula with this ingredient will clog pores.
Human testing has proved that any finished product with this ingredient won't automatically make you break out; it really comes down to concentration, formula, and your skin.
Learn more about Stearic AcidWater. It's the most common cosmetic ingredient of all. You'll usually see it at the top of ingredient lists, meaning that it makes up the largest part of the product.
So why is it so popular? Water most often acts as a solvent - this means that it helps dissolve other ingredients into the formulation.
You'll also recognize water as that liquid we all need to stay alive. If you see this, drink a glass of water. Remember to stay hydrated!
Learn more about Water
