Salicylic Acid Face Wash

Salicylic acid is a beta hydroxy acid, and the useful thing about it is that it is oil soluble. It can get into a pore that is already full of sebum and loosen the dead skin holding it shut, which water and a normal surfactant cannot do. It is the best evidenced ingredient in this formula by some distance, and it is the same acid that does the work in a large share of the over the counter acne products sold in the United States, where the usual range is 0.5 to 2 per cent. The honest limit is contact time. A wash is on your face for under a minute and then goes down the drain, so it does less than a leave-on treatment at the same strength, and it earns its place by keeping pores clear week after week rather than by clearing a breakout tonight.

Ceramides are one of the three lipid classes that make up the skin's own barrier, alongside cholesterol and free fatty acids. Formulas containing them have reasonable evidence for supporting hydration and barrier function, mostly from trials in dry and eczema-prone skin using other people's formulations, and the reviews of that literature still ask for larger double-blind studies. It is fair to say they support the skin's moisture barrier, and anything stronger than that overstates what has actually been shown. Vitamin B5, as panthenol, is a humectant with modest evidence for soothing washed skin and slowing water loss from it. Neither ingredient does anything for your hair. Both are in here so that an acid wash used every day does not leave your face tight and flaking by the end of the first week.

The gentle wash in this range is the Face Cleanser, which suits skin that alcohol-based topicals have already dried out. This one is aimed at the opposite complaint. If your forehead is shining by mid afternoon, if you get closed bumps in a band along the hairline, or if you use a scalp oil such as Rosemary Hair Oil and notice spots appearing exactly where it settles on the pillow, an oil-soluble acid is the sensible answer. Follow it with the Zinc Oil Control Cream if oiliness is the main complaint, or the Ceramide Barrier Cream if a topical treatment has left you dry in some places and greasy in others, which is common.

Once a day, in the evening. Twice a day is more than most skin needs, and the morning is better handled with water or a gentle wash.

1. Wet your face with lukewarm water. Hot water strips skin that is already under treatment.
2. Take one pump, or two if you are washing the neck and jaw as well, and work it into a light lather in your hands.
3. Massage it over the oily areas for a slow thirty seconds, so the acid has some contact time. Take it up to the hairline and across the temples, since that is where scalp products end up.
4. Rinse thoroughly with lukewarm water and pat dry rather than rubbing.
5. Apply your moisturiser while the skin is still slightly damp, within a minute or two.

Order matters. Wash before you apply anything to your scalp, never in the hours after. Washing an hour after a minoxidil dose throws that dose away. The other common mistake is stacking exfoliants, so if you are already using the Walnut Scrub Cleanser or the Retinol Night Cream, put them on different nights until you know how your skin takes this.

Skin feels cleaner and less oily from the first wash, which is the surfactant doing its job and tells you nothing about the acid. The change worth measuring is in blemishes, blackheads and the texture of the forehead, and that takes four to eight weeks of daily use to judge fairly. A fortnight of slight tightness or flaking at the start is normal while your skin adjusts, and it usually settles. The job of this wash is the skin around a treated scalp, kept in good enough condition that you stay on the treatment. Your hair will neither improve nor worsen for using it.

For external use only. Avoid the eye area, and rinse with water if it gets in. If your skin is sensitive or already irritated, patch test on the jawline for a few days before using it on the whole face.

Sun exposure. This product contains a beta hydroxy acid. Skin that is being exfoliated daily can react more to sunlight, so use a sunscreen and limit sun exposure while you are using it and for a week afterwards.

Do not use on broken, sunburnt or inflamed skin, and do not use it on a scalp that is red or irritated from a topical treatment. Avoid it if you are allergic to aspirin or other salicylates. Speak to a doctor before combining it with a prescription retinoid, and keep it off any area you are treating with the tretinoin in the Minoxidil Signature Spray. Stop using it if you develop persistent stinging, redness or a rash.

This is a cosmetic wash, sold for the look and feel of oily, blemish-prone skin, and it is not a medicine for acne. If your breakouts are severe, painful, cystic or leaving scars, see a GP or a dermatologist.