A good cleanser is the foundation of a good skincare routine. It’s essential to be able to effectively clean away dead skin, excess oil, dirt, and makeup at the end of the day, creating the perfect canvas for any skincare products that follow.
But a good cleanser is not just about how effectively it cleans your skin. In fact, too much cleansing can actually strip away the essential parts of what makes your skin healthy, like your acid mantle, microbiome, skin barrier, and even your sebum.
That’s why finding a cleanser that strikes that perfect balance of clean but not stripping is important. We’ve put this article together to help you decide which one (or both!) of our cleansers is right for your skin.
Why We Have Two Cleansers
When it comes to cleansers, we love that the two we offer are totally unique to one another, yet are both gentle and pair well together for double cleansing.
Aloe Milk is our creamy, moisturizing cleanser that helps melt away excess oil and impurities from the skin while soothing and hydrating skin. It’s formulated for very sensitive skin and feels soft on your face.
On the flip side, Face Foam is a foaming cleanser that contains mild exfoliants to help break up congestion, smooth textured skin, and cleanse off the day’s build up on your face.
Both are made for people with sensitive skin, but Aloe Milk is better for those with dry, depleted skin who need a moisturizing boost even at the cleanser step, while Face Foam helps with skin that is acne-prone, textured, and congested.
Here’s a chart that breaks down more of the benefits, differences, ingredients, and results for each cleanser.
More About Aloe Milk
Because Aloe Milk has a cream-like consistency and features plant oils like apricot kernel oil, jojoba seed oil, and both grapefruit and orange peel oil, it is fantastic for melting away oil-based impurities in the skin and pores, removing makeup, and helping to regulate your skin’s oil production.
It’s also formulated to be soothing and hydrating due to the maple sap water and aloe vera in the formula, making it fantastic for dry skin or skin that is rough, inflamed, or oily/breaking out because of a damaged skin barrier. It’s so gentle and contains so many anti-inflammatory ingredients that it won’t strip skin.
Aloe Milk also includes niacinamide to help with skin redness, and oil from apricots, grapefruits, and oranges all help brighten dull skin. With consistent use, Aloe Milk will give you a smooth, even skin tone over time.
Diane E, a longtime fan of Aloe Milk, breaks down what makes this cleanser so special:
“By far this is the best cleanser I’ve ever used and I’ve been using it for over 10 years. Its richness allows for moisture to be retained even though cleansing is happening. Very effective as a makeup remover which is brilliant. Lovely fresh scent as well. I have dehydrated skin so the aloe milk is perfect and not heavy nor does it leave any residue. It’s perfect and compliments my moisturizer and foundation beautifully. Thanks Graydon.”
More About Face Foam
Foaming cleansers have a bad rep for being drying or too harsh on the skin. Luckily, Face Foam still leaves skin feeling refined, fresh, and clean without stripping the skin. That’s especially important considering Face Foam is well-loved for its ability to smooth skin texture, clarify congestion and pores, and help with acne.
The star ingredient of Face Foam is the natural BHA derived from willow bark. What makes this ingredient so exciting is that it’s a mild chemical exfoliant that is suitable for sensitive skin! If you’ve got reactive or sensitive skin but feel like all the products targeted towards you are too harsh–especially when you’re dealing with unwanted skin texture–this cleanser is for you.
On top of the natural BHA in Face Foam, this cleanser also has azelaic acid which is known for its ability to brighten, boost cell turnover, reduce inflammation, and unclog pores. Bamboo extract, with its high natural levels of silica, helps to smooth the look of lines and wrinkles. Both these ingredients offer very mild exfoliation as well.
Best of all, Face Foam works on a variety of skin types, even dry skin. Reviewers also frequently share that they love the light-as-air texture of Face Foam, as well as the fact that it’s completely fragrance free and doesn’t sting the eyes when you use it. A plus if you want to use Face Foam on your eye makeup!
Here’s what Tanya R. shared about her experience with Face Foam:
"I LOVE the Face Foam. It’s so light and cleanses so well. Doesn’t sting the eyes which so many cleansers do. And you hardly need any to do a great job. Just a little bit to cleanse the day off!"
Use Both Cleansers Together
Double Cleanse
If you haven’t heard of double cleansing, it’s a popular skincare technique where you use two cleansers on your face. The key to double cleansing is to use one cleanser that is an oil, balm, or cream cleanser and one that is water-based, like a foaming cleanser.
The reason behind this is that the first cleanser (which you would use Aloe Milk for) helps remove oil-based products like makeup or sunscreen from the face first. By following up with a water-based formula (like Face Foam), you’re also making sure any further sweat, dirt, and dead skin cells are cleansed away.
Double cleansing is recommended for those who get a lot of build up on their faces throughout the day, whether that be from pollution, dirt, makeup, sunscreen, or more. And since you can select whatever cleansers suit you best, going with Aloe Milk and Face Foam as your cleansers for a double cleanse means it will also still be suitable for those with dry and/or easily irritated skin.
Mix Them Together
For the ultimate, creamy-foamy face cleansing experience, blend both cleansers together! It’s a great way to maximize your time in front of the mirror and get the unique benefits of both cleansers.
Lisa C. shared: “I like blending a squirt of the Aloe Milk with the foaming cleanser. My skin is greatly improved."
We’ve put together Aloe Milk, Face Foam, and our charcoal bamboo sponge (which adds a luxurious touch and some gentle exfoliation to your routine) in the Triple Cleanse Bundle. If you can’t decide which cleanser you want, or you think both will suit your skin, this bundle is our recommendation 🩵
