Best Face Wash for Oily Skin
If you’ve been reading some of the posts on this website you would know by now that I’m only recommending natural and/or organic skincare products.
Why? After studying natural skincare and seeing wonderful results in my friends and family I believe this is a route that should be at least tried and tested. After my menopause I couldn’t deal with ‘fake’ smells (still having trouble with some perfumes) and although I’m not really allergic to anything my body seems to have a massive allergic reaction to simply accepting synthetic chemistry (as opposed to natural chemistry which is what plants are really composed of).
A Look at the Products at a Glance
I don’t get tired of researching fabulous natural products as there are truly inspiring brands out there. Sometimes I even take ideas for my products and that’s one of the reasons I love doing the research. Being in-the-know is incredibly important for me when it comes to products, ingredients and brands in the natural skincare world.
These are the products I’m recommending on this post:
Clay Lotus Organic Facial Cleanser. A product I truly love, ugly on the outside, great ingredients on the inside! As I learned in Formulat Botanica: it is the ingredients that make the product. The company uses a traditional method for the saponification process which can take up to 6 weeks. I particularly like the addition of neem oil.
My second chosen product is Tree to Tub Wild Soapberry Facial Cleanser. Another product that uses ancient traditions to extract the seeds from the soapnut and create this beautiful product. There’s a plus when you order this product: you’ll get a wild, sun-dried soapberry!
My final recommended facial cleanser for oily skin is a 70% organic product from a UK brand: Odylique’s Lemon & Tea Tree Face Wash. The UK (and Europe in general) has tight rules when it comes to natural and organic skincare, which makes their products of excellent quality! British natural and organic brands are on top form when it comes to their formulas and quality of their ingredients. I know that in the UK natural skincare is taken very seriously indeed. I love recommending their products in fact.
A Note on Why I Recommend Only Natural Products
Natural products are a great option because many people are scared of the chemicals that go into products – ingredients that can be potentially harmful to your health. Also there’s brand’s ethos regarding sustainability (and the future of the planet), no animal testing and simply feeling more in control of what you put into your body. And, of course, being ‘closer’ to nature by ‘putting it on’!
Even though I now formulate my own products I still use some synthetically created ingredients (i.e. carbomer) but what a far cry from the products I used in the past! The thought of rubbing some cream against my skin that doesn’t smell the way it’s supposed to (my body will ‘alert’ me, I’ve turned into Spiderman!) gives me shivers. It’s the weirdest thing, nobody told me that menopause would do this to my body, but boy, am I glad!
I don’t try many of the products I recommend on this website but I make products that are either very similar to the product I’m recommending or the product I’m recommending is something I would love to come up with myself.
Anyway, enough of me, let’s get on with it!
*A Quick Note About Oily Skin*
Oily skin is not ‘just’ oily. It can be combination skin that’s quite oily, it can be oily with or without acne, with acne comprises whiteheads/blackheads, scarring, etc. Without acne we can find oily and sensitive skin, oily skin with large pores, etc. Very oily skin or not so oily oily skin. Then there is women’s oily skin and men’s oily skin. You get the idea. It is never as simple as just oily skin.
If you don’t know what type of oily skin you’ve got it is worth paying the dermatologist a visit. They’ll be able to assess your skin and let you know which sort of products you should be using.
Below I’ll be recommending products like a good face wash for oily skin that is natural and I believe can help with this type of skin although, I repeat, if in doubt you should consult a dermatologist.
With this out of the way, let’s continue with the recommendations.
The Best Face Wash for Oily Skin
1. Acne-Prone Oily Skin? Try Clay Lotus Organic Facial Cleanser
Clay Lotus Organic Facial Cleanser. I love love love this product. Yes, agree, the packaging is horrendous, who cares?! (They could have made an effort but I get it: you want to look natural Clay Lotus! ; )
I already recommend this cleanser on my A to Z of Essential Oils for Acne-Prone Skin post. I adore this product, I really do. Very simple with very effective natural ingredients. This is a MUST if you have oily skin that’s also acne-prone! Good if you have blackheads as the product will cleanse and lift dirt from the blocked pores as well as fighting the bacteria and helping with the control of sebum production for balance.
