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La Roche-Posay Toleriane Hydrating Gentle Face Cleanser Ingredients Explained

4.0   from 28 ratings
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Updated on July 18, 2023 Submitted by AlondraG

Overview

What it is

Face cleanser with 13 ingredients that contains ceramides, niacinamide and Vitamin E

Cool Features

It is reef safe

Suited For

It has ingredients that are good for fighting acne, anti aging, dry skin, brightening skin, sensitive skin, oily skin, reducing pores and dark spots

Free From

It doesn't contain any harsh alcohols, common allergens, fragrances, oils, parabens, silicones or sulfates

Fun facts

La Roche-Posay is from France. This product is used in 1976 routines created by our community.

We independently verify ingredients and our claims are backed by peer-reviewed research. Does this product need an update? Let us know.

You should know

Here's our breakdown of the notable ingredients, benefits, and concerns we determined from the ingredients in this product. Click any item to learn more.

Notable Ingredients

Vitamin E
Niacinamide
Ceramides

Benefits

Hydrating (2)
Good For Oily Skin
Redness Reducing (2)
Reduces Irritation
Reduces Large Pores
Anti-Aging
Dark Spots
Acne Fighting
Brightening (3)

Concerns

Drying
Acne Trigger
Rosacea

Ingredient Info

Click any item below to learn more and view relevant ingredients.
alcohol-free
silicon-free
fragrance-free
sulfate-free
paraben-free
oil-free
fungal-acne safe
reef-safe
eu-allergen-free
vegan
cruelty-free
ph level
5.2

Ingredients Overview

Here's our quick-to-read summary of the ingredients in this product. Keep scrolling if you'd like to learn more about what each ingredient does!
Ingredient
Features
1
Skin Conditioning, Solvent
2
Humectant, Skin Conditioning, Skin Protecting, Solvent
0 / 0
Helps hydrate Dry Skin IconHelps brighten skin Icon
3
Emollient
4
Solvent
5
Emulsion Stabilising
6
Emulsifying
Not safe for Fungal Acne Icon
7
Skin Conditioning
Ceramide IconHelps hydrate Dry Skin IconHelps reduce Skin Redness IconHelps reduce irritation IconHelps with Anti-Aging Icon
8
Smoothing
Niacinamide IconGood for Oily Skin IconHelps reduce Skin Redness IconGood for Minimizing Pores IconGood for Dark Spots IconHelps fight Acne IconHelps brighten skin Icon
9
Masking
Can worsen Dry Skin IconBad for Acne Prone Skin IconMay worsen Rosacea Icon
10
Cleansing, Skin Conditioning
11
Emollient, Humectant, Skin Conditioning
12
Skin Conditioning
0 / 0
Helps reduce irritation Icon
13
Antioxidant, Masking, Skin Conditioning
0-3 / 0-3
Vitamin E IconAntioxidant IconHelps hydrate Dry Skin IconMay cause irritation IconHelps with Anti-Aging IconGood for Scar Healing IconHelps brighten skin Icon

Ingredients Explained

This product contains 13 ingredients. Click on any ingredient to learn more about it
1
What it does: Skin Conditioning, Solvent
Community Rating: Loved

Water. 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. Talk about multi-purpose! If you see this, drink a glass of water. Stay hydrated!

Learn more about Water
2
What it does: Humectant, Skin Conditioning, Skin Protecting, Solvent
Community Rating: Loved

Glycerin is already naturally found in your skin. It helps moisturize and protect your skin.

A study from 2016 found glycerin to be more effective as a humectant than AHAs and hyaluronic acid.

As a humectant, it helps the skin stay hydrated by pulling moisture to your skin. The low molecular weight of glycerin allows it to pull moisture into the deeper layers of your skin.

Hydrated skin improves your skin barrier; Your skin barrier helps protect against irritants and bacteria.

Glycerin has also been found to have antimicrobial and antiviral properties. Due to these properties, glycerin is often used in wound and burn treatments.

In cosmetics, glycerin is usually derived from plants such as soybean or palm. However, it can also be sourced from animals, such as tallow or animal fat.

This ingredient is organic, colorless, odorless, and non-toxic.

Glycerin is the name for this ingredient in American English. British English uses Glycerol/Glycerine.

Learn more about Glycerin
3
What it does: Emollient
Community Rating: Liked

Pentaerythrityl Tetraethylhexanoate is an emollient. Emollients help your skin stay soft and smooth by creating a thin film on top. This film helps trap moisture. It also helps improve the texture of products by adding thickness or helping to create a silky feel.

