CeraVe Acne Foaming Cream Cleanser with 4% Benzoyl Peroxide

What the gurus are saying.

Every take we've logged from this product's reviews across YouTube. Click any row to watch the moment they said it.

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✓Yay

"This is my first recommendation, and hands down something I'm recommending in clinic every single day: the CeraVe Acne Foaming Cream Cleanser with 4% Benzoyl Peroxide. They also have a 10% benzoyl peroxide version which I like better for body acne, but for the face, 4% wins hands down, it's all you need and there's minimal irritation."

All 7 takes from Dr. Aleksandra Brown

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"CeraVe acne foaming cleanser is a newer brand that has really good active ingredient. It's really good for sensitive skin. [...] If your skin is more on the sensitive side, I would opt for lower percentage, such as four or five percent. Let the cleanser sit on the skin, rub it in really good, and then rinse it off."

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"This is a gentle yet effective fighting cleanser with 4% benzoyl peroxide, which is lower than your traditional 10% but it's still effective. So if you have sensitive skin, this is a perfect place to start. It has this really creamy texture that helps reduce the dryness and irritation, making it a great option for those new to benzoyl peroxide or those using other active ingredients in their routine."

Dermatologist Approved SAFE Skincare Routine During Pregnancy!

"If you're pregnant and suffering from acne, one easy thing you can do is a cleanser with benzoyl peroxide. These are generally considered to be safe during pregnancy. Benzoyl peroxide is an active ingredient so make sure you check the back of the bottle. One brand that I find really good for sensitive skin with benzoyl peroxide is CeraVe Acne Foaming Cream Cleanser. It has 4% benzoyl peroxide and it's very good for even the most sensitive skin."

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"My favorite brand here is CeraVe, it is very gentle. I personally use the 4% acne foaming cleanser, love it. Even for the most sensitive skin, I use it on my face, I use it on my back, I even use it on my armpit for body odor."

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"I would really start with the CeraVe 4% acne foaming wash for this because it's really really gentle on the skin. If you have already used this or it bleaches your towels and it bothers you or it's not working for you, chlorhexidine or Hiboclens can also be beneficial."

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"I've really enjoyed using CeraVe's acne cleanser with the 4% benzoyl peroxide. If your skin is really oily and you want to use something in the morning that will help degrease and remove the oils and clean out the pores, then consider cleansers with salicylic acid."

Salicylic Acid vs Benzoyl Peroxide: Which One Do You Actually Need?

"This is my first recommendation, and hands down something I'm recommending in clinic every single day: the CeraVe Acne Foaming Cream Cleanser with 4% Benzoyl Peroxide. They also have a 10% benzoyl peroxide version which I like better for body acne, but for the face, 4% wins hands down, it's all you need and there's minimal irritation."

Dimma Umeh

541k subs

✓Nay

"When I ran out of my usual benzoyl peroxide gel, [...] I switched to this and [...] it did nothing for my acne. My issue with CeraVe in general [...] is that their products contain a lot of ceramides, and the humectants and other ingredients they use can make it so the product doesn't give you the results you need. [...] I bought about four of these because I couldn't believe [...] benzoyl peroxide [...] wasn't working, but the formulation is why it wasn't working."

208SkinDoc

2.10M subs

✓Yay

"So if you use [...] the acne foaming cream wash there is no reason to panic, you do not need to throw it out. That said, the science on whether benzoyl peroxide degrades into benzene under normal conditions is genuinely contested, so I'd store it as labeled, at room temperature and out of direct sunlight, and replace it by its expiration date or every few months if you're using it regularly."

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"So if you use [...] the acne foaming cream wash there is no reason to panic, you do not need to throw it out. That said, the science on whether benzoyl peroxide degrades into benzene under normal conditions is genuinely contested, so I'd store it as labeled, at room temperature and out of direct sunlight, and replace it by its expiration date or every few months if you're using it regularly."

Back Acne (Backne), Chestne & Buttne — The Truth About Body Acne

"I like to use a benzoyl peroxide cleanser, benzoyl peroxide is great. CeraVe makes a good one, it's a 10 percent. I don't like 10 percent benzoyl peroxide on the face, it's pretty drying, but people tolerate it really well on the back. It's like their acne foaming cream cleanser, a 10 percent benzoyl peroxide. They do make a 4 percent version that I like better on the face."

