Pros / Cons of Foaming Cleansers

[nanananadia]

I recently read somewhere that foaming cleansers are actually bad for your skin. This really surprised me, especially since foaming cleansers are so common.

Could it be true that foaming cleansers are bad for you? 

Are there important differences between foaming and non-foaming cleansers?

What are the pros / cons of using a foaming cleanser? 

[SashaB17]

Personally I do not buy foaming cleansers. With face cleansers I stick to natural products. You should look into LUSH, and try their face cleansers. Try out samples of Ocean Salt and Dark Angels.

[greeneyedgirl107]

@nanananadia I've been wanting to look into this for quite some time.  I think it can depend on which foaming cleanser you use; there seem to be good and bad ones just like many products out there.  I use Neutrogena Fresh Foaming Wash and it really helped my skin.  It got 5 stars from beautypedia.  If you are wondering about particular cleanser, I would suggest browsing that site.  Good luck!

[ngiamp]

You should try the cucumber facial cleanser from kiehl's! The texture is amazing and on my sensitive skin it's a literal miracle. ALSO the regular ultra facial cleanser is amazing too!

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nanananadia wrote:

I recently read somewhere that foaming cleansers are actually bad for your skin. This really surprised me, especially since foaming cleansers are so common.

Could it be true that foaming cleansers are bad for you? 

Are there important differences between foaming and non-foaming cleansers?

What are the pros / cons of using a foaming cleanser? 

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[ChristineR07]

I have rosacea (so very picky skin) that is dehydrated from the topical medication but naturally oily (and let me tell you how fun of a combination THAT is).  

I use a foaming cleanser for my first cleanse.  I feel that it does the best job of doing a first cleanse.  However, for my second cleanse I use a cream cleanser because that does a good job of bringing moisture back to my skin.  If I use a foaming cleanser only (like when I'm on vacation and only have space in the suitcase for one cleanser) and don't put toner and moisturizer on my skin almost immediately after drying my skin I can just feel it getting overly dry.

I've tried using other combinations and just don't feel like it does as good of a job.  So I will keep using what I am until it doesn't work anymore (which is a fairly regular occurrence with rosacea anyway).

[illylovee]

I have dry/sensitive skin and I use foaming cleansers; never had any problems with them!!

[ngiamp]

Same here! 

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illylovee wrote:

I have dry/sensitive skin and I use foaming cleansers; never had any problems with them!!

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[Alyssadestefano]

I'll give a bit of background and then explain the reasoning on the product link right after!

My skin is a mix of: allergy prone, acne prone, eczema prone, sensitive, dehydrated, and sooo dry! I have to be super careful with what I put on my face so my skincare routine is a bit more on the natural side, or at least very very limited in terms of bad chemicals, since it makes me break out and/or break out in eczema.

SO, now that you know where I'm coming from, my biggest issue with foaming cleansers is the typical main ingredient: sodium lauryl sulfate. The reason why this is "bad" for your skin can be looked up on google if you are interested so you can make your own opinion on how you view it (basically it's the "most trusted foaming agent in the industry", it's in everything like shampoo, shower gel, etc) but I'll tell you why it wrecked havoc on my skin type. This particular ingredient is what makes the cleanser foam, but because my skin doesn't produce enough oils to begin with (yay dryness) when I was using a typical foaming cleanser I would end up having patches of eczema almost all over! The only foaming cleanser I found (in the last few months actually) was the Consonant natural foaming face wash. It *gently* removes makeup (I still use makeup remover or a wipe before washing my face) but it's so gentle that I don't feel like my skin is parched afterwards! It's not red, irritated, nothing! I do find that this Consonant cleanser cleans deeper than my morning cleanse (which is the Ren cleansing milk, very different by comparison). So maybe others prefer foaming cleansers due to their deeper clean feeling?

I can't really speak about other foaming cleansers since this is the only one that worked for my skin type, but hopefully I gave you a bit of insight on why they can be viewed as "good" or "bad". I think it just depends on what you're looking for in a cleanser! 

https://www.sephora.com/product/natural-foaming-face-wash-P404436?skuId=1787324&icid2=products%20gri...

[nanananadia]

@Alyssadestefano thanks so much! I really appreciate your thoughtful response. I'd heard about sodium lauryl sulfate but I didn't realize it was a main ingredient for most foaming cleansers! 

[StephyLyn123]

I have very sensitive super finicky skin and I find foaming cleansers are more gentle and don't clog my pores 😀

[CareerGirl]

Well I just finished using a foam cleanser 😛! I find the foam cleansers are a bit more gentle on my skin. I don't find they remove my makeup as well, so I always tone after to make sure my skin is fully cleansed. I've never heard anything about them being bad per se.