Finding Truly Healthy Facial Cleansers: A Buyer's Guide

As we become more image conscious good looks are taking an increasingly important role. That is driving more and more people to head to the local supermarket or pharmacy in search of the best facial cleanser, but when they search for that that product most people rely on product packaging or online resources to provide the information they us in making their decision. Unfortunately, most of this information is created by marketers, who aren’t known for their solid relationship with the truth. The correct place to start the search for a face cleanser or for any other health-related product is in the doctor’s office. It doesn’t matter whether the product in question is a hand sanitizer to ward off germs, a dermatological cream to calm an itch, or a face wash to keep our skin clean and looking vital. The best source of reliable, unbiased information is almost certainly our nurse practitioner or doctor. Also, many people use personal hygiene products to self-treat issues that should be discussed with a doctor anyway. For example, when an adult begins to experience acne, the cause of that condition probably has something to do with hormonal changes. It's probably a good idea to talk to your practitioner about what's causing those hormonal changes, rather than just trying to get rid of the acne with a stronger face soap. And product packages don’t tell the whole story. Yes, we should be able to trust product packaging. Yes, we have watchdog groups fighting for consumers and truth-in-advertising laws that copywriters are supposed to follow. But the sad truth is that sometimes the terms they use to abide by those rules don’t mean what the average consumer is likely to interpret them to mean. Terms like “clinically tested” and “proven effective” make us feel safe, but in practical terms they mean very little. The Internet is also an unreliable source of information. The vast majority of the product-related content that is available online is influenced to some extend by marketers. And while there are some peer-reviewed medical information Web sites and some truly impartial product review sites, those more truth-oriented sites tend to get buried under the huge quantity of content that is influenced by marketing. In most cases, however, you can get quality, reliable information from your physician. Most American doctors are aware of the financial aspect of medical treatment and try to help their patients find the treatment they need as inexpensively as possible. For this reason many medical professionals endeavor to remain current on consumer products that can help their patients, even if they aren’t medical products in the purest sense. Medical professionals also have access to information that is unavailable to most people, simply because they tend to read medical journals and university studies, in which truly impartial scientific tests are reported. And to the study of a consumer product a physician brings his own medical knowledge, which allows him to understand the products better. Choosing the best facial cleanser by the package is certainly the easiest way to decide, and because buying a facial cleanser or other aggressive hygiene product can be an impulse decision it is certainly the most common. But you will probably end up with better results if you start the process of making any of these purchasing decisions by talking with your general practitioner.