Have you tried everything to clear up those annoying, embarrassing, and sometimes painful pimples and still continue to break out? You may have acne prone skin, and you’re not alone.
Acne is the most common skin condition affecting people in the United States. There are as many remedies for acne breakouts as there are types of breakouts, but one tried and true product delivers consistent results to prevent the acne breakouts from happening: Cetaphil.
What is Cetaphil?
Cetaphil was invented by a pharmacist in 1947. It is a gentle cleanser designed not only to treat acne but to stop it from forming in the first place. The cleansers work by removing excess oil, dirt, and other environmental toxins from the skin so they do not clog pores. And what is acne but a clogged pore?
Cetaphil, this simple drugstore cleanser, has been awarded beauty industry awards. It has also received countless name-checks from celebs and dermatologist recommendations. Amanda Holden, Charlize Theron, and Olivia Wilde swear buy it, so what is it?
Dermatologists often recommend Cetaphil skin care products because it is effective, affordable, and widely available. Cetaphil is a preventive measure. That means Cetaphil can help your next outbreak from occurring.
Dr. Jaggi Rao, a double board-certified dermatologist, says, “Cetaphil offers a range of dependable, affordable, safe, and effective products for daily skin care. Cetaphil products are unadorned with ingredients that only make sense. If it’s in Cetaphil, it’s because it works.”
Types of Cetaphil Products
There are several different types of Cetaphil products for different types of skin.
Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser is formulated for all skin types. It is the best Cetaphil product if your skin tends to be dry. The formulation of Cetaphil is so gentle that it is safe and effective for everyday use. This is a non-foaming and soap-free formulation, so it will not leave the skin without its protective layer.
If your skin tends to be a little on the oily side, then Cetaphil’s Daily Skin Cleanser will be the best Cetaphil product for you. This formulation has a little foaming action which helps to remove surface oils, dirt, make-up, and other environmental toxins we are all exposed to through our daily lives.
The Cetaphil Daily Cleanser will dig a little deeper than the Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser to clean out pores, but again, this formulation will not take away your skin’s natural protection. This Cetaphil formulation will provide your skin with hydration and cleansing, leaving your skin feeling refreshed.
For those of us who have combination skin, fear not, there is a Cetaphil formulation for us too! Cetaphil Gentle Foaming Cleanser has the foaming action to remove dirt and environmental toxins and deliver the deep clean oily patches of skin need to stay acne free.
Tiffany Libby, MD, a dermatologist says, “I love how well-tolerated it is by my patients, who are often undergoing other topical treatments for their skin.”
How Cetaphil Works
The reason Cetaphil helps with preventing acne is in an ingredient called a surfactant. And in acne-fighting Cetaphil’s case, this is sodium lauryl sulfate.
Matthew Meckfessel, who works on the research team at Galderma, the company behind Cetaphil, says, “In order for a cleanser to be effective, it needs to use compounds that can bind dirt and oil, as well as water, so that when you rinse away that cleanser, it’s actually going to rinse away the oil with it. Otherwise you are just kind of splashing water on your face.”
While Cetaphil has a clean creamy look and fresh smell, the list of ingredients may raise some eye-brows in the natural skincare universe.
Cetaphil contains water, cetyl alcohol, propylene glycol, sodium lauryl sulfate, stearyl alcohol, methylparaben, propylparaben, and butylparaben. However, EWG’s Skin Deep, the Environmental Working Group’s cosmetic database tracking chemicals in everyday products, rates Cetaphil a “four” on its ten point scale where “One” is best or EWG verified and “Ten” is worst.
Dr. Rao also points out that Cetaphil has used the same formulation for years so you don’t have to worry about breaking out into red spots and green bruises because some new ingredient was put into the formula to satisfy the goal of some marketing campaign.
Matthew Meckfessel says, “Less is more. You don’t necessarily need 8,000 ingredients to have a benefit. To have the bare minimum in itself is a benefit-especially for those patients who have sensitive skin.”
Final Thoughts
No matter what type of acne you have, the use of Cetaphil can help.
You may have hormonal acne or whiteheads or cystic acne which can be painful to touch. These can be rooted deep in the skin. Dr. Lara Devgan, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon and Chief Medical Officer at RealSelf, says cystic acne occurs when, “sebaceous material clogs the pores and causes a bumpy texture, inflammation, and infection under the skin.”
Cystic acne is blamed on lifestyle, genetics, and diet. Dr. Devgan says that proper preventative care and treatments can help with these acne breakouts. Cetaphil is a preferred over the counter preventative treatment. The ingredients in Cetaphil help keep the acne under control and de-clog the pores while normalizing skin cell turnover. Cetaphil, the gentle cleanser, won’t strip skin of its natural oils. It is non-irritating, non-comedogenic, and fragrance-free.
But you don’t have to take my word that Cetaphil is an effective, affordable acne treatment. Available at your local pharmacy and gentle enough for all skin types, try it for yourself!
