my skin was freaking out recently because i was on a product buying spree.. all new cleansers and creams and ect.
i thought about how great my skin used to be when i was younger, and what i was doing differently, and realized i was just using way too much crap on my face. i had forgotten my skin was sensitive.
so i went back to my roots, and started using the Cethaphil cleanser again. ive used a whole bunch, and nothing has really worked as well as the gentle cleanser for me, so im going to stick with it this time. and treat my skin nicely.
this is definatly one the of the gentliest cleansers you can find.

Leaves my skin really soft. It also does a good job at removing makeup if used for a while in a circular motion. This cleanser was recommended by my dermatologist because it's non-comedogenic, meaning it doesn't clog pores, which is good for my acne prone and oily skin. Good for daily use too.

I really adore this cleanser. It was recommended to me way back in high school by a dermatologist. I have very sensitive skin, with periodic acne and continual oiliness. Sometimes the treatments I try for my acne leave my skin crazy, irritated, and breaking out even more. When my skin is out of balance I return to using Cetaphil day and night, and it always brings me back to normal. It is non-alkaline, has no soap or foaming agents, and is super gentle. You don't achieve the kind of squeaky clean you do from more stripping cleansers, but you do get a nice, gentle clean. I massage it into my face, gently rubbing off makeup on face and eyes. Then I remove with a soft cloth soaked in warm water, and finish up with a splash of fresh cool water and a pat dry with a soft towel. It keeps my skin happy. Although sometimes I worry I'm not getting it clean enough, it really does keep breakouts in check, so I assume it is doing its job. And talk about soft, touchable skin! In winter or when dealing with dry skin, I wash with Cetaphil as normal, rinse, pat dry, and rub a dab of cetaphil back into my skin as an emollient before bed. I stray occasionally but always keep this stocked because I know when I'm having a bad skin period using this for a week or two will help to turn it around.

Decent product and not too costly.

If you want the equivilant of a wet-nap...by all means go ahead and purchase this cleanser. it is such a light clenser that it really does nothing to actually clean the skin. Your skin needs something that actually cleans the pores out, not just glosses them over with a little alcohol.

I like this cleanser ok. It does the job pretty well, but I still use my DHC Deep Cleansing Oil first to get all the makeup off and then I follow up with this. Overall, good cleanser, great price.

As some previous reviewers have suggested, this is not good for getting off makeup, but for me, it's a great cleanser to use in the morning or during a mid-day shower. I have very sensitive, acne prone skin that also gets dry very easily and have finally figured out the key is less, not more. I use Proactiv at night (only the benzoyl peroxide lotion, nothing else) and that's enough to keep the pimples under control, but I have to pair it with very gentle products in order to keep my skin for getting out of whack. So, the moral of the story is basically that Cetaphil is great for people like me who can't use a lot of products that dry out or cause flare ups in their skin. Also: I would recommend using a scrub with this- I use Lush's Angels on Bare Skin at night and this in the morning, and sometimes combine the two.

When I first tried this product (over a year ago?), I liked it. It didn't irritate my skin and no residue was left on my face. I could count on it on the days/nights when my skin was feeling sensitive. HOWEVER when my skin became extremely sensitive and irritated b/c I'd used a very nasty line of facial products, I thought I could depend on Cetaphil to soothe my skin. Instead, this product let me down. After washing my face, I had some red patches. I'll never buy this cleanser again.


Ingredients: PURIFIED WATER, CETYL ALCOHOL, PROPYLENE GLYCOL, SODIUM LAURYL SULFATE, STEARYL ALCOHOL, METHYLPARABEN, PROPYLPARABEN, BUTYLPARABEN. continued >>

i actually bought the equaline generic version of this, but it's pretty much the same-- the trick to using this product is to tissue it off-- like people did back in the day with pond's cream. it doesn't work so well when rinsed off with water. i just take a dime-sized amt. of cleanser & rub it all over my face to loosen the debris and makeup- then i take a piece of toilet paper (unused of course!) and wipe everything off. if there's a lot of gunk on the tissue i repeat the process until no gunk shows up on teh tissue. my skin looks refreshed and feels baby soft. also, i had a acne-prone t-zone before i started using this product. now my skin has become more calm- perhaps because the formulation of this product is so mild- it doesn't foam-- and that's a GOOD thing for those who complained below that it doesn't foam. so try this product or its generic varieties using the method described above. continued >>

I can't see that this stuff really does much. I feel like I'd do just as well rinsing my face with water instead of using Cetaphil.