Washing one's face with beauty soap

[Aorta]

I clean my face without any tensides at all, using alternately Lush's "Angels on Bare Skin" and Dr. Hauschka's "Cleansing Cream". It was one of the best decisions I made concerning skincare.

Before that I used cleansers with organic ingredients, based on mild tensides made of coconut or sugar. But even those were too drying for my skin and it produced more and more oil (and therefore impurities) to compensate. It was like a vicious circle.

Concerning the use of soap, I'd say: Go for it! Look for a hand-crafted soap with lots of cold-pressed vegetable oils, maybe from your local Whole Foods Market. I'd look for one that has a certain amount of oil which is not saponified (maybe an oil surplus of about 10%).

Oh, and to answer your question: I guess, soap has got such a bad name as a facial cleanser today, because many soaps are fabricated in mass production and contain cheap oils. Plus, the positive effect of pH-balanced products is overrated and good ol' soap has been stigmatized as something old-fashioned and unhandy.

 

[olive bleu]

i have been using cold cream all winter, but as i have skin with a split personality, cold cream makes me break out in summer... and i always use camay( the pink stuff.I love it. it smells divine and makes my skin very soft.

 

[glamour-girl]

i'v been using clinique's soap bar for years, especially at summer to keep pores from clogging

 

[Foofoogal]

I have very nice facial skin. Alot of it due to genes but I have never used soap on my face unless of course I got real dirty. Then and only then Dove bar soap.
Every night I make a very hot wet wash cloth and just wash with that. No rubbing hard or anything.
My sister use to use all kinds of scrubs and such when we were teens and always had tons of breakouts. I kept telling her to leave her face alone.
I think it is like douches and totally not necessary. Not even a wrinkle yet anyway.
About 2 times a year maybe I will get a cotton ball and eek. rubbing alcohol and run it around on my t-zone mainly.

 

[MissMissy]

I like to use Kiss My Face's Olive Oil soap bar. Just pure soap, no fragrance or detergents or sulphates. I always tone afterwards with a mild natural toner with a little tea tree in it to help prevent an occasional blemish (toning is a must, it returns your skins ph level to normal after cleansing). Then I moisturize with a great aloe based facial lotion that includes rosehip and hibiscus.

Missy

 

[lillielil]

I use two things to wash my face: cold cream and ShaynaBella soap. I don't know why soap is "bad". I think maybe because most commercial soaps are actually detergents instead of real soap - it's a whole different beast.

(In the interest of full disclosure, that's my mom's brand - I've been a loyal customer since well before she started actually selling it.)

 

[Foofoogal]

fftopic: Aorta and lillielil. Welcome, you are both lovely.

 

[lillielil]

fftopic: Aorta and lillielil. Welcome, you are both lovely.

Thank you! I've been lurking for a while, but am trying to stop being so shy. The warm welcome certainly helps.

 

[PS]

I recommend and have used the Dove Beauty Bar. It was very helpful when I started having to deal with adult acne. I read about it on some adult acne care boards and asked a derm about it. It was great for me. I do not use it all the time now as I prefer a creamier cleanser but when I see or feel a breakout I head right back to my beauty bar and facial brush.

 

[artful dodgette]

i also love dove soap too, its great.i also use a soap called 'hollywood' from afro carribean shops.

 

[jayem]

LUX! LUX! LUX!

I use nothing but! The old school Lux in the blue packaging is the good stuff. The only downer is here, in the States, you can only find it online... and in bulk. Needless to say, I won't run out of soap for the next 20 years!
I have combination skin, with a very bad t-zone. I tried Pro-Activ, AcneFree, and numerous other systems, and they didn't work. I switched to Lux, and my skin has been so much smoother and clearer. Make sure to use a gentle toner like rose water or witch hazel afterwards, though. I actually use both... and florida water on my body (I tend to break out on my chest around my time of the month).

 

[Miss 1929]

I have always used Dr. Bronner's Lavender soap, it is a liquid, all vegetable Castile soap. Very inexpensive and nice, The lavender fights redness.
But these days (the past 2 months), only soap int he morning, and just the cold cream at night, and I think it has reversed what facial lines I had! I was at an outdoor party the other day, and in bright sunlight, someone said I had no lines at all - and I got carded while buying champagne that day too, so I was pretty happy! I am 48! I don't think I have been carded in 20 years.

