Paula's Choice Resist Perfectly Balanced Foaming Cleanser Versus First Aid Beauty Pure Skin Face Cleanser

Paula's Choice Resist Perfectly Balanced Foaming Cleanser Versus First Aid Beauty Pure Skin Face Cleanser

This mild cream cleanser is made to cleanse without leaving your skin tight or dry.

This mild cream cleanser is made to cleanse while calming and soothing your skin.

What's inside

Key Ingredients

Benefits

Concerns

Ingredients Side-by-side

Water

Sodium Lauroamphoacetate

Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate

Stearic Acid

Glycerin

Glycol Distearate

Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil

Acrylates Copolymer

Cetearyl Alcohol

Sodium Hyaluronate

Ceramide NP

Ceramide AP

Ceramide EOP

Phytosphingosine

Phospholipids

Sphingolipids

Lecithin

Arginine

Cholesterol

Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract

Disodium EDTA

Sodium Chloride

Sodium Hydroxide

Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate

Xanthan Gum

Carbomer

Hexylene Glycol

Phenoxyethanol

Caprylyl Glycol

Water, Sodium Lauroamphoacetate, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Stearic Acid, Glycerin, Glycol Distearate, Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil, Acrylates Copolymer, Cetearyl Alcohol, Sodium Hyaluronate, Ceramide NP, Ceramide AP, Ceramide EOP, Phytosphingosine, Phospholipids, Sphingolipids, Lecithin, Arginine, Cholesterol, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Disodium EDTA, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate, Xanthan Gum, Carbomer, Hexylene Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol

Hydrogenated Coconut Acid

Sodium Isethionate

Stearyl Alcohol

Allantoin

Chrysanthemum Parthenium Extract

Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract

Glycyrrhiza Glabra Root Extract

Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice

Tocopherol

Hydrogenated Palm Glycerides Citrate

Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate

Sodium PCA

Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose

Coco-Glucoside

Glyceryl Oleate

Citric Acid

Potassium Sorbate

Sodium Benzoate

Maltodextrin

Tetrasodium EDTA

Water, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Glycerin, Stearic Acid, Hydrogenated Coconut Acid, Sodium Isethionate, Stearyl Alcohol, Allantoin, Chrysanthemum Parthenium Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Glycyrrhiza Glabra Root Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Tocopherol, Hydrogenated Palm Glycerides Citrate, Phenoxyethanol, Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate, Sodium PCA, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Coco-Glucoside, Glyceryl Oleate, Sodium Chloride, Disodium EDTA, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, Maltodextrin, Tetrasodium EDTA

Reviews

Alternatives

Ingredients Explained

These ingredients are found in both products.

Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.

Disodium EDTA is a chelating agent. It grabs onto and deactivates metal ions that sneak into your products from water, packaging, or air.

This ingredient mainly works behind the scenes and helps with:

On top of that, this ingredient can counteract the effects of hard water by binding to the minerals in it.

One thing worth knowing is that Disodium EDTA has been shown to be a mild penetration enhancer. It can help other ingredients absorb into skin more effectively which can be a double-edged sword (great for actives, but can also make the active too strong if you have sensitive skin).

Clinical patch testing showed no significant skin irritation at typical use concentrations and minimal dermal absorption.

You'll most likely see this ingredient near the end of an ingredient list. It's typically found in concentrations less than 1%.

Glycerin (or glycerol) is a compound naturally found in your skin. It's a powerhouse humectant that pulls water into the stratum corneum.

Topically, glycerin does several things at once:

Your skin makes glycerin on its own (mostly from sebaceous oil breakdown) and shuttles it to your outermost layer of skin, or your epidermis, via aquaporin-3.

Aquaporin-3 is a transporter that is essential for normal skin hydration, elasticity, and repair. Interestingly, mice lacking in AQP3 have dry and less elastic skin that can be fully corrected with glycerin.

This ingredient is non-irritating, plays well with almost every ingredient, and works across all skin types. Typical use is anywhere between 3-10% but can go up to 79% in some leave-on products.

Just know very high concentrations (>40%) can feel tacky in low humidity.

Glycerin is the name for this ingredient in American English. British English uses Glycerol/Glycerine.

Phenoxyethanol is one of the most widely used preservatives in skincare (and for good reason!).

It has a large spectrum of antimicrobial activity and especially effective bacteria, yeast, and mold while only having a weak effect on your skin's natural microbiome.

On a cellular level, it disrupts the cell membranes of microbes by poking holes that make the cell leak. This shuts down the chemical reactions the microbe needs to make energy so it can no longer survive.

Another perk of this ingredient is that it stays functional across a wide pH range (3-10).

You'll often see it paired with boosters like Ethylhexylglycerin; one study showed that a 1:9 ratio of Ethylhexylglycerin to Phenoxyethanol damages bacterial membranes as effectively as doubling the Phenoxyethanol concentration on its own.

Typical use concentrations range from 0.3-1% depending on the formula, and this ingredient is capped at 1% int the EU.

Safety-wise, the fear mongering does not hold up to the evidence. The EU's Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety and FDA consider it safe as a preservative at up to 1%, including for children of all ages.

Adverse systemic effects only showed up in animal studies at exposures roughly 200x higher than what people get from cosmetics. And despite its very widespread use, this ingredient is a rare sensitizer and allergic reactions are uncommon.

Chances are, you eat sodium chloride every day. Sodium Chloride is also known as table salt. This ingredient has many purposes in skincare: thickener, emulsifier, and exfoliator.

You'll most likely find this ingredient in cleansers where it is used to create a gel-like texture. As an emulsifier, it also prevents ingredients from separating.

You might see people debate whether Sodium Chloride is comedogenic, but there actually haven't been any comedogenic tests done on it. Either way, the overall formulation of a product matters a lot more than any single ingredient.

You might see this ingredient used in scrubs as a primary exfoliating ingredient.

Sodium cocoyl isethionate is a natural ingredient from coconut oil. It is an ultra gentle cleanser that gives a nice foam without drying the skin or impacting the skin barrier.

The amount of foam created depends on the amount of sodium cocoyl isethionate used in the product.

This ingredient also helps improve the spreadability of a product.

This ingredient hasn’t been shown in studies to feed fungal acne yeast.

Stearic Acid is a fatty acid that is already found in your skin. It's one of the free fatty acids that works alongside ceramides and cholesterols to maintain your barrier.

In cosmetics, it is a multitasker:

Safety-wise, the CIR Expert Panel has concluded it to be safe in cosmetics when formulated to be non-irritating and non-sensitizing.

Free stearic acid is a C18 fatty acid that the Malassezia yeast can substrate, so this ingredient may not be fungal acne safe.

Water. It's the most common cosmetic ingredient of all. You'll usually see it at the top of ingredient lists, meaning that it makes up the largest part of the product.

So why is it so popular? Water most often acts as a solvent - this means that it helps dissolve other ingredients into the formulation.

You'll also recognize water as that liquid we all need to stay alive. If you see this, drink a glass of water. Remember to stay hydrated!

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