CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser - Formula Change?!

[ShortErica]

Hi all,

I've been a CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser user and fan for a while. Great 2nd step in a double cleanse in my opinion. I buy the bottles at a wholesale club to get a better size/price. Anyway, I noticed when I opened my latest bottle it has a somewhat plastic/clay smell. I feel like I recognize the scent but can't pinpoint it.

So I went searching online and others have complained about a scent too. It appears there was a formulation change. But the ingredients were exactly the same as my last bottle - at least according to the bottles. Is it possible that they switched ingredients and didn't update the packaging?

Online they do have a new ingredient list but like I said, my two bottles matched ingredient-wise. Here's the updated ingredients:

There are no longer parabens. It appears there isn't hyaluronic acid anymore and now it has sodium hyaluronate. Also the order is different, which if I'm reading correctly, looks like less of the good stuff because more ingredients are listed before the ceramides and sodium hyaluronate.

Has anyone else used the updated formula? Do you smell anything? Thanks in advance!

[ShortErica]

I agree @RoxyKitty. With no notice, I don't even trust if what I have is the old formula or is perhaps the new formula in an old container.

[Cyncynn]

@ShortErica 

I do not know, but I though I'd mention that they may have just changed the supplier of a certain component. Sometimes ingredient X from company one (think of the big chem companies) may have a different viscosity, scent and even color.

(My husband is a chemical engineer and used to work in the Cosmetics industry and I heard him discussing this on the phone before and he talked to me about it too. He is out of town, otherwise I'd have him look over the ingredients!)

@greeneyedgirl107 

I find it very sad that companies are feeling pressured to remove perfectly safe parabens from their formulas too. 

[ShortErica]

Oh wow @Cyncynn I replied to @greeneyedgirl107 before seeing your response. I heard a YouTuber talking about the source of ingredients and how that can impact products. Thanks so much for chiming in. And I'd love to hear what your husband thinks of the ingredients and the change if you wouldn't mind asking him when he's back.

[Cyncynn]

@ShortErica  @greeneyedgirl107 

I'll ask him. I've been using one of the Cerave cleansers as well (the foaming one - which it's a gel really), so I am curious.

The change in ingredient supplier can definitely be a way to cut cost, but may also be for shortage of ingredient in the market( the silicone market was very tight last year for example), unexpected supplier plant closures, etc.

I also wonder how those big bulk orders to big retailers like costco impact production too - like do they have to produce at a different facility, are they getting different bottles? Just thinking out loud here.

Feel free to DM me if I forget, I haven't been around BIC as much as I want. ❤️

[ShortErica]

It is all so interesting @Cyncynn. Thanks again for your perspective and I'll be curious about your husband's thoughts.

[greeneyedgirl107]

@Cyncynn Your husband background is so cool!  I'd be asking him questions all the time about beauty!

[Cyncynn]

@greeneyedgirl107 

I always do - sometimes when we are at Sephora he's reading labels and making his assessments "I can't believe they're charging this much for this cheap formula" or "They are using very high end surfactants here".

The highest impact he had in my beauty routine was def. with shampoos.

[eshoe]

I would be interested to know what constitutes high-end surfactants @Cyncynn. Only because my hair tolerates a small window of products. 

[Cyncynn]

@eshoe I recall him referring to 'coco something' as being an expensive ingredient. Not very helpful, I know lol. I'll ask when he is back - feel free to the DM if I forget. I disappear from BIC often these days.

[l8totheparty]

How did he impact your shampoo routine, @Cyncynn ? I'm so curious!

[Cyncynn]

@l8totheparty 

I would just buy whatever had good reviews not caring or knowing the ingredients.

He's usually very relaxed about what he uses, we are not "green/clean beauty people" at all, but I recall him saying he would not use a certain ingredient on an OGX Shampoo/Conditioner I used.  I don't remember the ingredient, but the one I used was in a purple bottle. It's been 5 years since it happened and brands reformulate things all the time of course.

Other than that I have him look at the ingredient list vs price. Some surfactants are a lot cheaper than others. If a brand is charging $50 for a bottle of shampoo and the main surfactant is SLS right at the top of the inkey list I walk away. I do not have a problem with SLS (though I've been avoiding it on toothpaste and my lips are not as dry as before), but if I am paying top dollar for something I want it to have expensive ingredients to help justify the price, if that makes sense.

[Cyncynn]

@greeneyedgirl107 @ShortErica @l8totheparty @eshoe 

I am super late on this, but as promised I spoke with my husband and here are the two types of more expensive surfactants:

sulfosuccinates and sultaines

Most shampoos contain a blend of surfactants.

About the formula he said it is a cheap formula (which doesn't mean it's bad). The cetearyl alcohol is drying, but glycerin (that comes right before it) is a humectant.

He said that removing the parabens (and using a different preservative) shouldn't really impact the scent, texture of it.

It is not uncommon for same ingredients from different suppliers to have different specs, purity, scent (as in what it naturally smells like).

[greeneyedgirl107]

@Cyncynn Thanks so much!  Super helpful!

[ShortErica]

Interesting @Cyncynn. I thought cetearyl alcohol was a fatty one and not drying. Thanks for following up!

[Cyncynn]

@ShortErica thanks for replying!

