Joan’s Worried About Her Spa Indulgence: I just had a wonderful spa facial using Guinot products and I splurged and bought the cleanser. I know I probably overspent, but I did like the feel & smell of the product, as well as getting a recommendation from an esthetician (as opposed to a salesperson at Macy’s). Can you tell me anything about it?
The Right Brain lets her down easy: 
Well Joan, as we always say, if you like what you bought and you can afford it, then you made a good purchase. But since you asked, here’s what we really think:
Based on the ingredient list you sent us, this Guinot cleanser appears to be a decent, but high-priced, cleanser. The salons we looked at online charged an average of $30 for Guinot cleansers which seems like an incredible amount of money to spend on something you rinse off your face. This product doesn’t appear to give you anything special that’s worth that high price tag. Using the ingredient list you sent us as a guide, let’s take a look at their formula:
Ingredients:
Water, glycerin, sodium lauryl sulfate, hydrogenated vegetable oil,coco-Betaine, disodium lauryl sulfosuccinate, cetearyl alcohol, sodium cocoyl isethionate,zea mays starch,coco-glucoside, PEG-7 glyceryl coconate,stearic acid, glycol distearate, mica, glycine soja oil, PEG-120 methyl glucose dioleate, fragrance, hydrogenated castor oil, linoleic acid, titanium dioxide, triethanolamine, acrylates/C10-30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymer, citric acid, propylene glycol, trisodium EDTA, glycine soja sterols, butylene glycol, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, magnesium chloride, magnesium nitrate, usnea barbata extract, tocopherol, methlchloroisothiazolinone, methlisothiazolinone, red33, red4
Here’s a breakdown of the major ingredients by function:
Solvents/Carrying Agents:
Water, Glycerin
Surfactants/cleansers:
Sodium lauryl sulfate, hydrogenated vegetable oil, coco-Betaine,disodium lauryl sulfosuccinate, sodium cocoyl isethionate, coco-glucoside, PEG-7 glyceryl coconate, PEG-120 methyl glucose dioleate,hydrogenated castor oil
Ingredients that sound good but don’t do anything:
Zea mays, glycine soja sterols, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, usnea barbata extract, tocopherol,
Thickners/opacifiers:
Stearic acid, glycol distearate, acrylates/C10-30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymer
Whitening agents/appearance modifiers:
Mica, titanium dioxide
Control agents/Processing aids:
Triethanolamine (neutralizing) citric acid (pH control) propylene glycol, butylene glycol, magnesium chloride, magnesium nitrate
Preservatives:
Methlchloroisothiazolinone, methlisothiazolinone, trisodium EDTA
Colorants:
Red 33, Red4
Smelly stuff:
Fragrance
Sodium lauryl sulfate is a classic cleanser which is used because it provides decent foam, it’s relatively mild, and it’s very inexpensive. The other detergents are good examples of more mild, upscale cleansing agents. Nothing here that seems to indicate anything special, but certainly more costly than the run of the mill mass market formulas you’ll find in your supermarket or drug store. This doesn’t mean it performs any better, but they are making an attempt to use more upscale ingredients.
Probably just as good, but cheaper:
Everyone has their fave products, but here are some comparable cleansers (based on looking at their ingredients) that you might try if you want to save a few dollars compared to buying a spa bath product:
Neutrogena Fresh Foaming Cleanser
Garnier Detoxifying Cream Cleanser
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Lauri Says:
One of the reasons people leave a spa/salon feeling like the product worked better than what they use at home is this: someone else put it on you better than you put it on yourself. When someone else takes the time to shampoo my hair and massage my scalp, of course my hair looks and feels better than when I hurriedly race in and out of a quick shower in the morning. Someone trained to massage a cleanser/exfoliant on my face is going to do a better (longer) job than me, who is leaning uncomfortably over a sink rather than reclining in a comfy chair. As for the esthetician’s recommendation over the salesclerk, again, realize they are both employees pushing their store’s products. It doesn’t mean it’s better.
At the cosmetology school I attended, we were told to say that our product was vastly superior to any other, but there was no science behind that claim.
Nowhere at this school did we learn what went into the product; the labels were on the boxes which were thrown out when we opened new ones in the dispensary. And then I realized that all schools told their students to say that about whatever product they were sponsored by. Helps to sell the product.