La Roche-Posay Effaclar 2% Gel Cleanser: a Guru Score of 87%

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

"The type of cleanser that you also use matters a lot because you need cleansers that are actually targeted at people with your skin type. My favorite cleanser I tell you guys all the time is the La Roche-Posay Effaclar cleanser. That cleanser was made for people with acne prone skin. It's literally the best that I have used. It is perfect in my opinion. I use it after I have used the Effaclar micellar water now. I think that these two were made for each other, these two products."

Top Pick: cleanser for acne-prone skin

All 2 takes from Dimma Umeh

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"This is my go-to cleanser for my face, the La Roche-Posay Effaclar gel cleanser. It comes in a bottle, and I used to buy a brand new one every time I ran out until I learned it has a refill pouch available, which is much cheaper than buying full bottles every time."

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"The type of cleanser that you also use matters a lot because you need cleansers that are actually targeted at people with your skin type. My favorite cleanser I tell you guys all the time is the La Roche-Posay Effaclar cleanser. That cleanser was made for people with acne prone skin. It's literally the best that I have used. It is perfect in my opinion. I use it after I have used the Effaclar micellar water now. I think that these two were made for each other, these two products."

Dr. Aleksandra Brown

142k subs

✓Yay

"This is a gel-based cleanser formulated with 2% salicylic acid to help exfoliate inside the pore and reduce blackheads, whiteheads, and clogged pores. It lathers well, rinses clean, helps reduce excess oil without over-drying. It's a really good pick for morning or evening use in acne routine, but I really would reserve these for oily skin. It's best for that comedonal acne, meaning you have the blackheads, whiteheads, bumpy skin texture. Ideal for that oily skin that needs pore clearing without irritation. The key ingredient is salicylic acid, glycerin, and lipohydroxy acid, also known as LHA, which is a derivative of salicylic acid and has exfoliating and skin renewing properties."

All 2 takes from Dr. Aleksandra Brown

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"This is a gel-based cleanser formulated with 2% salicylic acid to help exfoliate inside the pore and reduce blackheads, whiteheads, and clogged pores. It lathers well, rinses clean, helps reduce excess oil without over-drying. It's a really good pick for morning or evening use in acne routine, but I really would reserve these for oily skin. It's best for that comedonal acne, meaning you have the blackheads, whiteheads, bumpy skin texture. Ideal for that oily skin that needs pore clearing without irritation. The key ingredient is salicylic acid, glycerin, and lipohydroxy acid, also known as LHA, which is a derivative of salicylic acid and has exfoliating and skin renewing properties."

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"This one has the other active ingredient which is the salicylic acid. It's a gel-based cleanser formulated with 2% salicylic acid to help exfoliate inside the pore and reduce blackheads, whiteheads, and clogged pores. It lathers really well, rinses clean, and it helps reduce excess oil without overdrying. It's a really great pick for morning or evening in your acne routine. It's really best for that comedonal acne, meaning the blackheads, the whiteheads, or like bumpy skin texture. It's also ideal for those with oily or acne prone or maybe even combination skin that need pore clearing without irritation. The key ingredients here are the salicylic acid, the glycerin, lipohydroxy acid, also known as LHA. It's a derivative of salicylic acid and has a little bit of exfoliating and skin renewing properties."

Dr. Daniel Sugai

720k subs

✓Yay

"For my sample closet, I picked out La Roche-Posay Effaclar 2% Gel Cleanser. Patients love this. I like to use that after the gym. You can use it on your body and not just on your face."

All 4 takes from Dr. Daniel Sugai

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"For my sample closet, I picked out La Roche-Posay Effaclar 2% Gel Cleanser. Patients love this. I like to use that after the gym. You can use it on your body and not just on your face."

