Helping my friend choose a facial cleanser

Disappointed with her current facial cleanser, my friend had asked an advice from me as to what kind of facial cleanser she’ll use. She added that she wants to try that product she saw on tv with somewhat bewitching ads but the price’s just pretty expensive. Albeit I am satisfied with the product I’m using, I didn’t recommend it on her straight away.

Helping her to make a fine choice for a facial cleanser, I shared with her some stuff I’ve learned from my previous job in a cosmetics firm and some articles from the magazines and internet.

“A person with dry skin is going to benefit from a facial cleanser that is lipid free. These cleansers allow you to cleanse your skin without removing the oil from it. Those who have oily skin will want to use a deep cleanser to draw out and wash away excess oils and impurities. If you have combination skin, determine if your skin is more prone to be oily or dry. Whichever type covers more of your face, choose a combination cleanser designed for combination-to-oily skin or combination-to-dry skin. Another important thing to remember when choosing a facial cleanser is any type of skin conditions you may have.No matter what type of skin you have, make sure you do not cleanse too much. Once in the morning and once in the evening is plenty. If you clean your skin to much, you will end up drying it out."

Experts say the following about choosing a cleanser:

*Avoid heavily fragranced products, since the ingredients used to perfume a product can cause skin irritation.
*Cleansers that produce a lot of lather are no more effective than those that don't. Furthermore, ingredients included to produce lather can sometimes be irritants.
*No matter what an advertiser promises, a skin cleanser will not prevent or reverse signs of aging.
*Standard detergent ingredients are common in skin cleansers, and generally will not harm the skin. However, two such ingredients -- sodium lauryl sulfate and TEA-lauryl sulfate -- are especially strong and potentially irritating. You should avoid skin care products that list these in the first part of the ingredients list.
*"All natural" plant ingredients are not necessarily effective, or even healthy. Some, such as mint or menthol, can actually irritate the skin. Don't assume that "natural" ingredients are necessarily good, or that synthetic ones are bad.
*Inexpensive facial cleansers generally work just as well as higher-priced products, and in some cases even better. Costly skin care products often contain the same ingredients as budget cleansers, but are priced higher because of packaging or marketing hype.