Pentaerythrityl Tetraethylhexanoate comes from isostearic acid, a saturated fatty acid. It is a synthetic ingredient.

4
What it does: Solvent
Community Rating: Liked

Propanediol helps absorb ingredients into your skin, boosting their benefits. It can act as an emollient, making your skin softer. Propanediol can help products last longer by boosting the properties of preservatives within the formulation.

Propanediol is not likely to cause sensitivity and considered safe to use.

It is derived from corn or petroleum with a clear color and no scent.

Learn more about Propanediol
5
What it does: Emulsion Stabilising
Community Rating: Liked

Ammonium Polyacryloyldimethyl Taurate is a polymer made from ammonium salts. It helps add stability and texture to a product.

Ammonium Polyacryloyldimethyl Taurate is stable over a wide pH range. Due to its ability to absorb water, it can help thicken the texture of a product.

As an emulsion stabilizer, this ingredient is able to stabilize and mix the other ingredients. This creates a consistent texture.

Learn more about Ammonium Polyacryloyldimethyl Taurate
6
What it does: Emulsifying
Community Rating: Very Disliked

Polysorbate 60 is used to help stabilize products. It is a surfactant and emulsifier. These properties help keep ingredients together in a product. Surfactants help reduce surface tension between ingredients with different states, such as liquids and solids. Emulsifiers help prevent oils and waters from separating.

Polysorbate 60 is sorbitol-based and created from the ethoxylation of sorbitan. Ethoxylation is a chemical reaction used to add ethylene oxide. Sorbitan is a the dehydrated version of sorbitol, a sugar found in fruits.

In this case, the 60 comes from reacting 60 units of ethylene oxide with sorbitan.

Polysorbates are commonly used in medicine and foods.

Learn more about Polysorbate 60
7
What it does: Skin Conditioning
Community Rating: Loved

Ceramide NP is a type of ceramide.

Ceramides are intercellular lipids naturally found in our skin that bonds dead skin cells together to create a barrier. They are known for their ability to hold water and thus are a great ingredient for dry skin.

Ceramides are an important building block for our skin barrier. A stronger barrier helps the skin look more firm and hydrated. By bolstering the skin ceramides act as a barrier against irritating ingredients. This can help with inflammation as well.

If you would like to eat ceramides, sweet potatoes contain a small amount.

Read more about other common types of ceramides here: Ceramide AP Ceramide EOP

Learn more about Ceramide NP
8
What it does: Smoothing
Community Rating: Loved

Niacinamide has emerged as an all-star ingredient due to its many benefits.

It is known to treat acne by reducing inflammation. It also helps fade dark-spots and strengthen the skin by promoting the growth of the ceramide barrier.

Other benefits include smoothing wrinkles and minimizing redness.

The cherry on top? Niacinamide can also help build keratin, a protein that keeps skin firm.

When incorporating niacinamide into your routine, look out for concentration amounts. Typically, 5% niacinamide provides benefits such as fading dark spots. However, if you have sensitive skin, it is better to begin with a smaller concentration.

Niacinamide can be mixed with other ingredients to boost benefits. For instance, it has shown to be effective when used with copper, folic acid, and zinc to treat acne.

Learn more about Niacinamide
9
What it does: Masking
Community Rating: Very Disliked

Chances are, you eat sodium chloride every day. Sodium Chloride is also known as table salt.

This ingredient has many purposes in skincare: thickener, emulsifier, and exfoliator.

You'll most likely find this ingredient in cleansers where it is used to create a gel-like texture. As an emulsifier, it also prevents ingredients from separating.

There is much debate on whether this ingredient is comedogenic. The short answer - comedogenic ratings don't tell the whole story. Learn more about comegodenic ratings here.

The concensus about this ingredient causing acne seems to be divided. Research is needed to understand if this ingredient does cause acne.

Scrubs may use salt as the primary exfoliating ingredient.

Learn more about Sodium Chloride
10
What it does: Cleansing, Skin Conditioning
Community Rating: Very Disliked

Coco-Betaine is the natural version of Cocamidopropyl Betaine. It is often derived from coconuts.

Coco-Betaine is a surfactant, meaning it helps remove dirt and oil from the skin.

11
What it does: Emollient, Humectant, Skin Conditioning
Community Rating: Liked

Caprylyl Glycol is a humectant and emollient, meaning it attracts and preserves moisture.

It is a common ingredient in many products, especially those designed to hydrate skin. The primary benefits are retaining moisture, skin softening, and promoting a healthy skin barrier.

Though Caprylyl Glycol is an alcohol derived from fatty acids, it is not the kind that can dry out skin.

