Kalisa’s Question…What can you tell me about Neutrogena Deep Clean Invigorating Cleanser/Mask? Specifically, is there any additional benefit to my skin of using it as mask (leaving it on for three minutes) as opposed to merely washing my face with it?

The Right Brain’s Answer:
To our surprise, Neutrogena does indeed recommend that this cleanser can be left on and used as a mask. We quote:

This revolutionary formula works as a daily cleanser or 3-minute mask. It foams instantly to dissolve dirt, oil and makeup. Skin tingles as the cooling lather deep cleans to leave skin feeling energized and shine-free for hours. For more intensive cleansing, use it as a mask. As it dries, you’ll feel it working deep within the skin’s surface to absorb shine-causing oil and pore-clogging impurities.

Why do we find this surprising? Let’s look at the ingredients, ignoring preservatives, fragrance, etc., and just focusing on the functional ingredients:

Ingredients that clean your skin:
Methyl Gluceth 20, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Lauryl Glucoside, Disodium Lauroamphodiacetate, PEG-80 Sorbitan Laurate, Dimethicone PEG-8 Meadowfoamate, Polyquaternium-7

Ingredients that form a film on your skin and feel like a mask:
Polyethylene, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Synthetic Wax

Based on the presence of the mask type ingredients, this does look different than a typical cleanser – it appears to be designed to have a mask like feel to it. But how good of a mask is this? Typical masks contain clay or some kind of film forming polymer that really tighten the skin as it dries. Becaus this formula is different and because it contains so many cleansing ingredientes that will tend to soften the film so we doubt formula one would give you that strong tightening effect. Based on looking at the formula, our guess is this product would be a really good cleanser but it wouldn’t be a great mask.

But our real concern is about leaving this much surfactant on your face for so long. Surfactants, even relatively mild ones like this formula uses, can irritate skin. This product also contains menthol which is a known irritant.

The Beauty Brain’s bottom line:

Based on looking at the ingredients, we think that the risk of drying out your skin would outweigh any potential benefits. That’s our opinion without doing any testing so take it with the proverbial grain of salt. If anyone has tried this, let us know.

Lux Likes This Question… I wanted to know about glycolic treatments and peels available in drugstores and beauty counters. What do these treatments do? Are these treatments effective or are you better off going to a Dr’s office for a facial peel with a higher acid content? If the treatments the public can buy are effective, what ingredients and/or percent concentration should I look for?

The Right Brain responds:
Glycolic peels performed by a dermatologist can be pretty potent. One study shows they’re equally as effective as microdermabrasion. Ouch! These high power Derm peels use a glycolic acid concentration of 20% while over the counter like Peter Roth only use about 10%. So yes, there is a difference. You might be satisfied with the drug store brand, but if not, see your doctor.

What do YOU think of facial peels? Leave a comment and share your brainy-ness with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.

Cee Cee says…I usually wash my face with the cheaper drug store brands but my friends swear by the more expensive Clinique Liquid Facial Soap. Is there something about this product that makes it worth the extra money?

The Right Brain replies:

Clinique Liquid Facial Soap (which sells for $18.00 sells for 6.7 ounces) is formulated with sodium laureth sulfate, a milder cousin of sodium lauryl sulfate, as the primary cleansing agent.  It also contains seven or eight additional secondary cleansers and conditioning agents. Here’s the ingredient list if you want to make a full comparision.

Clinique Liquid Facial Soap ingredients

Water purified, sodium laureth sulfate, sodium chloride, cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine, lauramidopropyl betaine, sodium cocoyl sarcosinate, TEA-cocoyl glutamate, di-PPG-2 myreth-10 adipate, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, PEG-120 methyl glucose dioleate, sucrose, sodium hyaluronate, cetyl triethylmonium dimethicone PEG-8 succinate, tocopheryl ethyl succinate ethyldimonium ethosulfate, butylene glycol, matricaria, hexylene glycol, polyquaternium-7, laureth 2, caprylyl glycol, sodium sulfate, EDTA, disodium EDTA, sodium benzoate, phenoxyethanol.

Are there other products that are cheaper? Sure. Freeman, for example, has a simpler primary surfactant and it’s about half the cost.

Freeman Foaming Facial Cleanser Ingredients

Water, Glycerin, Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, Chamomila Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract, Witch Hazel Extract, Camellia Oleifera Leaf Extract, Rice Extract, Punica Granatum Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Grape Seed Oil, Panthenol, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Cocamidopropyl PG Dimonium Chloride Phosphate, Polysorbate 20, Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate, Disodium EDTA, Butylene Glycol, Methylchloroisothiazoline, Methylisothiazolinone, Limonene, Linalcol, Fragrance

While the Freeman product contains multiple natural extracts, it’s cleansing system is not as sophisticated as Clinique’s. Plus, it contains fragrance which is a no-no for products designed for sensitive skin. Finally,  Freeman’s packaging is not as upscale  as Clinique’s shiny chrome pump and frosted bottle.  So with Clinique you’re not only paying for a more sophisticated formula but also the aesthetics and style of the Clinique name.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Clinique is a very well formulated and nicely packaged product even though it may be a bit expensive for some people. The good news is there are plenty of other alternatives. As always, we suggest you experiment with a few different products to determine what’s right for your skin. You don’t have to buy a more expensive product just because your friends tell you it’s better.