Ingredients
Organic Coconut Oil* (Saponified), Demineralized Water, Organic Rice Bran Oil* (Saponified), Virgin Spanish Olive Oil (Saponified), Lemon Juice, Organic Castor Oil* (Saponified), Organic Aloe Vera Juice*, Vegetable Glycerine, Organic Neem Oil* (Saponified), Grapeseed Oil* (Saponified), Organic Dried Orange Peel Extract* (Saponified), Essential Tea Tree Oil*, Essential Holy Basil Oil*, Essential Eucalyptus Oil*, Essential Lavender Oil*, Vitamin E (Sunflower Extract), Essential Chamomile Oil*, Essential Neroli Oil*, Essential Wild Rose Oil*, Turmeric Oil, Clove Oil, Sesame Oil, Lemongrass Oil. (*Certified Organic Ingredients)
The product will lather because the company uses a traditional process (saponification) which turns the oils into soap with the use of alkaline salts (lye). The process takes up to 6 weeks as they don’t use anything to speed up the process.
This is a truly beautiful product and I can’t wait for the company to come out with their moisturizer for acne prone skin as I truly love keeping an eye on brands like this one!
Clay Lotus Organic Facial Cleanser
[amazon box=”B0754Y1J27″]
WATCH OUT: Some people react to aloe vera, make sure you’re ok with this particular ingredient: test patch this product on your forearm first and wait for 24 hours to make sure you’re not allergic to it or any of the essential oils (there are plenty on this particular product and we don’t know the percentages.)
2. Prefer a Gentle Acne Face Wash for Oily Skin? Try Tree to Tub Face Wash
Try Tree to Tub Face Wash. Another brand I’m getting to know about and love. ‘Tree to Tub’ (what a great name) claims their natural face cleanser removes all traces of make-up leaving your skin clean and fresh.
With a pH of 5.5, the product features wild soapberry juice, the saponin-rich nuts that create a lather when the fruit is rubbed or mixed with water (source). The company harvests the soapberries during the fall season without cutting a single tree, the wild (and organic) soapberries are collected, dried for the extraction of the seeds (by hand), the saponin-essence is extracted and blended with the rest of the ingredients (see below). A beautiful process.
Check out how the nut makes a creamy lather just by rubbing it against the skin.
Ingredients
Sapindus mukorossi (wild soapberry) juice, aloe barbadensis leaf (organic aloe vera) juice, decyl glucoside (from coconut), euterpe oleracea (organic açaí) extract, matricaria chamomilla (organic chamomile) extract, caprylyl glycol (from coconut) & dipropylene glycol & glyceryl caprylate (from coconut), butyrospermum parkii (organic shea butter), mentha piperita (peppermint) essential oil.
There’s added decyl glucoside to this product (which will help the creating of lather further) as well as anti-inflammatory chamomile and some shea butter (non comedogenic). Dipropylene glycol in the product could be used here as a solvent and to control viscosity (I’m not sure), glyceryl caprylate is a monoester of glycerin and caprylic acid. Acai extract can help with skin elasticity and it also has anti-ageing properties.
Tree to Tub Wild Soapberry Face Wash
[amazon box=”B01N20N677″]
WATCH OUT: Some people react to aloe vera, make sure you’re ok with this particular ingredient: test patch this product on your forearm first and wait for 24 hours to make sure you’re not allergic to it or the peppermint essential oil (or any of the other ingredients – natural doesn’t mean allergic-free!).
3. For Those Who Like Some Gentle Lactic Acid: Odylique’s Lemon & Tea Tree Face Wash
Odylique’s Lemon & Tea Tree Face Wash. Another fantastic product, this time by UK brand Odylique (meaning ‘Power of Nature’).
Having lived in London for over 26 years I can attest the British are exemplary when it comes to their natural skincare. More and more brands come up, with incredible ethos when it comes to animal testing and planet sustainability, let alone the quality of the ingredients and formulations. A truly inspiring nation when it comes to organic and natural skincare. Check out Neal’s Yard Remedies, my benchmark when it comes to formulating natural cosmetics!
Natural cosmetic regulations are also tougher in Europe than in the USA (a lot tougher!) so I tend to trust these products since I myself know how hard it is to get all the certificates in place. There are courses just for that, since the paperwork can be truly overwhelming.
Anyway, back to this product. A vegan, 70% certified organic cleanser with lactic acid, suitable for combination, acne-prone or oily skin. The packaging is beautiful, I can’t ignore this – UK truly creates beautiful brands! (as well as many other aesthetically pleasing products, the UK is unparalleled when it comes to design I find).