It is.... apparently my husband didnt understand my Brazilian accent when I said the ingredients to him. I’ve shown how it’s spelled and it’s actually a gentle non drying on lol

[ShortErica]

Oh good @Cyncynn, I'm not the most ingredient savvy but was worried I was wrong. And whatever the case, I want to get the correct info and learn more. Thanks for letting me know.

[greeneyedgirl107]

You might've opened Pandora's Box with letting us know about your husband, @Cyncynn !

[l8totheparty]

It sure does make sense!  That is a great skill for your husband to have. 😊

@Cyncynn 

[greeneyedgirl107]

@ShortErica I have a warning - this sort of thing is a hot button issue for me, so I wrote A LOT!

I find this VERY interesting.  I'd love to hear what others have to say.  This sort of thing concerns.  One, I can't stand it when companies change perfectly good products.  99.9% of the time it isn't for the better.  And two, many of us don't find out until it's too late b/c we either have a good supply on hand so we realize months too late, or we just happen to run out of a product after the "new" formulation has been around for a while - which means that "old" formulations can be difficult (and pricey) to track down.

I find this case especially interesting since the CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser is so popular.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it.  I never understand why a company would change a tried and true product (often to an inferior version) b/c it would follow that they'd lose customers.  I'm sure cost has a lot to do with it, but still!  I do have a theory about CeraVe, though.  It was purchased by L'Oreal in 2017, and I have a real grudge against them b/c they changed my favorite hair product years and years ago to something that was very different.  Ever since then, I have a knee jerk reaction to that company.  I can't say I'm surprised that L'Oreal has done this, because look at how many sub-par CeraVe products have been released recently.  It's like L'Oreal is just trying to flood the shelves instead of focus on making effective products.

As for the ingredient changes, all I can say is that I recall sodium hyaluronate as being a form of HA.  I'm no chemist, so I can't speak to much else beyond that.  I wonder if they changed the formula so that it could be paraben-free as parabens have been demonized.  I'm not educated on the subject of parabens, so I can't speak intelligently on it.  What I will say is that I personally find it sad when ingredients are demonized because sometimes the shift is so great that there winds up being less variety of products (like, some people like silicones or mineral oil or alcohol).  

What tends to anger me most about formula changes is that companies don't really give any warning.  The most you will see is the new product on the shelf with a "new and improved" label (or similar).  Other times, there's little if any indication that a formula has been changed.  Usually the only way I can tell if there isn't a label is that the packaging has changed (though usually it's only slightly as the company want to fool people - IMHO).  What gets me is that there's virtually no way to tell ahead of time.  I really think there needs to be a system whereby brands or retailers or magazines will give consumers a heads-up prior to a formula change.

I had something similar happen to me with Biolage's Hydrasource Conditioning Balm recently.  I buy three at a time, and usually have about 7 in a closet.  I opened up one recently in the shower, and realized it had changed.  (God only knows when this was, since I keep so many on hand.)  The cap was different (not noticeable to me until I opened it) and the lettering on the packaging was just slightly different; so, I wasn't able to tell when I initially bought it.  Of course the texture was definitely different when I finally went to use it.  I immediately compared it to the almost empty bottle I had, and the ingredient list was the same.

But this got me to thinking, since companies are simply listing ingredients from most to least, who's to say that the proportions aren't different?  And what if the product is manufactured differently?  I mean, let's say Drunk Elephant Lala Retro™ Nourishing Whipped Refillable Moisturizer 1.69 oz/ 50 mL wasn't whipped.  The ingredient list would still be the same, but the texture would be different - and hence people might think it performed differently.  (Does this example make sense?)

It's gotten to the point where I hoard product - esp hair products.  But look where that got me anyway!  I even hold onto empty products so I have a reference point.

I'm really thinking that BIC needs a thread titled "Formula Changes" or something similar.  I'd love it if we could give each other a heads-up.  Sure, people knew about Drunk Elephant Lala Retro™ Nourishing Whipped Refillable Moisturizer 1.69 oz/ 50 mL changing their original formula to include ceramides, and the LAURA MERCIER - Tinted Moisturizer Natural Skin Perfector Broad Spectrum SPF 30 change was also widely publicized.  But what about all the other products?!

Thanks for listening!

[ShortErica]

@greeneyedgirl107 thanks for your lengthy reply. I'm on the same page with so much of what you said.

I am guessing the reformulation is a combo of L'oreal buying CeraVe (possibly searching for cheaper iingredients) as well as the demonization of parabens. I think CeraVe PM also has parabens so I'm going to have to look at it. Though I think that was already reformulated shortly after the merger.

I recall hyaluronic acid and sodium hyaluronate being similar but forget what the distinction is. @eshoe posted something recently in the masking thread.

Not only could proportions change but just the source of the ingredient. There's so much we need to be cautious about.

I think that's a great idea for a thread! Hopefully we can help each other out. I'm team "if it ain't broke why fix it" but if companies are "fixing" products, at least a warning would be nice.

[greeneyedgirl107]

@ShortErica That's a good point about the sourcing of ingredients!  I'm glad you are in agreement with my post - I thought, "There have got to be others that feel this way."  All it takes is one product to be changed, and you can be put on edge for the rest of your life!