kcentv.com - KCEN HD - Waco, Temple, and KilleenCheap Facial Cleansers Don't Have To Irritate Your Skin

(NBC TODAY)- You can save a lot on beauty products if you know how to decipher the ingredient list but for most people that's about as easy as reading ancient Greek. Luckily the Beauty Brains are here to simply cosmetic science and teach you to look for ingredients that really make a difference. Today, we'll show you how to save money on facial cleansers.

Not all cleansing ingredients are the same

For the most part, cleansers have a pretty easy job. All they really have to do is remove skin oil, dirt, and makeup residue. Even a cheap bar of soap will do a good job of that. But, if you have dry or sensitive skin you may find yourself spending spend more on products that are specially formulated to be milder.

Unfortunately, not all ingredients are created equal when it comes to mildness and it's hard for the average person to tell which ones work better than others. For example, lye soap (still used in many soap bars) and lauryl sulfates (common in shampoo and body washes) are such good cleansers that they can strip skin of naturals oils. Worse, these cleansers can bind with the protein of your skin and increase the chance of irritation.

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Yet, you can find such ingredients in many expensive facial cleansers. Sebamed Liquid Face and Body Wash ($2.32/ounce) is positioned as a clinically proven mild cleanser and is based on sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium C14-16 olefin sulfonate. Both these ingredients are strong cleansers which many people may find too harsh. One of the most popular cleansers on the market, Clinique Liquid Facial Soap ($2.82/ounce), is an upscale department store brand based on similar ingredients: sodium laureth sulfate and lauramidopropyl betaine which are commonly used to make shampoo.

How to spot a mild ingredient

If you're interested in milder cleansing here's what you need to know: Research has shown that one ingredient in particular cleans skin well AND rinses away cleanly. That ingredient is called Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, or SCI for short. Products formulated with a high percentage of SCI should provide milder cleansing than products formulated with other cleansers. Just look for Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate as the second or third ingredient (water should be the first.)

Should you expect to pay more for SCI based products? Not necessarily. For example, Murad's Renewing Cleanser has SCI as the second ingredient and it's priced at $2.93/ounce. (That's Amazon.com pricing.) This is only slightly more than the sulfate based products we discussed. Knowing which cleansing ingredients really are milder will help you narrow your search and avoid waiting money on over-priced products.

Note: Without testing there's no way to know for sure how your skin will react to any given product. Even if the cleanser chemistry is milder you still may react to fragrance (typically one of the most irritating components of any formula) or other ingredients in the product.