Mild Cleanser Basics

Why Cleanse the Skin?

Skin cleansing is necessary for skin health, hygiene and well being. Without effective cleansing, your skin’s surface can accumulate debris, sweat, air pollution, excess oil and bacteria. Cleaning the skin also helps to reduce the growth of microorganisms and reduce infection.

Washing with water alone will rinse some of the dirt and debris away, alone it’s not quite enough. Plain tap water will only remove about 65 percent of the oil and dirt on your skin, and will not effectively remove makeup. Skin cleansers, however, work as emulsifiers and help remove dirt, excess sebum (natural skin oils), bacteria, cosmetics and exfoliated surface skin cells.

Cleansers are especially important for those who use cosmetics, have sensitive or irritated skin, or use topical skin treatments.

Where Dirt and Debris Collect

When we cleanse our skin, we’re targeting the outermost layer of the skin called the epidermis. This outermost layer of the epidermis is composed of a tough protein-fat structure that produces a protective outer film, the skin moisture barrier. Part of the function of the epidermis is to waterproof the skin. While this film shields skin cells from the environment, it also traps and holds dust, pollutants, smoke, bacteria, cell debris, sweat and cosmetics.

Washing the embedded dirt off of your skin also removes some of this outer protective film and can irritate your skin, although mild cleansers have been developed to restore and maintain this protective covering.

Cleansing History

Today many people use the term “soap” to refer to any cleaning agent regardless of its chemistry.

Traditionally soap is a simple combination of fats, oils and salt with a history stretching back to the ancient Romans. In fact, the word “detergent” is derived from “to wipe off” in Latin.

Soaps as we know them were first used about 600 BC by the Phoenicians who combined goat fat, water and potassium carbonate ash to form a solid soap. More recently, in 1878, Harley Procter developed a new type of soap in collaboration with his cousin, James Gamble. They whipped air into a solution and created Ivory Soap, a product still sold today.

Cleanser Ingredients

Skin cleansers are formulated for a wide variety of needs and take many forms, from basic bar soaps to foaming liquid cleansers and antibacterial washes.

Surfactants (surface-acting agents) are the major ingredients in most cleansers, making up 30 to 70 per cent of the product. New synthetic cleansers with silicone surfactants are less irritating to the skin.

Most cleansers contain a combination of some of these ingredients:

• Water
• Surfactants (to emulsify dirt and debris)
• Moisturizers (to hydrate and maintain the skin barrier)
• Binders (to stabilize the cleanser’s ingredients)
• Lathering agents
• Fillers (used to harden bar soaps and cleansers)
• Preservatives (to prevent growth of microorganisms)
• Fragrance (usually to mask the odour of surfactants)
• Dyes or pigments