I’ve Been Double Cleansing (and Loving the Results)

Routine became known in the west. Double cleansing involves using two different cleansers, and while it sounds simple enough, there is a bit of a caveat – not just any two cleansers will do the trick.

To do double cleansing the right way, you need to start with an oil (this can be a pure oil, an oil-based liquid cleanser, or a cleansing balm), and then follow it up with a water-soluble cleanser.

While there are several variations of double cleansing, the true-to-roots way is to use your hands to gently massage the oil into your skin, and then wipe most of it off with a clean cotton round. Following this, you use your water-based cleanser to finish the job before you move on to the next step of your skincare routine.

Some methods involve using an oil-based liquid cleanser, rinsing it away and then following it up with a water-based cleanser, which is also perfectly acceptable.

While some people prefer to use pure oils (like olive or jojoba), they can be thick, heavy, and difficult to remove from the skin, even with a second cleanser. Oil-based cleansers contain emulsifiers in them that enable them to mix with water and rinse away easily, a characteristic that pure oils lack. If you’re using pure oils, just be sure to remove residue thoroughly.

Washing with regular cleansers, or cleansers that aren’t pH-balanced is one of the easiest ways to throw off your skin’s pH levels. Cleansing, by definition, leaves the skin completely stripped. The concept behind double cleansing is that instead of one stripping cleanser, you use two gentler cleansers that do different jobs so that you don’t damage or alter the skin’s vital acid mantle. This reinforces your skin’s health and natural defenses, enabling it to heal better, and fight infection and free radical damage.

Another reason that double cleansing works so well is that oil is much more efficient than water at removing the heavy gunk from our faces. Things like makeup and sunscreen can be especially hard to remove from our skin, and when we aren’t adequately removing these things at the end of every day, they can clog our pores and cause more breakouts. In effect, the first oil-cleansing step isn’t really intended to cleanse your skin, it’s just meant to get the crap off your face so that your second cleanser can cleanse your skin. And then once the layer of heavy makeup and sunscreen (and any other moisturizer or product you applied that morning) has been removed, a pH-balanced water-based cleanser can pick up and rinse away any leftovers with their surfactant properties – without causing any damage!

This makes double cleansing ideal for literally every skin type – but especially oily, acne-prone and sensitive skin.

I started double cleansing when I began using the COSRX Low pH Good Morning Gel Cleanser, which recommends this method for makeup and sunscreen removal. I was sure that I would hate the added second step of cleansing. After all, I’m lazy, and half the time I can’t even convince myself to wash my face once, let alone twice. But after the first few days, which I forced myself to labor through, I found that my skin actually felt better!

It turned out to be a quick, effective and non-irritating way to remove my sunscreen and makeup, even better than the MakeupEraser I’ve been religiously using for the past several years. Not only that, but it was especially useful in getting me through the winter using benzoyl peroxide, which has been very drying for my skin. My sensitive skin has been remarkably receptive to both the oil and the pH-balanced cleanser I’ve been using. This is the first time I’ve had a cleansing step I was actually fully happy with.

Double cleansing has quickly become my favorite step in my routine – there’s something so therapeutic and refreshing about using a rich, soothing oil all over the skin – and then the second gentle cleansing step ensures I’m not left with a greasy mess to clog my pores!

You might be thinking that double cleansing just sounds like pointless tedium or overkill and that any cleanser will do the job well enough. For the most part, you’re right. Most cleansers are up to the job of removing makeup and sunscreen. However, most cleansers are stripping and aren’t the proper pH for your skin, and there are still a lot of people who would enjoy and benefit from double cleansing.