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"With 10 percent benzoyl peroxide, this is a better option for acne on the body, though it does stand a bit of a bigger risk of drying out the skin on the face. I like to recommend that my patients use that one in the shower if they're treating body acne."

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"One of the benzoyl peroxide washes I really like is the CeraVe Acne Control Cleanser. It's a foaming four percent benzoyl peroxide cleanser, and with CeraVe's ceramides and MVE technology, it's one of the less irritating forms of benzoyl peroxide you can get."

AliceintheRabbitHole

59k subs

✓Nay

"This CeraVe benzoyl peroxide cleanser isn't my favorite. I only have it because of a points promotion at Ulta."

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"This CeraVe benzoyl peroxide cleanser isn't my favorite. I only have it because of a points promotion at Ulta."

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"The CeraVe Acne Foaming Cream Cleanser with 4% Benzoyl Peroxide is a holy grail for me. The CeraVe was the better deal with the 10x points and the $3.50 off."

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"The CeraVe Acne Foaming Cream Cleanser is what started it all for me. [...] Before this I thought I couldn't use benzoyl peroxide as a leave on, it's difficult for my dry skin type, but in a cream based cleanser this has been so wonderful. However, [...] I was browsing the Ulta website recently and I could not believe the price of [...] it, it used to be a lot cheaper and now it's nineteen dollars, that's way more than a normal inflation rate, so [...] I started looking around for other options."

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"It has been a game changer for me, very few products get even close to that label for me. As somebody with dry acne prone skin I am so glad CeraVe came out with this, this is my fifth tube of this at this point and absolutely my most used cleanser, [...] I use it basically every other PM wash."

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"For a long time I thought I couldn't use benzoyl peroxide, it stung my skin, made it red, and bleached everything, so I hated it. But when CeraVe came out with this cleanser in a creamy base, the same type of cleanser I like as a person with dry skin, I gave it a try and I could not believe how much it leveled up my acne prevention as well as the ability to fight off the acne I already had. It still might be my number two product of all time, maybe number three."

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"This is one of my holy grails, the CeraVe Acne Foaming Cream Cleanser with four percent benzoyl peroxide. That is a holy grail for me in terms of acne. It's a product that really, really works for me. I feel like it probably won't be as game changing for people who can use benzoyl peroxide as a leave on, but I can't, so having it in this cleanser is perfect for me. It will absolutely be in my top ten."

Dr. Jenny Liu

323k subs

✓Yay

"I am a big fan of benzoyl peroxide at night. What I like to do is use CeraVe's benzoyl peroxide cleanser as my second step. I mostly focus on areas that tend to break out, like my nose and chin. I leave that on for a few minutes and rinse off. You could do that nightly or a few times a week in place of your regular cleanser if you struggle with [...] hormonal acne around perimenopause and menopause."

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"If you want to step up the game you can even use this along with a benzoyl peroxide cleanser if you're really oily and acne prone. One I really love again is from CeraVe, they have now a 4% benzoyl peroxide cleanser."

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"My second step of double cleansing is actually using a medicated acne cleanser, and this is even more important when I travel because I break out more. I [...] just have a ton of these little CeraVe acne foaming cleanser, the 4% in my bag and basically just replenish them when I run out. These are samples from clinic so they're really convenient. I love them."

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"Cedil also makes a great benor peroxide cleanser that's very gentle that contains I think 2.6% micronized benor peroxide and that retails for $972"

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"I am a big fan of benzoyl peroxide at night. What I like to do is use CeraVe's benzoyl peroxide cleanser as my second step. I mostly focus on areas that tend to break out, like my nose and chin. I leave that on for a few minutes and rinse off. You could do that nightly or a few times a week in place of your regular cleanser if you struggle with [...] hormonal acne around perimenopause and menopause."

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"The CeraVe acne foaming cleanser is 4% benzoyl peroxide, also very creamy and very nice to use. Start it a few times a week and gradually build up tolerance to once daily if needed to help target acne."

Dr. Daniel Sugai

722k subs

✓Yay

"CeraVe makes a nice creamy foaming wash that has 4% benzoyl peroxide. So different brands that have made nice benzoyl peroxide products that you can consider that's exfoliating and also kills the bacteria that's feeding off of the trapped sebum leading to acne. So I actually have both in my bathroom and I will alternate between the two."