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"La Roche Posay makes the efficar medicated gel cleanser with two percent salicylic acid"

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"Another favorite of mine has been La Roche-Posay Effaclar 2%. My only critique with this is that the cap when you open it up, a lot of product comes out, it kind of just spills right out onto my palm, and it's maybe a little bit more cleanser than I'd like. So I always put the excess on my body and wash my body in the shower. I leave this one in the shower, and after a workout or if I showered and went out and came back home, I'm not going to just rest my head on the pillow after brushing my teeth. I'm going to wash my face at the sink. So I might have pumps at the sink and I'll have this guy, I wish was in a pump, more in the shower because I'll put the excess on my body."

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"La Roche-Posay Effaclar salicylic acid 2%. That's a BHA beta hydroxy acid that goes down into your pores and cleans out your pores. So you want to have something nice like that to end your day with when I wear surgical mask when I do my excisions. You know, I got to wash out all that sunscreen on my face. Or if you have makeup, go ahead and double cleanse. And you can even follow up after your oil-based cleanser or micellar water with even a salicylic acid cleanser."

The Style and Beauty Doctor

221k subs

✓Yay

"I used a very gentle salicylic acid face wash cleanser, the one I used from the Effaclar line from La Roche-Posay."

Dr. Mamina

281k subs

✓Yay

"Salicylic acid can really be used at any age and I think like a great easy way to start if you're noticing some early signs of acne is just like a basic salicylic acid cleanser. La Roche-Posay has a nice one, their Effaclar Gel medicated cleanser."

Tea with MD

113k subs

✓Yay

"One of the ones I like to recommend for summer, especially if you have acne, is the La Roche-Posay Effaclar 2% Gel Cleanser, and this comes with two percent salicylic acid. We know salicylic acid is one of our favorite BHAs because it really gets into the pores and helps clean out pores and reduce that appearance of oiliness and gets rid of all that gunk that's stuck in there. It can also help reduce the appearance of blackheads, so that's a great cleanser to use if you are struggling with acne or blackheads. You can even go ahead and use it on the rest of your body if you have acne on your chest or knee."

Dr Dray

2.69M subs

✓Yay

"Last but not least is the La Roche-Posay Effaclar Medicated Cleanser. This has two percent salicylic acid, a really good option specifically for people who have acne, because in addition to the two percent salicylic acid this has a micro LHA, lipohydroxy acid, a modified form of salicylic acid, so it exfoliates in a little bit different fashion. It's a great option for people who have acne, blackheads and whiteheads, a really great comedolytic face wash, and it's a gel formula. For me personally I have encountered some eyelid dryness from time to time if I'm not careful with the frequency of use, but overall it is a very good hydrating cleanser. It does have menthol in it, which gives it almost a medicated feel with a bit of a tingle, and if your acne is very itchy that may offer some symptomatic relief, but menthol is a fragrance ingredient, so if you are allergic to fragrance be aware it could cross react with your fragrance allergies."

The Budget Dermatologist

723k subs

✓Yay

"Some of my favorite cleansers are by La Roche Posay the Effaclar medicated Gel Cleanser."

What the evidence says.

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

Salicylic acid

Salicylic acid dissolves in oil, so it can get into a pore rather than just working on the surface. That is why it has long-standing evidence for blackheads and milder acne.

Source: DermNet

Frequently asked.

What is La Roche-Posay Effaclar 2% Gel Cleanser?

A medicated gel cleanser containing 2% salicylic acid designed to cleanse oily and acne-prone skin.

Is La Roche-Posay Effaclar 2% Gel Cleanser worth it?

Yes. All 8 gurus who reviewed it give it their stamp of approval, for a Guru Score of 87%.

What is La Roche-Posay Effaclar 2% Gel Cleanser's Guru Score?

La Roche-Posay Effaclar 2% Gel Cleanser holds a Guru Score of 87%. That is our read on how warmly the experts talk about it, based on the verdicts of 8 expert reviewers we have collected. It is also Guru Certified, our mark for products that hold broad approval across many expert reviewers.