Let’s Start at the Very Beginning: Skin Cleansers II

Here it is: the post that’s been sitting around since I disappeared in January.

As if I didn’t already have enough to say on skin cleansers…

Korean skincare blogs have been talking about cleanser pH for years. As far as I can tell, this post by Kerry of Skin & Tonics and this post by Cat of Snow White and the Asian Pear seem to have kicked the conversation into high-gear in 2014. A year later, Cat (in the Hat) came back with this post on the science of cleanser pH, accompanied by chemists. The Asian Beauty subReddit has a public Google Doc for people to look up and record the pH of cleansers (with 487 entries as of 6/4/17). However, it’s only very recently that Western skincare blogs are also beginning to address pH; for example, both Caroline Hirons and Christopher “TophCam” Ponds didn’t begin testing for pH until 2017 (and both are sporadic about it, and neither have said much about the importance of pH in cleansers, etc).

Kerry’s post first planted the idea in my head that high pH cleansers were important, and by the time I found Cat’s blog, I was definitely ready to switch to low-pH cleansers. However, I’m interested in more than just Korean foaming cleansers; I want VARIETY in my low-pH cleansers. The acidity of skin is generally reported to be between 4.5 and 5.0; if I’m cutting out cleansers with a pH higher than 5, I want to have the widest possible pool to draw from.

Here’s the most important thing about cleanser pH, though: it’s really not about the pH of the cleanser itself. What’s important is the pH of the cleanser when mixed with your personal water source because you’re going to be mixing both of them on your face as you wipe or wash away the cleanser. My tap water comes in at a whopping 8.5, so cleansers that are 4.0 to 4.5 are definitely ideal.

As an aside: note that I’m only talking about skin cleansers when I talk about cleanser pH. The general consensus is that pH doesn’t matter for oil-based cleansers (and, conversely, that it only matters for water-based cleansers), which I’ve generally classed as makeup removers. I’m refraining from giving an opinion on this until I’ve done more testing, but my tentative thought is that if your oil-based cleanser contains emulsifiers so that it wipes or washes away with water, doesn’t that make it a water-based cleanser and therefore open to pH testing? Food for thought. EDIT 6/15/17: I am not the only person who has raised this question, but it doesn’t seem like anyone else has an answer either.

Here is a list of cleansers compiled from my last cleansers posts (Skin Cleansers I and Let’s Play Catch (Up)). I’ve bolded the cleansers that I pH-tested myself and italicized the cleansers that I got pHs for from the r/AsianBeauty Google Doc:

• Indie Lee Brightening Cleanser: 6.5
• CosRX Low pH Good Morning Cleanser: 5.5
• Lush Angels on Bare Skin
• Pacifica Sea Foam Complete Face Wash
• Garnier Gentle Sulfate-free Facial Cleanser
• Glossier Milky Jelly Cleanser: 4.5
• Pacifica Quinoa Sensitive Super Gentle Face Wash
• Cerave Hydrating Facial Cleanser: 5.5
• Boscia Tsubaki Cleansing Oil-Gel: 5.5
• Pacifica Kale Detox Cleansing Face Wash
• Avène Cleanance Cleansing Gel
• Pixi Glow Mud Cleanser: 6.5

And here are a few extras that I found interesting from the Google Doc:

• Neutrogena Naturals Purifying Cream Cleanser: 4.0. CosDNA looks fine unless you’re super worried about menthol. For the price, though, I’d be willing to buy it and trial it anyways; it’s $7.49 for 5 oz or $1.50/oz.
• Tata Harper Purifying Cleanser: 5.0. There are some citrus fragrances right at the end of the ingredients list that have me raising an eyebrow, but they aren’t high enough for me to throw it out entirely. I’d definitely want to sample it before buying, though. It’s $66 for 4.1 fl oz or $16.10/oz, which, YEESH.
• Biologique Recherche Lait U: 5.0. The CosDNA isn’t worrying, but it’s not scot-free either. The UK website says it costs between £0 and £55, which, okay, that’s entirely unhelpful. If it costs halfway between those two extremes, it’s £27.5 ($35.39 for 8.4 fl oz or $4.21/oz). If it costs £55, it’s $70.77 for 8.4 fl oz or $8.43/oz. Why does this have to be so difficult? I refuse to buy this on the principle that businesses should make product prices clear.

Based on these results (along with some basic googling), I’ve compiled two different lists of cleanser possibilities — those with good ingredients AND a good pH and those with good ingredients BUT no registered pH.

AND cleansers:

• Glossier Milky Jelly Cleanser: 4.5
• Neutrogena Naturals Purifying Cream Cleanser: 4.0
• Tata Harper Purifying Cleanser: 5.0

BUT cleansers:

• Lush Angels on Bare Skin: r/SkincareAddiction has not had good luck getting Lush to release pHs for their products.
• Garnier Gentle Sulfate-free Facial Cleanser: Here is the response Garnier’s customer service gave to someone asking for the pH in this cleanser’s Q&A section:

… That sounds fake but okay.

• Pacifica Sea Foam Complete Face Wash: Although there is some variation in result, people seem to generally agree that the pH is between 5.0 and 6.0.
• Avène Cleanance Cleansing Gel: According to Avène’s Amazon site, the pH is 7.2, although I can’t find that confirmed on their official website.
• Pacifica Quinoa Sensitive Super Gentle Face Wash
• Pacifica Kale Detox Cleansing Face Wash

Here are my final options for cleansers:

• AND cleansers: Glossier Milky Jelly Cleanser, Neutrogena Naturals Purifying Cleanser, Tata Harper Purifying Cleanser (?)
• BUT cleansers: Lush Angels on Bare Skin (?), Garnier Gentle Sulfate-free Facial Cleanser, Pacifica Quinoa Sensitive Super Gentle Face Wash, Pacifica Kale Detox Cleansing Face Wash

Plenty of that googling was mostly speculative, so hit me up if you know the pH for any of these cleansers! It’s especially helpful if you’ve done the pH test yourself, but anything is better than nothing with the way things currently stand.