Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser

I love the packaging. It has a pump that shuts and opens. I love that it doesn’t cause acne. It’s pretty safe when it comes to PH as well. Not too drying. I have been using it for years. I use as directed on the back of the bottle. I do not wet my face first. I apply it, rub, then rinse off. I tried using it without water and I became itchy after awhile. I like this for body and face and use the same method. What I don’t like about this is that it can be drying, but I have not found anything else that is less drying. I continue to use it!

Wow! Never used a product and seen so immediate results! I have dry skin and cleansers usually make my skin red. Before I started using this cleanser I simply accepted that on my dry skin all cleansers would do this. But not this one hell to the no. Over the few weeks of using this have I seen my facial redness reduce drastically, I don't even have to use color corrector anymore.
Over all brilliant product tho you may have to use slightly more product to remove all your makeup since it is so gentle, but for me that is a price worth paying.
Definitely recommend!

Back in the days before I knew what SLS or parabens were, Cetaphil cleanser came highly recommended to me from a close friend who swore it helped reduce their skins oil production. It seemed plausible that my skin was actually dehydrated and therefore oil production was in over drive. Perhaps a really mild, non-foaming cleanser such as Cetaphil could help keep my skin hydrated and therefore less oily? Wrong! Turns out dehydration was not the cause of my super-oily skin and I know that from having used this and from years of investing in hydrating oil-free products: serums, sheet masks, moisturizers, you name it. I've come to realize there can be different reasons for excessive oil production and in my case luckily over the years it lessened. I do also recall this making my skin feel unclean, as though there was an oily film still on it. Thankfully I didn't experience any of the breakouts and redness others experienced - even though my skin is quite prone to acting up like that!

For those who may be dehydrated-oily, this may be worth a shot. Just keep in mind it does contain SLS and parabens and there are so many better (and milder) cleansers out there you could try instead.


Selena x



~ My HG list ~

(I've sampled many 100s of skin, hair and m/u products over the last decade and a half, as I love constantly trying out new stuff - usually sample sizes via e-bay, also plenty courtesy of a friend who works at Sephora. Thought it might be useful to share my top 10 must-have products, subject to change if and when I come across something more effective)


1. Hair Loss Treatment: ‘Divine Herbal’ - Hair Oil
2. Lip Balm: Jack Black - Intense Therapy
3. Pigmentation + Anti-Ageing Treatment: ‘Divine Herbal’ - Facial Treatment Serum
4. Cleanser: 'Paula's Choice' - Skin Balancing Cleanser
5. Concealer: ‘Mac’ - Studio Finish Concealer
6. Lash Growth Serum: ‘Divine Herbal’ - Divinelash
7. Foundation/SPF: ‘Juice Beauty’ - Stem Cellular Repair (warm glow)
8. Face Scrub: ‘Sisley' - Botanical Gentle Buffing Cream
9. Moisturizer: ‘Antipodes' - Rejoice Light Day Cream
10. Hand Cream: 'Origins' - Make A Difference Rejuvenating Hand Treatment

I hate this so much it broke me out and made my face so sensitive!! Full of bad ingredients doesn’t even clean

This was literally the only face cleanser I could use during puberty. Everything else made my poor crazy sensitive, acne prone skin break out, flake, burn, etc. My skin has calmed down a bit since then, but this is still a go to for me. It is extremely gentle and my skin isn't unbearably tight post wash. (Note: I still use a moisturizer afterwards.) I wouldn't use it to remove makeup as it's a little too gentle. Definitely supplement it with an actual makeup remover or oil cleanser if you painted your face that day. For everyday use, however, I like it a lot.

One of my family members confused it with CeraVe when shopping. For me it did nothing extraordinary but I didn’t hated it also.

Too mild, did nothing but made my face oily. My acne didn't go away by using this cleanser, I don't understand how it helped a lot of people with their acne. I hate the texture of this cleanser, it just doesn't clean my skin, and it's too overpriced for something that does absolutely no changes to your skin! This would only work for those with very dry and acne free skin i guess.

For the life of me I do not understand why this is such a popular adored cleanser!? This cleanser contains the big bad wolf ingredient that all the natural and organic freaks like to point out all the time, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate! How contradictory are some people?

I am not a fan of it's gloppy texture, this is what one could call a lipid free cleanser although it contains one surfactant, SLS. It really is only suitable for a morning cleanse as it doesnt not foam at all and has no real cleansing ability, it can't even remove a full face of make up. Those who wear light makeup might like it but I just dont see what the issue is with this cleanser. Along with other overpriced Cetaphil products I don't see the big deal about this collection. For those who are truly sensitive and are looking for something more substantial in terms of both cleansing power and moisturisation, look no further than CeraVe. Much better formulas, decently priced and well tolerated. Both companies GALDERMA owns Cetaphil... CeraVe as of last year was purchased by L'Oreal Paris who also own Maybelline, Garnier, Lancome, YSL BEAUTY, Giorgio Armani, NYX, Skinceuticals, La Roche Posay, and so on.

Due to L'Oreal Paris's ethics and the unprofessional business tactics I won't be purchasing anything from their sub brand or anything associated with them, even Nestle. I encourage people to join me in boycotting both NESTLE and L'OREAL PARIS until they come to their senses and come clear on some sort of transparency with their selling tactics in China to animal testing.

Your are not worth it, all you are to these big buys is $$$$$$$$$!

An absolute fail for me. It's too harsh and drying for my normal skin. It burns like hell, makes my skin red and blotchy. Definitely not gentle for my skin.

I have normal/oily acne prone skin that is prone to dehydration and my skin overproduce oil when it is dehydrated. My skin also is very reactive to cleansers and this one gives me horrible acne and cystic acne. I am thankful it works for so many but it doesn’t work at all for me. I dont wear make up and this still feel very hard to rinse clean.