4 Reasons To Fall In Love With Powder Cleanser

Never heard of a powder facial cleanser before?! 

No worries, you're not alone! 

I learned about powdered cleansers fairly recently.

I was researching deodorant ingredients when I first started Twinkle Apothecary, and came across some old folk skincare treatments - a tapioca starch paste to cure acne, and a white rice powder mask to brighten skin. 

So I stirred up a little rice flour, a little tapioca, and some kaolin clay, then added some neroli essential oil to regenerate my skin cells, lavender to soothe, and ylang ylang to balance. 

I mixed it with water and put in on my face, because, hey, it couldn't hurt... 

and when I rinsed it off, 

OMG. MIND. BLOWN. 

I swear my skin had never looked better. 

I felt so fresh, and bright, and clean... and my face felt soooooo soft. 

(I can't even remember what my skin looked like before this moment. I don't even remember what I used to use to wash my face before this... who cares?!) 

And before I knew it, I had myself a skincare line. 

Because if you're going to sell a cleanser, you gotta have a toner to go with it, and of course you'll want a lovely moisturizing oil/serum to finish it off... and so on and so forth... ;) 

About a year and a half later, I'm still totally in love with this powdered cleanser. I use it pretty much every night - occasionally I'll skip and just do an oil cleanse - but I will never, ever go back to a soapy, sudsy, foaming face wash. (You'll see why if you keep reading.)  

If I haven't convinced you to try my magical (but oh-so-simple!) cleanser yet, here are four more reasons to fall in love: 

1. You're not paying for water. 

If you're reading a skincare blog, you probably already know this, but on cosmetic packaging, the ingredients are listed in order by amount. Go look at your face wash ingredients. What's first? Water. Sometimes they use the Spanish "agua." I have no idea why. The aqua is most likely followed by glycerin, then like a cetyl-something or other... and what the heck is all of that stuff anyway?  

Basically, it's mostly water. And if it does have natural ingredients, they're usually way down at the bottom. And full of preservatives. Maybe that's why it doesn't really make you glow like the girl in the commercial who can somehow splash her face with water without messing up her mascara. 

There are 6 wholesome ingredients in my powdered cleanser. It's so simple you could probably make it yourself, but you probably also have better things to do. I got you. 

Simple is often underrated when it comes to skincare.

Simple works. 

And if you want to get super fancy with your face, you simply add to it!

If you're prone to breakouts and clogged pores: activated charcoal.

If you need more exfoliation: rose hip seed powder.

Instead of mixing it with water, mix it with toner, or rose hydrosol, add some facial oil, coconut milk, green tea... the possibilities are endless. 

This versatility is key, because your skin isn't static - it changes due to your environment, diet, hydration levels, hormones, etc., etc. I love the idea of having one, good, basic product that you can adapt to meet your skin's specific needs at any given time.  

Aside from only using whatever bit of water you need to wash your face with, it's made from stone-ground flours, sustainably harvested essential oils, and you can even buy it in a recycled and recyclable refill package. Refill the glass bottle your first order came with, or just scoop it right out of the bag! Send me a note when you place your order and I'll even avoid adding a label. #ZEROWASTEGOALS

4. It doesn't disrupt your skin's pH balance.  

So, before I tried it, I probably wouldn't have believed it either, but you really don't need foaming suds and bubbles to get your face clean. In fact, using soap to wash your face can do more harm than good by destroying your skin's protective acid mantle, leaving it prone to dryness, irritation, bacteria and fungal overgrowth, breakouts, and premature aging. Yikes. Now, I'm not a scientist, so I encourage you to do your own research instead of just blindly accepting what some chick trying to sell handmade skincare on the internet thinks about pH levels; but basically, your skin likes to be slightly acidic, around a 5.5 on the pH scale - and soap is very alkaline, which throws everything out of wack. When you wash with soap, you're washing away dirt and oil, but you're also washing away all of the good bacteria and moisturizing protective oil (sebum) that your skin naturally produces in order to stay healthy and balanced. 

Check out this fun little experiment I just conducted in my bathroom using some pH testing strips: 

A. This is the pH of my tap water: 

B. This is the pH of the natural, unscented soap I keep in my shower + tap water:

 

Woah, Nelly! Off the chart! 

C. Here's the pH of my powdered cleanser mixed with my toning mist: 

You don't have to abolish all of the good bacteria and oil on your face to make it clean. If you're wearing a lot of makeup, start by removing it with an oil cleanse, then, the manual exfoliation of the rice flour will remove dead skin cells and debris, the kaolin clay draws impurities from your pores as it dries, and honestly, I'm not exactly sure what the tapioca starch does, but it works so well that there's no way would ever consider taking it out. Maybe it's just magic. (Haha!)

Just like when you use a regular cleanser, you'll want to follow with toner to get anything your cleanser might have left behind. 

And voilà,

SPARKLING CLEAN.  

I know this sounds a bit dramatic, but I feel like this one simple product has changed my skin. It's smoother, brighter, less prone to breakouts and dryness, and I don't rely on foundation/BB/CC cream for daily wear anymore. (Bonus reason #5: all of the time you'll save once you're feeling confident in your skin!) 

Order a sample and let me know what you think! 

Or, better yet, pick up an April beauty box, which has a whole 2 oz bottle plus a sample of activated charcoal powder, which will get your pores MEGA clean. 

Questions? 

You know where to reach me! 

-XO- 

Stefanie