May 19, 2025

Our new favorite cleansers

An array of facial cleansers shown on a green background. The cleansers include the Vanicream Gentle Facial Cleanser, EltaMD Skin Recovery Amino Acid Foaming Cleanser, CeraVe Foaming Facial Cleanser, Kiehl's Calendula Deep Cleansing Foaming Face Wash, La Roche-Posay Toleriane Hydrating Gentle Cleanser, Tatcha The Rice Wash, Neutrogena Skin Balancing Gel Cleanser, and Ouai Detox Face Cleanser.

Michael Hession/NYT Wirecutter

It's not very hard to find a good-enough facial cleanser that removes grime, sweat, makeup, and sunscreen. It's significantly trickier, though, to find a cleanser that does all that without leaving skin feeling tight, sensitive, and stripped.

In pursuit of the very best facial cleansers, we spent five months testing nearly 40 options. We interviewed dermatologists and cosmetic chemists. We read thousands of online reviews. And we, of course, lathered up. After all that, we walked away with eight favorites. Our picks include a gentle cleanser for sensitive skin, a foamy formula that feels like "a tiny handful of clouds," and a splurge-worthy option for calming acne.

The best facial cleansers (several of which are on sale right now)→

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One last thing: "It's like the dessert course of my shower"

A square black face scrubber resting on a bar of soap on a soap holder in the shower.

NYT Wirecutter

This inexpensive silicone face scrubber offers a quick, comfortable way to clean your face — no washing, wringing, or batteries required. Writer Brent Butterworth simply dampens it in the shower, scrapes its hundreds of silicone fingers across some soap, and gets to work. "After half a century of skipping skin care," he writes, "this $9 scrubber finally got me washing my face."

And it's nearly half off right now→

How often should you wash your face? It depends.

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