The Choice for Me, Zit Free!
Written: Aug 19 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: smells divine, lovely amber color, NO ZITS!
Cons: can be a little harsh on dry or sensitive skin
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| Admarginate's Full Review: Neutrogena Facial Cleansing Liquid |
It wasn't long after I started earning actual (as in, not baby-sitting) money that I stopped buying cosmetics in the drug store and started taking the much safer and gift strewn department store road. But there are two products sold in drugs stores that I've never even been tempted away from: 1.) L'Oreal's Voluminous mascara, and 2.) Liquid Neutrogena facial cleansing formula.
When I was prepubescent I washed my pre-zit face with it and now that I'm post-pubescent, I'm still pre-zit. I'm 22 and I've had maybe 30 zits worthy of the title my whole life. My skin is soft and feels clean all day. These are good signs. No, they are great signs. They are, in fact, everything I can ask for in a facial cleanser.
Neutrogena doesn't forget that its first job is being soap....unlike nasty cream cleansers. It's slightly bubbly, mild, has a fresh scent, and it washes away completely. I use it to remove make up and it has never required anything but the gentlest rubbing to remove even waterproof eyeliner. Afterwards a moisturizer is only really needed in the winter months.
There are about 40 million facial soaps out there. As far as my experience goes (borrowing from roommates, friends, and relatives) they come four categories: Noxious (Noxzema, phisoderm) Gooey and Oily (Oil of Olay and all "cream cleansers"--yuck.) Sudsy (teen 'novelty' cleansers) and harsh (soap, Noxzema, oxy.) All of these categories are unpleasant in some way, most of them because they aren't very good at cleansing skin.
It's important that a cleanser get your face clean, first of all. If a residue of any kind is left by the soap then it is contributing, not helping, get your skin clean. Soaps that burn or are drying in any way are equally horrible; when your skin is stripped of its natural moisturizer--oil--it simply makes more, often more than is needed, which makes your skin greasy and primed for zits again in less than an hour.
I think that, with a few exceptions at the extremes, the skin type-specific soap argument is largely nonsense. Neutrogena easily manages work for almost everybody. For oily skin, it does the trick at getting rid of excess oil, but it doesn't activate those glands more than normal; for combination skin it is especially great because it can bring both areas of to the same level of clean...making make-up easier to apply.
I have used both the bar and the liquid formula and they are exactly the same soapwise. I think you tend to use more when you pump it out of the bottle then work it from a bar. (Price below reflects the liquid bottle; the last time I bought a bar it was $2.99) However, it's glycerin soap so the bar will dissolve and get mushy and gross if you don't have a high tech soap dish. The bottle is easier, prettier, and stands up nicely all by itself. I buy only 3-4 bottles a year.
If you have tried the Deep Cleaning formula and found it too harsh and drying, I encourage you to try the Original formula, it's tried and tested. Elvis used it!
However, if you have very sensitive skin...or very dry skin, I don't recommend it. My brother is vexed with ultra-sensitive skin and found that it caused him to break out (but then, everything short of plain water causes him to break out.) People with very dry skin (a roommate) complain that their face felt "tight" until they put on moisturizer.... Again, not a good way to go. But outside of the extremes I've met, this soap has never failed to please.
And what it really comes down to is zits. I don't have those.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Admarginate
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Location: Chicago, IL
Reviews written: 32
Trusted by: 9 members
About Me:
I move a lot. End goal: New York City. (Someday. . .)
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