No BS Beauty has worked through 41 cleansers and comes away approving of most of them. She gave 31 her stamp of approval, had mixed takes on five, and skipped five, landing at a Guru Score of 76%. She also named three of them category winners.
What does No BS Beauty recommend in cleansers?
She has a clear pattern across her approved picks: she wants a cleanser that leaves skin soft and not tight, and that rinses off without any residue. She gravitates toward gentle, fragrance-free formulas that suit people with sensitive skin, and for cleansing oils she pays extra attention to how light they feel and how easily they rinse off. Value matters a lot to her too. The Vanicream Gentle Facial Cleanser earned her praise partly for having just ten ingredients and costing around eight dollars.
In their words
"This is one of my favorite cleansers because it's so non-drying and really feels nice on my skin. I love that cleanser from Skinfix, it's so nice, no scent to it, nice ingredient list. It rinses off but leaves your skin feeling nice and soft, not dry or irritated."
"The L Roche-Posay Lipikar AP+ Gentle Foaming Cleansing Oil is probably one of the tougher ones because these are all great, they're all ones I've repurchased, and the winner is the L Roche-Posay Lipikar AP+ Gentle Foaming Cleansing Oil which is a new product this year. It's an amazing product, use it every day."
"I love this cleanser, it's super light and it rinses really easily. On nights when I was really tired, this stuff was so great that I typically didn't feel like I needed a second step cleanser on those days, it just gets the makeup off enough that I can go to bed and lay down without the makeup sitting on your skin. It's really nice, super lightweight, and affordable, so I loved it, amazing. I will repurchase that again in a heartbeat."
"Vanicream has a limited but meaningful product list. [...] The ones they do have are thoughtful, well formulated. [...] Their facial cleanser is just a gentle face cleanser with 10 ingredients in it, [...] so very friendly for those with sensitive skin. It tends to work well on the face or body if you prefer to use it as a body cleanser too. And it's like eight bucks, so you can't beat that."
"The PSA reset I love this stuff. It's out of stock everywhere apparently, coming out with more, so I don't know when, but I wanted to mention this one."
"Some of my favorite cleansers are the ordinary [squalane] cleanser, the Geek & Gorgeous Jelly Joker Cleanser and the pre-quill facial cleanse."
How many cleansers has No BS Beauty reviewed?
No BS Beauty has reviewed 41 cleansers, for a Guru Score of 76%. 31 approved, 5 mixed, and 5 skipped.
What has No BS Beauty skipped in cleansers?
When she skips a cleanser, price, texture, or a real safety concern tends to be the reason. She skipped the Dermalogica Special Cleansing Gel over its $115 price tag, which she called ridiculous, and she skipped the Glow Recipe Blueberry Bounce Gentle Cleanser because of widespread reports of mold appearing in the packaging. The CeraVe Makeup Removing Cleanser Balm she also skipped, finding it too thick to spread easily and saying it left a residue behind after rinsing.
"The Glow Recipe Blueberry Bounce Cleanser was another one I heard a lot about with mold in it and people took photos of it and then emailed them and got another one returned."
"The CeraVe cleansing balm for $14 was disappointing. I found it was too thick, it took a lot of effort to smooth it into skin to get it to really work, and when it rinsed off it left [...] a kind of residue so I didn't love it. The jar is super tiny for what you'd think it would be for CeraVe, typically they're a little more affordable. [...] I didn't love how it took a long time and a lot of effort to break down and melt on skin."
"My eyes are not terribly sensitive but this one makes my eyes water and I just didn't find it did a really good job removing any extra makeup or anything like that so this one was not my favorite product from them and it became a really easy pass."
"They mentioned one from Dermalogica which is $115 which is ridiculous."
What should you take from No BS Beauty's picks?
No BS Beauty has tested 41 cleansers and is candid about both what she loves and what she skips, which makes her a genuinely helpful guide to this category. She named three category winners from those 41: the Vanicream Gentle Facial Cleanser, The Ordinary Squalane Cleanser, and the La Roche-Posay Lipikar AP+ Gentle Foaming Cleansing Oil. By her account, all three are gentle, rinse off cleanly, and leave skin feeling soft rather than tight.
Watch No BS Beauty say it
Every verdict here comes from a video. These are the moments themselves, each one jumping straight to the bit about that product.
- Vanicream Gentle Facial CleanserNamed a winnerWatch at 3:59
- The Ordinary Squalane CleanserNamed a winnerWatch at 6:36
- La Roche-Posay Lipikar AP+ Gentle Foaming Cleansing OilNamed a winnerWatch at 19:50
- Glow Recipe Blueberry Bounce Gentle CleanserSkipped itWatch at 3:42
- CeraVe Makeup Removing Cleanser BalmSkipped itWatch at 6:49
- CeraVe Micellar Cleansing WaterSkipped itWatch at 3:47
- Dermalogica Special Cleansing GelSkipped itWatch at 3:42
- The Ordinary Glucoside Foaming CleanserSkipped itWatch at 9:20
- SkinFix Barrier+ Foaming Oil CleanserRated itWatch at 2:28
- Prequel Pre-Cleanse Cleansing OilRated itWatch at 4:03
- PSA Skin Reset CleanserRated itWatch at 11:21
- Geek & Gorgeous Jelly Joker CleanserRated itWatch at 2:20
- The INKEY List Fulvic Acid CleanserRated itWatch at 11:02
- Bubble First Class Oil CleanserRated itWatch at 6:21
- Pharmacy Green Clean Cleansing BalmRated itWatch at 10:16
- Geek & Gorgeous Mighty Melt Cleansing BalmRated itWatch at 7:36
- Isntree Yam Root Vegan Milk CleanserRated itWatch at 14:09
- Prequel Non-Drying Glycerin CleanserRated itWatch at 4:45
- La Roche-Posay Toleriane Hydrating Gentle CleanserRated itWatch at 1:20
- Beauty of Joseon Green Plum Refreshing CleanserRated itWatch at 7:51
- Kose Softymo Speedy Cleansing OilRated itWatch at 4:19
- DHC Deep Cleansing OilRated itWatch at 6:15
- CeraVe Hydrating Cream-to-Foam CleanserRated itWatch at 8:02
- Dr Sam's Flawless CleanserRated itWatch at 0:10
About this expert
See everything No BS Beauty has reviewed
Related guides
This guide reflects what No BS Beauty said across their videos about 41 products in cleansers, aggregated by The Guru Index. Sponsored takes are excluded. The Guru Score is our read on how warmly they talk about them. It is general information, not medical advice.