This ingredient is also used as a preservative to extend the life of products. It has slight antimicrobial properties.

Learn more about Caprylyl Glycol
12
What it does: Skin Conditioning
Community Rating: Loved

Panthenol (also referred to as pro-vitamin B5) is a common ingredient that helps hydrate and soothe the skin.

lt is a humectant, meaning that it helps the skin attract and retain moisture.

Another benefit is the anti-inflammatory abilities. This means that it's great for sensitive, irritation-prone skin.

Once oxidized, panthenol converts to pantothenic acid. Panthothenic acid is found in all living cells.

Learn more about Panthenol
13
What it does: Antioxidant, Masking, Skin Conditioning
Community Rating: Liked

Tocopherol (also known as Vitamin E) is a common antioxidant used to help protect the skin from free-radicals and strengthen the skin barrier. It's also fat soluble - this means our skin is great at absorbing it.

Vitamin E also helps keep your natural skin lipids healthy. Your lipid skin barrier naturally consists of lipids, ceramides, and fatty acids. Vitamin E offers extra protection for your skin’s lipid barrier, keeping your skin healthy and nourished.

Another benefit is a bit of UV protection. Vitamin E helps reduce the damage caused by UVB rays. (It should not replace your sunscreen). Combining it with Vitamin C can decrease sunburned cells and hyperpigmentation after UV exposure.

You might have noticed Vitamin E + C often paired together. This is because it is great at stabilizing Vitamin C. Using the two together helps increase the effectiveness of both ingredients.

There are often claims that Vitamin E can reduce/prevent scarring, but these claims haven't been confirmed by scientific research.

Learn more about Tocopherol
Embed Ingredients

Here's what our community thinks of the 13 ingredients in this product ✨

77% are loved or liked
0% have mixed ratings
23% are disliked or very disliked
0% have no rating yet

When to use

We've created a guide with info on when you should use La Roche-Posay Toleriane Hydrating Gentle Face Cleanser. We've also included some recommended products to use it with, as well as some routine inspiration!

Read our guide on when to use Toleriane Hydrating Gentle Face Cleanser ->
Verified by SkinSort

We're dedicated to providing you with the most up-to-date and science-backed ingredient info out there.

The data we've presented on this page has been verified by a member of the SkinSort Team.

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Top Reviews

View all 28
BrodyTosi's Avatar'
Dec 26, 2023

Ceramides! Pro-B5! Vitamin E! Niacinamide! Glycerin! There is so much good I would suggest looking through each ingredient on SkinSort or another skincare ingredient database if you aren't up to speed on all of the potential benefits the...

Ceramides! Pro-B5! Vitamin E! Niacinamide! Glycerin! There is so much good I would suggest looking through each ingredient on SkinSort or another skincare ingredient database if you aren't up to speed on all of the potential benefits the skin can reap from these ingredients with informed and correct product use. I really can't complain about this cleanser, and I may have some bias towards it only because I've used it without a single issue for twelve months. However, objectively speaking many cleansers tend to pack in subtle ingredients often overlooked for potential to cause irritation (i.e., fragrances, sulfates, alcohols) to the skin's dynamic barrier. Niacinamide in this product may have the potential to cause skin irritation for some users, however, in cleanser form you will be washing off product relatively soon after application so this shouldn't be as relevant of a concern as opposed to a serum or even moisturizer containing niacinamide.

Great Value
Hydrating
No Scent
Works Well
lunarlilies's Avatar'
Nov 22, 2023

decent!
i’d say this is a good choice for those with oily skin, but it was slightly irritating when i first used it, though that pretty much went away later

decent!
i’d say this is a good choice for those with oily skin, but it was slightly irritating when i first used it, though that pretty much went away later

Latest Reviews

View all 28
KyleighWallace_646's Avatar'
Apr 24, 2024

I dont absolutely hate it (ie it doesn’t break me out) but it is too drying (likely the sodium chloride). minus that ingredient it would be a great product. But since It has that, it’s really drying. If you’re not oily skin it will...

I dont absolutely hate it (ie it doesn’t break me out) but it is too drying (likely the sodium chloride). minus that ingredient it would be a great product. But since It has that, it’s really drying. If you’re not oily skin it will probably do more harm than good. I’d recommend the (more expensive unfortunately) Peach Slices gentle cleanser instead

Drying
Irritating
No Scent
lonelydeath's Avatar'
Apr 20, 2024

feels like I am rubbing lube on my face

feels like I am rubbing lube on my face

Heavy
No Scent
Doesn't Work
Read more reviews ->