All 7 takes from Dr. Daniel Sugai

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"I use CeraVe Acne Foaming Cream Cleanser with 4% Benzoyl Peroxide at night, rinse off, pat dry, wait a few minutes or even an hour, and then apply your retinoid."

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"Check out their four percent benzoyl peroxide cleanser that's also a really good one so I'll alternate between using this one and the benzoyl peroxide cleanser"

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"Got CeraVe Acne Foaming Cream Cleanser with four percent benzoyl peroxide"

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"The benzol peroxide by seravee penoxal"

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"CeraVe makes a nice creamy foaming wash that has 4% benzoyl peroxide. So different brands that have made nice benzoyl peroxide products that you can consider that's exfoliating and also kills the bacteria that's feeding off of the trapped sebum leading to acne. So I actually have both in my bathroom and I will alternate between the two."

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"The other ingredient I mentioned is benzoyl peroxide. This one looks very similar the color scheme to the salicylic acid cleanser but you can see this is acne foaming cream cleanser. This has niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, and the four percent benzoyl peroxide. Benzoyl peroxide is antimicrobial so it kills the bacteria that causes acne and it works really well with your acne medications especially if they have antibiotics, so it helps prevent your body from getting resistant to those antibiotics."

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"I like benzoyl peroxide because it mildly exfoliates and its antimicrobial kills a bacteria that causes acne. If you're on topical prescription antibiotics this will prevent or decrease the chances of you getting bacterial resistance. Be sure to wash off benzoyl peroxide well because it will bleach your clothes and towels and your mom's not going to be happy if that happens."

James Welsh

1.58M subs

✓Nay

"Contained benzene, a known cause of cancer at levels which exceeded federal safety standards"

Doctorly

3.59M subs

✓Yay

"4% benzoyl peroxide is incredibly effective for acne, but it can be drying and irritating, so they paired it with ceramides to help offset some of that and keep your skin barrier intact. 4% is also all you need, it's certainly effective with less irritation and a great option if you have acne-prone skin. I always really opt for that 4% especially for the face. You could make the argument for a 10% cleanser on the back and the body, but you can still get results at 4%."

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"4% benzoyl peroxide is incredibly effective for acne, but it can be drying and irritating, so they paired it with ceramides to help offset some of that and keep your skin barrier intact. 4% is also all you need, it's certainly effective with less irritation and a great option if you have acne-prone skin. I always really opt for that 4% especially for the face. You could make the argument for a 10% cleanser on the back and the body, but you can still get results at 4%."

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"CeraVe makes it four percent that's a peroxide cleanser find whatever one you like use it"

Dr. Vanita Rattan

1.23M subs

✓Yay

"If you have cystic acne or severe acne, use benzoyl peroxide because how it works is it kills the acne bacteria with oxygen. So for you this is a game changer."

Dr Dray

2.69M subs

✓Yay

"The acne foaming cleanser is a 4% benzoyl peroxide wash that can help to clear up and prevent breakouts. It can also be used on the body as well. Benzoyl peroxide can be a bit drying, so a wash form is one way to utilize the ingredient, derive the benefits with less irritation and dryness. May take a little bit longer to start working, but definitely beneficial in a wash form."

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"The acne foaming cleanser is a 4% benzoyl peroxide wash that can help to clear up and prevent breakouts. It can also be used on the body as well. Benzoyl peroxide can be a bit drying, so a wash form is one way to utilize the ingredient, derive the benefits with less irritation and dryness. May take a little bit longer to start working, but definitely beneficial in a wash form."

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"With this you take advantage of something called short contact therapy where you lather it to your face, [...] let the lather sit on the skin for a few minutes and then rinse it off so the benzoyl peroxide can get into the skin and help give you some acne control and then you rinse it off. You don't have to worry about it bleaching your clothes."

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"The CeraVe Acne Foaming Cream Cleanser [...] is really nice. This is a great option for those of you who have tried benzoyl peroxide and don't get along well with it because it can be super drying. The [...] reason I like this product is because the four percent benzoyl peroxide is an effective percentage strength and you can derive benefit from that short contact time, so it's a great option for the body as well as the face."

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"CeraVe has their Acne Foaming Cream Cleanser, which is a good one. I'm actually using it now as my armpit wash. It doesn't spread on the skin quite as well as a benzoyl peroxide one, but it does the job."

