Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Cosmetic Industry Can a lotion cleanse?

  • Can a lotion cleanse?

    Posted by gld010 on April 2, 2018 at 3:09 pm

    I was in CVS looking for a new face wash and I saw Dove “dry skin relief”. I have seborrheic dermatitis on my face so I have dry skin around my nose, part of my cheeks, and the eyebrow area pretty much constantly if I don’t do anything about it so my interest was piqued. I looked at the IL and… it’s a lotion?

    Check the IL here: https://www.dove.com/us/en/skin-care/face-wash/dermaseries-gentle-cleansing-face-wash.html

    Like, I’m sure this will moisturize my face with regular use and therefore keep my dry skin at bay but does it actually cleanse? Can lotions do that? I’m really skeptical. 

    Edited:  For the curious, here’s the LOI
    Water (Aqua), Petrolatum, Stearic Acid, Mineral Oil, Glycol Stearate, PEG-8 Dilaurate, Triethanolamine, Phenoxyethanol, Glyceryl Stearate, Caprylyl Glycol, Cetyl Alcohol, Carbomer, Magnesium Aluminum Silicate, Disodium EDTA, Dimethicone, Stearamide AMP, Polysorbate 20, Silk Amino Acids, Ascorbic Acid, Panthenol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Biotin, Niacinamide, Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891).

    gld010 replied 6 years, 8 months ago 4 Members · 6 Replies
  • 6 Replies
  • belassi

    Member
    April 2, 2018 at 4:02 pm

    With all that petrolatum and mineral oil in it, to me it resembles a product from the 1950’s.

  • Bill_Toge

    Member
    April 2, 2018 at 6:21 pm

    given that it contains triethanolamine and stearic acid, and TEA is listed above phenoxyethanol (typically around 1%), I’m willing to bet it contains a significant amount of TEA stearate, which is a kind of soap; therefore, it could potentially have a cleansing action

    surprised it doesn’t contain any isethionates though, those are the backbone of all the Dove products I’ve come across to date

  • gld010

    Member
    April 2, 2018 at 9:06 pm

    I see a helpful ghost has edited my post with the LOI! Thank you ghost, when I tried to copy and paste the LOI it pasted in some weird formatting I wasn’t sure how to fix.

  • OldPerry

    Member
    April 2, 2018 at 9:40 pm

    @gld010 - The ghost was me :D  I thought it would be helpful for others commenting.  When pasting if you hold <command><shift>V it posts without formatting. Or if you’re on a windows machine <ctrl><shift>V 

  • OldPerry

    Member
    April 2, 2018 at 9:44 pm

    In answer to your question, the petrolatum and mineral oil can work as “oil cleansers.” The idea is that they will absorb any oils on your face then the TEA / Stearic Acid will help rinse everything away.

    It is certainly not a typical face wash.

  • gld010

    Member
    April 2, 2018 at 11:05 pm

    Thanks everyone for your responses! Maybe I’ll give it a shot, it’s not too expensive and my poor flaky face could use some nourishment.

Log in to reply.

Chemists Corner