Introduction
I bought 30 facewashes from India, that you could buy in any mom & pop store or pharmacy. The brands I purchased include NIVEA, Neutrogena and so on. It was my intention to use these face washes on my skin BUT three things prevented me from doing so:
- the face washes contain ingredients that I deliberately stay away from because of their ability to cause skin irritation
- the pH level of some of the face washes that I had shortlisted was too alkaline. Repeated and continuous use of such face washes would cause serious damage to skin (both the protein and lipid structure)
- I repurposed a few facewashes as shower gels and this was a mistake because they caused my skin to completely dry out. Imagine what would happen to my face.
After undertaking this heart-breaking exercise my main conclusion was (1) cheap facewashes (under INR 500) contain harsh surfactants (cleansing agents) and repeated use will only cause damage to skin barrier (2) based on my actual use (experience) and research, there are only two facewashes that I would use. These are as follows:
Kama Ayurveda Rose & Jasmine Face cleanser (INR 850 for 100ml).
Delicate Facial Cleanser Kashmiri Saffron & Neem (INR 1,250 for 200ml)
In today’s blog I explain the importance to your skin of using a MILD face wash.
1) You need to use the right face wash at least once a day
It is important to use a face wash/cleanser every day because water only removes water-soluble gunk on your face, but cleansers remove sebum, pollutants and make-up. Even if you are not using any make-up, excessive sebum that accumulates on your skin can clog your pores. Cleansers are essential to a normal functioning skin barrier.
BUT you need to use face cleansers with mild surfactants. A surfactant is a chemical compound that is responsible for the cleaning action of your cleanser.
this is what washing looks like…
…what happens when you use the wrong face wash….
Surfactants damage both the lipids in the skin as well as protein. The surfactant micelles have an affinity for oil and therefore it can take away not only excess sebum but also lipids in the lipid matrix. Stronly alkaline surfactants can denature protein, thereby making the SC more permeable and surfactants can go through the layers of the skin.
Buying a good facewash prevents the skin barrier from becoming impaired. You should invest in a good facewash is because you avoid these signs of an impaired barrier…
1) After wash tightness…
Cleansing will cause hyper-hyrdation immediately after washing followed by rapid evaporation of water to lower equilibrium levels of water in the skin, leading to after wash tightness. The skin proteins have a reduced ability to bind and hold water and so the skin is drier after washing. Also, there is a reduction in the Natural Moisturing Factors and the skin’s viscoelasticity, manifesting as AWT.
2) Skin dryness, scaling and roughness
In addition, lipids are damaged causing cholesterol and fatty acids to be removed from SC – even after one wash. This causes dry skin and the SC is more vulnerable to chapping/cracking and therefore barrier breakdown. With barrier breakdown comes TEWL (transepidermal water loss)..
3) Skin irritation, redness and itching.
These are all inflammatory responses to surfactants, and the thing is the surfactant does not even need to go deep into the skin.
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