3 Things About Your Face Wash I Wish I Knew Sooner
The label says "gentle." The fifth ingredient says otherwise.
"Gentle." "Clean." "Dermatologist-tested." The front of a face wash is marketing. The back is the actual product. Three things worth knowing before your next bottle:
1. "Fragrance" is a loophole
On an ingredient list, the single word fragrance (or parfum) can legally hide dozens of undisclosed chemicals — it's protected as a trade secret. It's also one of the most common triggers of skin irritation. A product can say "for sensitive skin" on the front and still list fragrance on the back.
2. If it foams like crazy, that's usually sulfates
That satisfying lather is often sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate. It's excellent at cutting grease — a little too excellent. On your face it can strip the skin barrier, which leaves skin dry and, ironically, oilier as it overcompensates. That squeaky-clean feeling isn't clean; it's stripped.
3. Ingredient order is the whole story
Ingredients are listed by quantity, high to low. So a "vitamin C brightening" wash that lists vitamin C dead last contains a trace — enough to print on the label, not enough to do anything. The hero ingredient belongs in the first five, not the last two.
The 10-second check
Turn the bottle over. Scan the first five ingredients, and look for the word fragrance. That tells you more than the entire front of the package.
Ask kiiwii
- What ingredients should I look for?
- Are sulfates always bad?
- Recommend a gentle face wash
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