Skin Care Decoded!

You may want to read this article before choosing the brand of liquid body cleanser that is suitable for your skin.

You see, liquid body cleaners were first introduced back in the 1990s. The production of liquid soaps offers consumers a less damaging alternative to bar soaps with the usage if milder surfactants and better moisturizers. In general, there are 3 types of liquid body cleaners with different properties.

The first liquid body cleanser is the humectant-rich liquid body cleanser. Most liquid body wash falls under this category and contains glycerin as the humectant. However, humectant-rich liquid body cleansers are not beneficial clinically because it contains water soluble ingredients which most of the moisturizing ingredients will get washed away in the rinse before skin is able to absorb it. Beware that even if the name of the product contains “mosturizing”, the only way to tell if you have a humectant-rich liquid body cleanser is by identifying the ingredients. These cleaners typically contain :
1) Water
2) Sodium Lauryl (or Laureth) Sulfate or known as SLS – a harsher surfactant which arguebly causes cancer
3) Glycerin – the main humectant
4) Cocamidopropyl Betaine – another humectant

The second type of liquid body cleansers found in the market are the emollient-rich liquid body cleansers. Emollient-rich liquid body cleaners often contain emollients of sunflower or soybean oil. These liquid body cleaners are better than humectant-rich cleaners because they are milder and more moisturizing. Because the emollient is not water soluble, it stays on skin and moisturizes it. One of the companies that are making emollient-rich body cleansers are Dove® and Olay®. Emollient-rich liquid body cleaners typically contain :
1) Water
2) Glycine Soja (soybean oil) and/or Helianthus Annuus (sunflower) Seed oil – emollients
3) Petroleum – an occlusive
4) Ammonium Lauryl (or Laureth) Sulfate – a milder surfactant

The third type of liquid body cleaners are the low-foaming liquid body cleaners. However, low-foaming liquid body cleansers are often used on face. Although low-foaming liquid body cleaners have little or no damage to the skin, they also do not contain any ingredients which helps replace the moisture lost in the skin while washing. One of the brands of low-foaming liquid body cleaners are made by Cetaphil®. Low-foaming liquid body cleaners usually have no humectants or emollients. The further SLS is down the ingredient list, the lesser its presence in quantities

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