Review (3/5): Pleasant But Feels More Clarifying Than Hydrating To My Dry Skin-Has Risky Ingredient TEA
I have dry, sensitive and mature (55+) skin and used this Reboncel Aqua Rich Foaming Cleanser daily for about a week. This cleanser has fragrance that smells relatively light to me, though fragrance is an ingredient that poses health risks. I generally avoid foaming face cleansers as they tend to make my skin overly dry, but this has a pleasing creaminess and initially made my skin feel good. It cleaned my skin well yet left it feeling refreshed, soft and comfortable after use.
After using this wash more than a few days in a row, it felt more clarifying (better for oily skin) than hydrating to my skin. While it didn’t strip my skin or make it visibly irritated, by the end of the week my skin just didn’t feel as comfortable as it did at first and it felt like my skin would end up too dry if I continued daily use. So I switched back to my creamy, hydrating cleansers, but felt this cleanser would still be good to use as needed as a clarifying cleanser.
However, while this wash has some good ingredients such as Centella Asiatica, Aloe Extract and Sodium Hyaluronate, this has controversial Triethanolamine (“TEA”) high on the ingredient list. It’s on my personal list of ingredients to avoid after reading many articles about it and seeing it on lists of risky chemical by many sources. Some sources say it’s safe in amounts we get thru cosmetics, but I’m concerned about the cumulative effect of risky chemicals.
TEA is a nitrosamine used to generate foam and adjust pH and is likely a hormone disrupter and irritant. But the bigger issue for me is that TEA gets absorbed through the skin and reacts with other chemicals to form the carcinogen NDEA. While less risky in rinse off products, it still poses more risk than I’m comfortable with. The problem is that I have no way to know if this cleanser or any product I’m using with it has chemicals that react with TEA.
So, for me, I find it best to avoid all products with TEA, especially since so many alternative products are available that don’t have it. I also dislike that this has so much Cocamidopropyl Betaine (second ingredient), which I generally avoid mostly due contamination concerns. Fragrance also poses health risks, though it’s a common ingredient I don’t avoid altogether (but I do try and minimize use). All things considered, this is just okay for me. 3 stars.