What do YOU look for in a facial cleanser? Mildness? How well it moisturizes your skin? Or just how well it gets rid of makeup? Leave a comment about your fave face wash for the rest of the Beauty Brains community.

Mo wants to know… I came across an excellent brand called Biotique and all their facial cleansers are soap and surfactant free. The primary ingredient in all their products is “Sapindus / Soapberry/ Soapnut.” Is Soapnut a good cleanser?

The Right Brain is nuts about soapnut:

Actually, Mo, soapnut is one of those natural ingredients that may really be worth the hype. So before we talk about Biotique we’ll give you some background on non-soapy soapnut.

Soap to nuts

Soapnut, also known as soapberry, is a plant belonging to the genus Sapindus. You can extract a chemical called saponin from the plant’s berries which is a natural, low-foaming detergent. Saponin belongs to a class of chemical compounds known as amphipathic glycosides, for those of you keeping score at home. They can be found in may parts of plants including leaves, stems, roots, bulbs, blossoms, and even fruit.  

Are saponins good for skin?

Although they don’t foam much, saponins are good, gentle cleansers. So while they may not be powerful enough to remove waterproof mascara, they are very good at gently cleansing skin to remove excess oils. And, the benefits of this natural extract may extend far beyond mild cleansing. There are numerous studies on the medicinal properties of saponins; for example, according to this article on saponins from Pubmed, certain types of saponins from red ginseng can counteract the effects of ultraviolet B-induced skin aging in hairless mice and have a positive effect on skin thickness, elasticity, and wrinkle formation. Interesting! 

Baffled by Biotique

Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any specific list of ingredients for any Biotique products. Without that crucial information we can only speculate about how they use soapnut. One possibility is that they really do use soapnut as their primary cleansing agent leaving out any soaps or synthetic detergents. In that case, it may be a very mild cleanser (although probably low foaming). Another possibility is that Biotique uses soapnut as more of a marketing ploy to differentiate their products in which case they may be adding small amounts of soapnut to formulas that contain typical cleansing agents. A quick review of a Biotique ingredient list, if we can find one, will make the answer obvious.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Soapnut (also known as soapberry) is a valid, gentle, natural cleanser but we don’t know how Biotique is using it. We’ll keep our eyes open and if we find an ingredient list we’ll update this post.

Has anyone bought Biotique or any other soapnut based products? Leave a comment and share your experiences with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.

Dagga91 wants to know…I am interested in becoming an independent consultant with a new skin care line called Votre Vu. I got samples and loved the product. I was hoping someone could shed some light on their products.

The Left Brain is vehement about Votre Vu:

Votre Vu is a French direct marketing company that offers a variety of skin and hair care products.  Here’s a quick summary from NPROS.com:

Vu brings spa quality french skin care products to the home party business. The Votre Vu motto is “stay pure, stay simple, work hard”. Launching in August, 2008, Votre Vu consultants will have the ability to run an inventory free business, direct customer orders via their personal web site, no monthly ordering requirements, and have all credit card transactions handled directly by Votre Vu. Consultants may also receive all weekly commission payments directly onto a personal debit card.

As you know from previous posts on Arbonne and Mary Kay, I’m very cautious about working with direct marketing companies. But I’ll set that issue aside for the moment and focus on Votre Vu’s products. I looked at their website to learn more and didn’t find much to be impressed about in terms of their formulations. 

Votre Vu Sweep Eye Makeup Remover

For example, look at their Sweep Gentle Eye Makeup Remover. The website gives a list of  ”Power ingredients, the hard-working ingredients that make this product so powerful and beneficial for you.” For this product these Power Ingredients are identified as Isotonic Solute, Rose Water, Boric Acid, and Bluet Water. But a another click reveals that the rest of the ingredients in the formula include five or six different surfactants including our old friend sodium laureth sulfate. Now, I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with using sodium laureth sulfate in an eye makeup remover, but there are number of cleansing chemicals that are milder and less likely to dry out your skin. If I’m paying $25 for 4 ounces of product, I’d expect to see a more premium formula.  

Votre Vu Cheveux Heureux Conditioner Riche

I also looked at one of Votre Vu’s hair care products:  the “Conditioner Riche.” It uses a pretty standard combination of fatty alcohols, stearamidopropyl dimethylamine, quats, and silicones. These are the same conditioning agents you’d find in a Pantene or Tresemme type of formula. Once again, there’s nothing wrong with these ingredients but $29 for a bottle of conditioner that doesn’t provide any additional functional difference seems a bit steep to me.  Another note: the website proudly proclaims that this conditioner formula is SLS-free. This is amusing since SLS (aka sodium lauryl sulfate) is a foaming/cleansing agent and is rarely, if ever, used in conditioners! I’d feel much better about this line if they were attempting to honestly educate consumers instead of claiming confusing half-truths like this.  

The Beauty Brains bottom line

I certainly can’t advise you on your business venture, Dagga91, but I’d have a hard time recommending Votre Vu formulas based on the information available on their website. I don’t hesitate to recommend trying expensive products if I see a potential technical benefit (like in the case of Living Proof No Frizz) but I hate to see people pay too much for over-priced products that aren’t really that different. Having said that,  I’m always open to new data that could change my mind. So if anyone has further information that explains the value of Votre Vu products, I’m glad to look at it and discuss it in a future blog post.

Has anyone else tried Votre Vu? Leave a comment and share your experience with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.