 

[PabloElFlamenco]

Hi; if you don't mind me sticking my head beyond the doorpost into the ladies' powder room, I wash my face (and use it as shampoo on my head!) with the antique Syrian soap called "pain d'Alep", in English "Aleppo soap", made from 80% olive oil, 10% oil of the laurel berry and 10% sodium hydroxide (from seasalt). This soap is made in Aleppo, Syria, exactly the same as it was a thousand years (or more) ago and is excellent for its cleansing qualities as well as being dermatologically neutral. It doesn't smell "perfumy" in the modern sense (and I've read some don't like the smell), but I've become "addicted" as it were to the particular "drugstore soapy" odor it has. Rather expensive to buy but one bar goes a long way.
Paul

 

[Aorta]

fftopic: Aorta and lillielil. Welcome, you are both lovely.

Thank you, Foofoogal! It cost me quite an effort to write more often because I'm not a native speaker. But since everbody is so nice around here, I thought I should take a more active part in the Lounge. There are so many things to learn from each other.

 

[Miss Cicero]

I've heard nothing but good things about MSM soap.

I'm currently using the Clinique 3-step system but plan to switch to this soap (followed by a witch hazel toner and rose hip oil to moisturise) when my current supply runs out. Much as the 3-step system works for my skin, I do worry about all those harsh chemicals (although I think the soap is the probably the gentlest element of the system)

 

[Ada Veen]

Amazingly, ALL soap - Dove, Organic Glycerine Soaps, Even 100% Olive Oil soaps leave my skin feeling uncomfortably dry. I can't understand it. I use olive oil soap or suma grapefruit (which smells amazing) on my body, but soap does not touch my precious, slightly pathetic face skin shakeshead

 

[Darhling]

I've heard nothing but good things about MSM soap.

I'm currently using the Clinique 3-step system but plan to switch to this soap (followed by a witch hazel toner and rose hip oil to moisturise) when my current supply runs out. Much as the 3-step system works for my skin, I do worry about all those harsh chemicals (although I think the soap is the probably the gentlest element of the system)

I have heard some bad things about Cliniques toner.. even though I have used the one for sensitive skin and loved it! Apparently the harshest one, #4 can remove nailpolish!

 

[live vintageous]

I'm so glad this thread was started! I use soap on my body but not on my face.

However, I've been toying with the idea of going back to a bar of soap. I've been using Pond's for a couple of months. It's very soothing, but I have had some small breakouts from it that take forever to heal and lots of stubborn blackheads too. It's been good, but alas, not a miracle product for me - unless I'm suffering from an occasional rash or hives. I've found soap to be drying in the past, but maybe using it after CC is the thing to try. (Sadly, I've had several broken capillaries crop up since I started removing my CC with warm washcloth It's terrible. I really don't know how to get rid of them and once I get one, it's difficult to fade and heal. Perhaps using soap to remove it would resolve the issue.)

In my internet skincare searches I stumbled across Simone France, who is big into using a layer of cold cream-type lotion and than washing it off with soap. I don't know if I could spend that much on her system, but it might be easy to replicate with similar products.

I think I'll try a cake and see how it goes. I like all of your recs. I'll have to do some shopping (what a horrible thought) and see what I can find.

My mother has the most gorgeous skin. She uses no soap, cleanser, or toner. Just a rinse with water, an occasional scrub with a warm washcloth, and tops it off with a bit of moisturizer. Maddening, isn't it?

 

[live vintageous]

I recommend and have used the Dove Beauty Bar. It was very helpful when I started having to deal with adult acne. I read about it on some adult acne care boards and asked a derm about it. It was great for me. I do not use it all the time now as I prefer a creamier cleanser but when I see or feel a breakout I head right back to my beauty bar and facial brush.

I've read this on many boards too. But what is a facial brush? I've never heard of it.

 

[sixsexsix]

(Sadly, I've had several broken capillaries crop up since I started removing my CC with warm washcloth It's terrible. I really don't know how to get rid of them and once I get one, it's difficult to fade and heal. Perhaps using soap to remove it would resolve the issue.)

I had a broken capillary under my my eye for YEARS, and one day when I was at the dermatologist he just whipped out this little machine and zapped it and it was gone the next day. I don't know what the machine was called, but I definately recommend speaking to your dermatologist about it if it really bothers you.