How to Pick the Best Exfoliating Cleanser for Your Skin
Adding a bit of exfoliation into your daily cleanse delivers serious benefits for almost every type of skin, helping to soften, clear, brighten, and smooth your complexion. More-intense exfoliants absolutely have their place, but the mild daily cell turnover you get from an exfoliating cleanser helps all the other skin care in your routine sink in better, as well as stealthily helping to stimulate collagen, enliven dull skin, and keep pores clear over time.
Chemical exfoliation uses acids (such as glycolic acid) or enzymes (pineapple enzyme is an example) to gently loosen cells, whereas physical (or mechanical) exfoliation involves more-textured ingredients like jojoba beads, ground minerals, or grains that manually scrub away dirt, pollution, makeup, sweat, and any other buildup (skin brushes and even washcloths also fall into the physical exfoliation category). The two types of exfoliants can work together beautifully, or they might function better on their own, depending on whether your skin skews dry, oily, mature, or sensitive.
Finding the right exfoliating cleanser for your skin—there are versions that exfoliate with enzymes, acids, microminerals, rice particles, bamboo fibers, and more—involves a look at the ingredients, along with some trial and error. With that in mind, we chose the below all-stars by skin type to help you zero in on your ultimate daily cleanser.
Dry Skin
The gradual, gentle work of daily exfoliation really helps dry skin better absorb moisturizer, and function better overall. These formulas deliver moisture-locking butters and oils, along with both chemical and physical exfoliants, to hydrate, and they also sweep away dead, dry skin.
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Antioxidant-Rich Moringa Seed and Castor Seed Oils
YINA
Bioadaptive Cleanser
goop, $68SHOP NOW -
Plumping Cocoa Butter and Bakuchiol
Alpyn Beauty
Juneberry & Collagen Hydrating Cream Cleanser
goop, $39SHOP NOW -
Organic Macadamia and Coconut Oils
MAKANAI
Clean Cleansing Morning Zen
goop, $35SHOP NOW
Oily Skin
Cleansers made with a combination of both chemical and physical exfoliants can help control oil production and clarify and resurface skin—we love the powerful plant enzymes here, and the luscious formulas that soften and luminize.
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Fruit Enzymes and Bitter Orange Peel Powder
goop Beauty
GOOPGLOW Cloudberry Exfoliating Jelly Cleanser
goop, $35/$25 with subscriptionSHOP NOW -
Ruby Crystals and Organic Red Tea
Goldfaden MD
Doctor’s Scrub Advanced
goop, $98SHOP NOW -
Glycolic Acid and Rice Particles
Humanrace
Lotus Enzyme Exfoliator
goop, $46SHOP NOW -
Vitamin C and Cellulose
Dr. Barbara Sturm
Enzyme Cleanser
goop, $75SHOP NOW
Mature Skin
As we age, the rate of cell turnover slows, so our skin can handle more-powerful exfoliation—think grittier textures or more-potent ingredient concentrations—on a daily basis to brighten and smooth.
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Diamond Powder and Rose Water
The Organic Pharmacy
Rose Diamond Exfoliating Cleanser
goop, $73SHOP NOW -
Apricot Microbeads and Neroli
Tata Harper
Regenerating Cleanser
goop, $88SHOP NOW -
Bamboo Fiber and Pomegranate Enzymes
FāTH
The Resurfacing Botanical Cleanser
goop, $82SHOP NOW
Sensitive Skin
Many people with sensitive skin avoid exfoliating altogether, but using a super gentle exfoliant every day can actually be incredibly beneficial. It’s important to go slowly when trying a new product and, for some, to use an exfoliating cleanser less frequently (say, every other day) to help skin adjust to the new regimen.
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Turmeric and Willow Bark
Plantkos
Phyto Exfoliating Cleanser
goop, $37SHOP NOW -
Rice Powder and Cranberry Enzymes
Tata Harper
Refining Cleanser
goop, $88SHOP NOW -
Miehei and Rhodiola
Ursa Major
Making Moves Milky Cleanser
goop, $34SHOP NOW
Related Reading
Why Your Skin Needs Both Chemical and Physical Exfoliation