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"This one by CeraVe is quite good, and I'm sure the Walgreens dupe is equally as good too."

Dr. Sam Ellis

897k subs

✓Yay

"The most common benzoyl peroxide product that I recommend in my own practice is the CeraVe Acne Foaming Cream Cleanser. This has four percent benzoyl peroxide and it's a really nice once a day wash to help fight acne. Benzoyl peroxide products don't just have to be used on the face, they're great for acne that's on the body like on the chest or the back or the buttocks, or if you struggle with bacterial folliculitis, benzoyl peroxide products can be really helpful for that too."

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"The most common benzoyl peroxide product that I recommend in my own practice is the CeraVe Acne Foaming Cream Cleanser. This has four percent benzoyl peroxide and it's a really nice once a day wash to help fight acne. Benzoyl peroxide products don't just have to be used on the face, they're great for acne that's on the body like on the chest or the back or the buttocks, or if you struggle with bacterial folliculitis, benzoyl peroxide products can be really helpful for that too."

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"One of my favorite benzoyl peroxide products is the CeraVe acne foaming cream cleanser. This is a great wash that you can use on your face or on your body. Usually when you're using a benzoyl peroxide wash I do recommend leaving it on for 30 seconds to a minute on your face and more like two to five minutes on your body because a little bit of that prolonged contact time helps it work better."

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"I love the CeraVe acne foaming cream cleanser. If you've been seeing me for acne in my clinic you've probably been recommended this product because I think it is such a beautiful cleanser that's not harsh on the skin. It's an easy way to incorporate benzoyl peroxide even if you have very sensitive skin, and then you can still layer other acne medications on top of it or use it alone with a moisturizer as your only blackhead fighter and still see success."

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"The CeraVe Acne Foam Cleanser is one of my favorite benzoyl peroxide cleansers. It has 4% benzoyl peroxide and is a great everyday cleanser if you have oily skin, especially if you're acne prone. Benzoyl peroxide is one of the absolute best acne fighting skincare ingredients because it helps kill off the acne causing bacteria but it also works on the oil gland to reduce a little bit of oil production, which is really important if you struggle with oily skin."

Hyram

4.34M subs

✓Yay

"I really like the CeraVe cream benzoyl peroxide cleanser if you're wanting just a thirty second quick cleansing that'll help get rid of the bacteria that contributes to breakouts."

The Budget Dermatologist

724k subs

✓Yay

"This is the CeraVe Acne Foaming Cream Cleanser. This has 4% benzoyl peroxide. You can get benzoyl peroxide over the counter in strengths up to 10%, and the higher the strength the more potential it has to irritate your skin. I like to start low. 4% can get the job done and balance the side effects of that irritation. I specifically chose this cleanser by CeraVe because not only does it have that benzoyl peroxide, but it's in a really great formulation to decrease that risk of irritation."

What the evidence says.

Independent of what the gurus think, this is what the published research supports about the main active ingredients here.

Niacinamide

Niacinamide has evidence behind it for redness, uneven tone and supporting the skin barrier, and it is usually well tolerated even by skin that reacts to most things.

Source: DermNet

Alpha hydroxy acids

Alpha hydroxy acids loosen the bonds holding dead cells at the surface. The evidence supports smoother texture and more even tone over time, and they can leave skin more sensitive to sun.

Source: NIH, National Library of Medicine

Benzoyl peroxide

Benzoyl peroxide has strong evidence for inflammatory acne, and unlike antibiotics the bacteria involved do not become resistant to it. It bleaches towels and pillowcases.

Source: DermNet

Frequently asked.

What is CeraVe Acne Foaming Cream Cleanser with 4% Benzoyl Peroxide?

A foaming cream cleanser containing 4% benzoyl peroxide, designed to help clear and prevent breakouts on the face and body.

Is CeraVe Acne Foaming Cream Cleanser with 4% Benzoyl Peroxide worth it?

Mostly yes. 10 of the 13 gurus who reviewed it give it their stamp of approval, for a Guru Score of 76%.

What is CeraVe Acne Foaming Cream Cleanser with 4% Benzoyl Peroxide's Guru Score?

CeraVe Acne Foaming Cream Cleanser with 4% Benzoyl Peroxide holds a Guru Score of 76%. That is our read on how warmly the experts talk about it, based on the verdicts of 13 expert reviewers we have collected. At least one expert has named it a Top Pick in its category.