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Our love for Korean skincare products has been long documented on this blog. Whether it’s rich cleansing balms that help to remove every scrap of makeup from our faces, or the juicy essences that keep our complexion feeling hydrated and plump, the world of Korean skincare has it all — including some top Korea facial wash products.
Cleansing your skin correctly, every night is one of the most critical steps in any routine. Keeping your skin squeaky clean helps the rest of your skincare and makeup products go on properly, and helps to keep acne and blemishes away.
Some of our favorite cleansers come from Korean brands and, today, we’re sharing with you some of the top picks we’d recommend you try out if you want to keep your skin clean and hydrated.
Best Korean cleansers to get clean and hydrated skin
When you have dry skin, you want a Korean cleanser that is going to remove makeup and excess sebum, while retaining your skin’s natural oils.
Anything too stripping will leave your skin feeling parched and could cause more irritation for acne prone skin types. Here are some of the best Korean cleansers that we’ve tried, so you can discover your next favorite cleansing product.
COSRX Low pH Good Morning Gel Cleanser
When it comes to affordable but efficient skincare products, COSRX is a great brand to look into. They have a huge range of products, but it’s their cleansers that we constantly find ourselves repurchasing.
The Good Morning Gel Cleanser is a low-pH formula, meaning that it doesn’t interfere too much with your skin, it just gives it a thorough clean.
The gel formula quickly foams up and contains natural ingredients like tea tree oil to clear up dry and sensitive skin and eliminate any excess oil.
Although it does have the ingredients that are intended to clear the skin up, it also includes moisturizing ingredients that keep your skin hydrated and keeps your skin’s natural moisture barrier intact.
COSRX Salicylic Acid Daily Gentle Cleanser
Another cleanser from COSRX that we love, particularly for those with combination skin or acne prone skin, is the Salicylic Acid Daily Gentle Cleanser.
This is a great product to add to your skincare routine if you struggle with acne or uneven skin tone. Salicylic Acid is a BHA (beta hydroxy acid) that very gently exfoliates the skin to get rid of dead skin cells and reveal radiant skin underneath.
Any facial cleanser that contains this ingredient is a great product if you want to improve your skin, but we particularly love this product because it doesn’t strip the skin and really improves the overall look and feel of our complexion.
Etude House Soon Jung pH 6.5 Whip Cleanser
The Soon Jung range is one of our favorites for dry skin as it’s packed with hyaluronic acid and other moisturizing ingredients that help keep skin feeling its best. The pH 6.5 Whip Cleanser from the range is no exception to the lineup of impressive formulas.
This gentle brightening cleansing foam is a gentle formula that would work well on the most sensitive skin or oily skin types. Perfect for your second cleanse this deep cleansing formula lathers up to remove stubborn makeup while achieving flawlessly hydrated skin. After use, the skin appears smooth and your skin’s barrier will remain undamaged.
Although Korea facial wash cleansers have had somewhat of a bad reputation over the past few years for being drying, this product really proves that many modern products are able to achieve the foam that everyone loves, while really delivering on hydration.
The Face Shop Rice Water Bright Cleansing Foam
Rice water is an ingredient you see a lot in Korean skincare routines, it’s a natural ingredient that helps to brighten, cleanse, and hydrate the skin — which makes it the perfect addition to your cleansing routine.
The Face Shop’s Rice Water Bright Cleansing Foam is a great water based cleanser that cleanses the skin gently, leaving the skin soft and hydrated after use. This daily cleansing foam promises to leave your skin looking brighter and healthier after each use, and it definitely delivers on that.
NEOGEN – Dermalogy Real Fresh Foam Green Tea
Neogen Green Tea Real Fresh Foam Cleanser is a must-try for oily, combination, or acne-prone skin.
The star ingredient in this cleanser is fermented green tea extract, which brightens, calms, and hydrates skin. The gentle foam effectively removes impurities such as sweat and dirt from the skin without stripping your skin’s natural oils.
Lightweight and hydrating, this is the perfect water-based cleanser for your double-cleansing routine to help remove any residue from the oil cleansers you used before.
Isntree – Hyaluronic Acid Low pH Cleansing Foam
The final facial cleanser we have to talk about is perfect for sensitive skin types who just want the best Korean product to provide natural moisture while removing makeup. The Isntree cleansing foam is a foam cleanser is packed with hyaluronic acid and other hydrating ingredients to create a rich moist foaming cleanser.