Independently certified organic by the Soil Association, don’t let the fact that this is an UK product deter you. Founded by mother and daughter team Margaret and Abi Weeds, wanting to create products that were suitable for sensitive skin (so many of these brands are created because of sensitive skin!).
This is a family business with fantastic (UK) ethos which I admire and feel very comfortable with. Further, the company makes no medical claims which I find trustworthy.
Ingredients
INCI: Aqua, Coco glucoside, Olea europaea fruit oil*, Sodium olivate*, Glycerine**, Aloe barbadensis leaf juice powder*, Citrus limon peel oil*, Cymbopogon citratus leaf oil*, Melaleuca alternifolia leaf oil*, Lactic acid, Levulinic acid, P-anisic acid, Sodium levulinate, Xanthan gum, citral* & limonene* (in the essential oils)
Plain English: Aloe vera juice*, Gentle cleanser from coconut & corn glucose, Extra virgin olive oil*, Saponified extra virgin olive oil*, Non-palm plant glycerine**, Essential oils of Lemon*, Lemongrass* and Tea Tree*, Plant origin stabilisers*Organically grown & produced ** Organic origin (total 70%)
Lactic acid is a gentle way to help control oiliness and breakouts, the natural surfactant coco glucoside will create the lather while sodium olivate is also used as a natural soap (it is the sodium salt of the fatty acid of olive oil). The vegetable glycerin acts as a humectant (attracting moisture to the skin), the lemon essential oil is slightly antifungal and antibacterial and can be beneficial for treating oily and acne-prone skin and lemongrass essential oil is antiseptic and astringent. We all know tea tree essential oil is a favourite when it comes to acne as it is a great antiseptic and good at treating viral, bacterial and fungal infections. Xantham gum helps with the viscosity and stability of the product, levulinic acid is a corn extract that can help with preservation of the product, same with p-Anisic acid.
Overall a promising product with pretty powerful ingredients.
Odylique’s Lemon & Tea Tree Face Wash with Lactic Acid
[amazon box=”B002OBZ9P4″]
WATCH OUT: I feel this is not a product for children under 7 years old because of some of the ingredients (lemongrass essential oil, for example. Also avoid using on hypersensitive skin. Are you already using other products that contain tea tree oil? Watch out, you don’t want to overdo it with the same essential oil in different products.
Tips on a Natural Face Wash for Oily Skin that’s Worth it!
So you’re looking for ‘the one’, but, as it happens, it might be that you’ll have to try a few til your skin tells you which one it is very happy with!
Also, it is always good to rotate products so our skin doesn’t get used to them. I’m not sure how long until you should start thinking of switching products (please consult your dermatologist) but I tend to change my facial moisturizer (easy since I make them myself) every 2 months or so. I definitely change the essential oils I use, that’s for sure!
For an effective face wash for oily skin you’re looking for a product that feels lovely on your skin and it won’t strip away anything it’s not supposed to, and at the same time free of synthetic chemicals that could end up damaging you more as time goes by. You want gentle and natural ingredients that will clean and balance your skin leaving you feeling fresh and in harmony with your skin, and not worried that you might be using harsh detergents.
The idea is that the production of your skin’s sebum doesn’t get worse and that the skin finds peaceful balance over time. Ideally the production of sebum diminishes and your face won’t feel so oily.
As I mentioned before, you’ll have to try different products and see what works for you best. Someone close to me has quite oily skin and no product is making the skin less oily but she feels she’s treating her skin the right way. At the end of the day it’s not about magically going from oily skin to normal skin, let’s say, but about treating your particular skin with the right products for it.
A Few Last Words
Natural and organic doesn’t mean the face wash will be the best in the market, but it will mean you’d be using products that have been created with nature in mind, rather than harsh chemicals that might end up harming you more in the end.
Natural ingredients can be gentle on the skin but also very effective. I’ve had a niece clear her blackheads with the sole use of hydrosols (witch hazel and tea tree hydrosols, mainly). Nothing else. Within 1 week her forehead almost cleared up. It was amazing (before she was using a drugstore micellar water).
That’s just a little story to let you know that sometimes we simply have to try the simpler things and see if they actually work. Natural doesn’t mean weak! It means the ingredients used fall under a certain category – usually these brands also are concerned about sustainability and their ethos regarding the future of our planet is strong.
I hope these tips help you further when choosing the best face wash for oily skin for you!
