Neutrogena Clean and Refreshing
Written: Apr 01 '01 (Updated Apr 01 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Gently cleans your skin. pH close to neutral.
Cons: Weak lather, bit more expensive than regular glycerin soap.
The Bottom Line: Neutrogena is a good gentle skin cleanser for most types of dry and sensitive skin.
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| soothsayer's Full Review: Neutrogena Facial Cleansing Liquid |
There has always been something strange about glycerin soap. Golden brown and transparent, you can read through it. The way it smelled, and the way it turned to mush if you left it sitting in water. Glycerin soaps are gentle enough on dry and sensitive skin, but they are generally a bit more expensive, Neutrogena being the most expensive.
So how is glycerin soap made? The most basic soap is made by mixing a strong alkali like lye or potash, with fat, either animal or vegetable. During the process, some glycerin is produced as a by-product, and it can be left in the soap, or removed. Most manufacturers remove it (milled soap) because glycerin can be used in more expensive products. To make transparent glycerin soap, like Neutrogena, Pears, or Droytes, glycerin is added in with alcohol at the end of the soap making process before being dried and formed into little bars.
The benefit of using glycerin soap is that it does not strip your skin too much of its natural emollients, the glycerin helping to moisturize your skin. Among the downside of glycerin soap, is that it does not lather well. Also, glycerin soap is still soap; there are some people allergic to the stuff. Soap also has a high pH in contrast to skin, which is slightly acidic, or lower in pH.
To address these issues, one had to create a less allergenic soap. Neutrogena and Dove were the first to do so, replacing the “soap” in soap with a synthetic detergent. They choose cocamidopropyl betaine as the detergent of choice because it is neutral in pH and gentle enough on the skin.
No soap is ever non-allergenic, and these products do not claim to be, instead they are hypo-allergenic for a variety of reasons not just legal. There is always something in soap that will act as an irritant for some people, be it may the dyes, fragrances, detergents, lathering agents, etc.
Product-wise, Neutrogena liquid soap is handy because you just squeeze the handle, and you get a squirt of soap. There is no need to spend the extra seconds it takes to lather up a bar of soap. This clear packaging lets you see how much soap you have remaining, and the locking handle, makes it a good bet for travel use. The plastic packaging is shatterproof. Neutrogena cleans without clogging pores. The soap has a clinical smell to it, which may be odd to some, but at least it is not too strong a scent.
Ingredients:
purified water, glycerin, sodium oleate, sodium cocoate, sodium trideceth sulfate, disodium cocamphodipropionate, sodium cocoamphodiacetate, lauramide dea, cocamidopropyl betaine, triethanolamine, bht, trisodium hedta, methylparaben, propylparaben, citric acid, fd&c blue #1, d&c red #33, , fd&c yellow #5
Recommended:
Yes
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