The moisturizing properties of this cleanser mean that it feels incredibly gentle on the skin, perfect for ensuring healthy skin and keeping up your skin’s natural essential oils that you need to keep your skin moisturized.
A Guide To The Korean Double Cleansing Method
The double cleanse method is one of the most popular ways of removing makeup and keeping your skin fresh and healthy with a Korea facial wash. If this isn’t already part of your skincare routine, we’d highly recommend adding it.
As the name would suggest, this is a two-step routine that involves using two different types of the best Korean cleansers to thoroughly clean your skin and prevent any skin impurities.
The two steps involve:
- Step 1: Use oil cleansers, like a cleansing balm or cleansing oil to break up any makeup, and loosen dirt, sunscreen, or any oil that has built up on your face throughout the day.
- Step 2: Use a Korean water based cleanser, like a foam cleanser, cream cleansers, or gel cleansers, to cleanse everything that the oil cleanser picked up from your face.
This isn’t something that you need to do every time you wash your face, it’s mainly best for the evening when you want a thorough cleanse. The oil cleanser eliminates sweat and any makeup, so isn’t usually needed for your morning cleanse.
No matter what skin type you have, whether it’s sensitive skin, oily skin, or dry skin, the double cleanse method is very effective at cleaning the skin. It’s just important to choose the right cleanser for your skin type, which we’ll go into more detail about below.
What differentiates K-beauty cleansers from others on the market?
Korea facial wash cleansers are extremely popular at the moment, as is the Korean skincare routine in general. But, what is it that makes these products so widely used?
The Korean skincare industry is booming, mainly because they craft products that are extremely gentle, pH-balanced, and hydrating. It also doesn’t matter if you have sensitive skin or any other skin types as there are plenty of products for you to choose from.
Whether you’re looking for a foam cleanser, cleansing oils, or an oil based cleanser to remove dead skin cells, you can find an affordable yet effective Korean product to fit your needs.
You will also be able to find products with ingredients that you can’t find easily in Western foam cleansers. For example:
- Green tea
- Ginseng
- Snail mucin
- Mugwort extract
- Fermented rice water
- Licorice root
How to Choose The Right Korea Facial Wash For Your Skin
Choosing the best cleanser is not as simple as going to the shops and picking anything off the shelf, it’s best to find something that is suitable for your skin type.
There are a few main skin types that you might fall into; dry skin, sensitive skin, acne-prone skin, oily skin, or combination skin.
Different cleansers will work very differently on different skin types, so it’s important to look at the ingredients and also the marketing copy on the packaging to make sure that the product is targeted towards your skin type before purchasing.
What Korean cleanser to use for sensitive skin?
If you have sensitive skin, you’re going to want to choose an extremely gentle formula that isn’t going to irritate your skin too much.
Look for hydrating and gentle ingredients in your cleansers, such as hyaluronic acid, fatty acids and green tea extract that will protect your sensitive skin. Some people also like to stay away from harsh ingredients and essential oils, like tea tree oil, which can sometimes be irritating.
How to pick the best Korean cleansers for acne prone skin
Normally, people with acne-prone skin would think they need to stay away from oil cleansers as their skin is already oily enough — but this isn’t necessarily true.
It’s true that oil based cleansers can clog your pores, but it’s not like we’re using olive oil on our skin. If you choose a light cleansing oil and follow up with a rich foam cleanser to rinse the oil off your skin, you definitely won’t need to worry about triggering your acne.
Can you choose a Korean face cleanser to remove dead skin cells?
Although we don’t recommend using harsh scrubs on your face, you can find a cleanser that gently removes dead skin cells.
Look for ingredients like glycolic acid and salicylic acids which are gentle chemical exfoliants. With these ingredients, you’ll be able to gently buff away any dead skin cells to reveal radiant and smooth skin underneath.
Other Korean Must-Haves to Add to Your Skincare Regime
In this article, we’ve gone over some of the best Korean cleansers that you should pick up but there are plenty of other Korean products that you should add to your beauty routine, other than facial cleansers.
On the blog, we’ve spoken about some of our favorite Korean skincare products, bold lip colors, and even a guide to Korean beauty essentials that your makeup bag needs.
If you have any Korea facial wash products that you love, let us know!
