Hey skincare nerds!! Welcome back to Fikadiaries!
Today we are helping you determine witch CeraVe cleanser is best for your skin. Whether you have dry, oily, combo or sensitive skin we’re going to look beyond all the marketing shenanigans to find out which one is actually going to be the best one for your skin.
Note: I agree sensitive skin can be classified as a skin condition and not a skin type but to keep it simple I am including it as a skin type because that is how the brand classifies it.
In this post I’m going to be talking about and discussing the Foaming Facial Cleanser, the Salicylic Acid Face Wash, the Hydrating Facial Cleanser and the Hydrating Cream-to-Foam Cleanser to help you determine witch CeraVe cleanser is best suited for your skin.
Figuring out your skin type

Figuring out your skin type is the easiest way to choose a cleanser that’s actually going to work for you.
You’ve probably already seen skin types being split up into categories like dry, oily, combo, normal and sensitive skin. If you don’t know your skin type, you can also check our post on how to determine it.
We should note that skin type isn’t necessarily set in stone, there are lots of different factors that might change it (ie. seasonal change, hormonal changes, aging and environmental factors ).
Choosing the perfect cleanser

The Foaming Facial Cleanser
The Foaming Facial Cleanser is amazing for normal to oily skin. It’s also great for combination skin.
It has a gel texture and it lathers and foams up when mixed with water. And even though it’s made for oilier skin types, it doesn’t strip your skin too much (because it’s got that ceramide complex in it as well as that hyaluronic acid). This is important because if you do have oilier skin, you want to make sure that you don’t over cleanse and strip down your skin.
In terms of the formula, not only does it have the ceramide complex and the hyaluronic acid, but also Niacinamide–an ingredient I know a lot of you love! It’s really great for removing makeup and it could work for some sensitive skin types since it’s pretty gentle.

The Salicylic Acid Face Wash
The Salicylic Acid Face Wash has a gel-based formulation like the foaming cleanser which makes it a good choice for normal, oily or combo skin.
Obviously it has salicylic acid. That makes it great if you have comedonal acne (like whiteheads or blackheads) or if you have skin texture concerns like keratosis poiaris. The ingredient is great for improving skin texture and a cleanser format is a pretty gentle way of introducing it into your routine.
Formula-wise, it’s gel-based like the Foaming Facial Cleanser, so it lathers up nicely.
I know that some of you might be concerned that salicylic acid in a cleanser won’t stay on your skin long enough to penetrate. But there have been some studies showing that salicylic acid can be effective in cleansers (I’ll link those below). But if you would rather use a more simple cleanser, then stick to the Foaming Facial Cleanser.
Now on to the hydrating series. We’ve got two types: The og – The Hydrating Facial Cleanser and the Hydrating Cream-to-Foam Cleanser.

The Hydrating Facial Cleanser
This is definitely best if you have dry to normal skin. But I would also recommend this to you if you have sensitive skin, because I think it’s probably the most gentle out of all of the formulas.
Something you should know about this cleanser is the texture of it. It is really, really creamy and when you mix it with water it doesn’t really lather up at all. Which makes it less stripping and perfect for dry skin. But it can be less satisfying if you really like the traditional kind of soapy type of lather.
One thing I want to clarify is that more lather doesn’t mean that you are getting a better wash. This doesn’t have a lather to it but it will definitely clean your face. I also find because it has a creamy texture that it makes it really good for taking makeup off as well. It just melts it right off, even if it’s waterproof. So it is really good if you want to cleanse everything off in one step instead of having to double cleanse.

The Hydrating Cream-to-Foam Cleanser
This is a really interesting product. Not just because it’s a cream to foam hybrid, but also because the formula is pretty good.
Let’s talk about the texture. It starts off really creamy like the Hydrating Facial Cleanser. But when it mixes with water it lathers up and foams up kind of like the foaming cleanser. It’s the best of both worlds.
Formula-wise, they’ve included salicylic acid and a ton of amino acids in here. One downside of that is the longer ingredient list. So if you have extremely sensitive skin I would still point you to the Hydrating Facial Cleanser.
This would be really great if you have combo, normal or dry skin.
You may be wondering if you can use the hydrating cleanser with a vitamin c serum . But don’t worry, you definitely can. The CeraVe hydrating series does not have Niacinamide in it. I know it’s confusing; the gel formulas do while these two don’t.
Now you most likely know which CeraVe cleanser is best suited for your skin and its specific needs. I hope this post was helpful!
See you next week!
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Sources:
- https://secure.jbs.elsevierhealth.com…
- https://www.cerave.com/skin-smarts/sk…
- Woman photo created by wayhomestudio – www.freepik.com
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