The first step in your skin care routine is a no-brainer: cleansing. After all, it's only logical that you should remove all the dirt and impurities sitting on your skin after a long day. But with so many different face cleansers on the market, which one should you pick? Well, the answer depends on you — and your skin. Yes, all cleansers are designed to remove dirt and grime, but more stringent formulas may also strip off moisture and other natural oils that skin needs. Choose a formula that's too rich for your oily or sensitive skin and you could wind up with unwanted breakouts.
With that in mind, it's important to know your skin type before delving into the wide array of cleansers out there — because your skin needs cleaning, not experimentation. Is your skin more on the dry side? Do you have a super oily T-zone? Or perhaps a combination of both? Before you buy a random bottle off the shelf, read on to learn the right cleansers for your skin type.
When you have dry skin, you want your cleanser to remove makeup and dirt without stripping moisture from your face, which is what makes cream cleansers so great. This cream cleanser from Kora Organics has no synthetic fragrances or chemicals — in fact, it even has a Clean seal from Sephora. And did we mention brand founder Miranda Kerr uses it herself?
We love foam cleansers, but they're not always the best for drier skin types. Lathering it on your face may feel satisfying, but you can risk drying out your already parched skin. This foaming cleanser may have suds, but it's also made without sulfates (aka the main culprit in stripping off natural oils off our face). Instead, it uses an amino acid formula to gently cleanse while still creating that satisfying foam that we like.
When you have dry skin, you also have to be careful of over-washing your face. This cleansing oil serves as both makeup remover and cleanser, so you only have to wash your face once. Its main ingredient, camellia oil, is known in Japan for its nourishing properties, such as oleic acid and vitamins A, B, D and E.
When you have an oily T-zone and deal with dry patches on the rest of your face, it can be a struggle to find a cleanser that won't aggravate the dry parts yet still cleans that excess oil and sebum. This foaming cleanser is designed to address both oiliness and dryness in your skin. And get this: it's formulated with tourmaline, a crystal that is known for its anti-aging properties and helps bring balance to the skin.
