Find the Right Face Wash for Your Skin

There’s a reason this unassuming bottle has become such a standby. The French pharmacy brand’s creamy, fragrance-free cleanser is gentle enough for sensitive skin but still leaves your face feeling properly clean. Niacinamide, ceramides and glycerin help maintain moisture and support the skin barrier, making it particularly good for normal-to-dry skin. It doesn’t produce much lather, but that’s part of its appeal. Testers consistently praised the lack of that tight, stripped feeling after rinsing.

Dry skin often feels even drier after washing. But this cleanser starts as a rich cream before working into a soft, silky lather, with hyaluronic acid and Pentavitin helping skin hold onto moisture. The result is clean skin that still feels supple rather than squeaky. The subtle minty, herbaceous scent makes the whole thing feel a little more luxurious, too.

When your face is already angry, the last thing it needs is an aggressive cleanser. Tower 28’s SOS wash was formulated specifically with sensitive, reactive skin in mind. The fragrance-free, low-foaming gel uses aloe vera, oat extract and mineral-rich electrolytes to cleanse while helping calm irritation and redness. It’s also dermatologist- and ophthalmologist-tested and gentle enough to use around the eyes.

Part cleanser, part exfoliator, Dermalogica’s cult favorite starts as a rice-based powder that transforms into a creamy paste when mixed with water. Papain, salicylic acid and rice bran tackle dead skin and clogged pores, while colloidal oatmeal and allantoin help keep the process from feeling overly aggressive. The payoff is almost immediate: smoother, softer skin with a little extra brightness. Okay, technically this isn’t a face wash, but we used it as a cleanser and found it worked surprisingly well.

If you’ve gone a little too hard on the retinol, acids or exfoliation, reach for this cleanser. Jaxon Lane builds its gel wash around centella asiatica (known in skincare circles as cica), along with ceramides, hyaluronic acid, chamomile, green tea and other soothing ingredients. The idea is to get rid of sweat, oil and buildup without further messing with an already stressed skin barrier.

Breakouts call for something with a little more firepower. Geologie puts 2% salicylic acid (the maximum commonly used concentration in over-the-counter acne washes) to work dissolving excess oil and buildup inside pores while gently exfoliating the surface. That makes it particularly useful for oily skin, blackheads and guys prone to recurring blemishes. There’s a bergamot-and-juniper version, but we like that an unscented option is available, too.