1. Health

Discuss in my forum

Neutrogena Healthy Skin Anti-Wrinkle Anti-Blemish Cleanser

About.com Rating 3.5 Star Rating
Be the first to write a review

By , About.com Guide

Updated February 25, 2009

About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by the Medical Review Board

The Bottom Line

A nice foaming cleanser that adults with fairly oily skin will probably like. It's a good choice for those whose skin can't handle stronger salicylic acid cleansers. It's also easily found at most stores and is a good price at well under $10.
<!--#echo encoding="none" var="lcp" -->

Pros

  • Creamy, foamy lather
  • Very light, clean smell that's not overpowering.
  • Contains both an acne-fighting ingredient plus alpha hydroxy acids

Cons

  • Doesn't rinse away very easily
  • It's a little slow to lather.

Description

  • Foaming acne cleanser with 0.5% salicylic acid
  • Contains glycolic acid
  • Part of the Neutrogena Healthy Skin line

Guide Review - Neutrogena Healthy Skin Anti-Wrinkle Anti-Blemish Cleanser

Any acne sufferer who is older than the age of 30 gets excited when a product promises to help fight blemishes and wrinkles. That's how this cleanser made it in to my cart in the first place.

I tend to prefer foaming cleansers, so I was pleased to find this product (so many cleansers aimed at adult acne sufferers tend to be nonfoaming creams). I liked that it didn't have any scrubbing granules, or "microbeads," as the skin care world likes to call them. Just a smooth, creamy lather.

It does take a fair bit of emulsifying between the hands to really get that lather going, though, so be patient.

A big plus is that this cleanser contains glycolic acid, in addition to the acne-fighting salicylic acid. Glycolic acid is an alpha hydroxy acid, commonly used in anti-aging treatments. It helps slough away skin cells revealing the soft, smooth skin underneath.

I found that unless I was careful, it was easy to squeeze too much from the tube. You don't need much of this cleanser, a little really goes a long way. The gel-like consistency, which I otherwise really liked, made the cleanser easy to slide off the fingers and down the drain. Personally, I think it would be easier if this product were packaged in a pump bottle instead of a tube.

Another factor that detracted from the overall quality of this cleanser was that it was hard to rinse. Despite what it says on the packaging, it felt like it left a film on the skin unless rinsed really, really well.

I think adult acne sufferers will really like this product, provided their skin is relatively oily. Those with drier skin types may want to stick with a cleansing cream instead. For the price, though, this is a nice and fairly gentle salicylic acid cleanser.

<!--#echo encoding="none" var="lcp" -->
  1. About.com
  2. Health
  3. Acne
  4. Product Reviews
  5. Cleanser Reviews
  6. Acne Cleanser - Neutrogena Anti-Wrinkle Anti-Blemish Acne Cleanser

©2012 About.com. All rights reserved.

A part of The New York Times Company.

We comply with the HONcode standard
for trustworthy health
information: verify here.