Cleansing Cloths—Yay or nay?

These are not the cloths I’m talking about specifically in this post.

There are several companies that make daily facial cleansing cloths. These are meant to take the place of a liquid cleanser or even bar soap. My question is why? Do these cloths benefit the skin more than using a regular cleanser?

Below I have a review of some of these cleansing cloths I used and wrote about a few years ago. I apologize in advance for not having the exact company names who made them, but as with all products, ingredients are important and something you can (and should) look at before purchasing. Hopefully the information here will help you decide what to buy.

With any an all products I use on my face, first and foremost I test them with pH papers and I highly recommend you do that with any cleansing cloths you decide to try. If they are not acidic (meaning they test to be alkaline)—don’t use them. If they are pH balanced, like the type I experimented with below, they still may not be right for your skin. I leave this older piece as is because you can still glean important information when it comes to deciding what to use or not use on your skin.

On one company’s box of facial cloths I looked at suggests the cloth will “take the place of your normal cleansing routine, including bar soap, make-up remover, face wash, cleansing milk and toner.” Although forgoing both cleansing and toning by using this product would never fly with me, I wanted to try these facial cloths to see if they could be used as a substitute for cleansing with a milk cleanser or wash.

Initially I liked this product. Before using one of the cloths, I tested it with my pH papers, and it turned out to be acidic, which was a positive. Then, as instructed, I wet the cloth, rubbed it to make it lather, then used it to cleanse my face. One side of the cloth is smooth while the other side has a slight texture, enabling it to exfoliate. I liked this feature because it was not abrasive, yet I could tell I was getting some exfoliation benefits. I removed the residue by splash-rinsing instead of just using the cloth as instructed. Splash-rinsing ensures getting all the product off; using only the cloth may still leave a residue. I used my spray toner and moisturized.

While I was looking up the ingredients, I noticed my skin was beginning to feel taut and dry. I used my usual toner and moisturizer so I knew it was the cloth that was causing this result. The first two out of three ingredients are foaming agents, then a little further down on the list is a bad alcohol—benzyl alcohol, which is derived from pure alcohol. Just these ingredients alone could be what was causing my skin to feel dried out. Witch hazel is also listed and can be a drying ingredient.

By the time I had investigated all the ingredients, my skin felt dried out enough for me not to recommend these cloths for regular use. However, I think they can make a great addition to your workout bag or even something to take along with you camping. Because they come as dry cloths, you can stick them in your cosmetic bag (or even a sealed plastic bag) and take them with you rather than lug around your bottle of cleanser. I wouldn’t use facial cloths as your daily cleanser, but for unusual circumstances when you may not have access to a regular cleanser, I think they will come in handy.

As I mentioned, there are many companies making cleansing cloths—too many for me to try and talk about specifically here. You may find one (or more) that don’t cause the drying of your skin. Even so, I don’t recommend using these cloths daily or even that frequently, but instead recommend using regular milky cleansers to clean your skin. However as substitutes occasionally and in “emergency” situations I think these cloths are actually handy.

For more information, see:

• Alcohol in Products: The good and the bad
• Proper pH & your skin care products
• “Cleaning” your face with water (only)—really?!