Cetaphil- Caroline Hirons review

[JAB2012]

I love her blog and she doesn't have a good word to say about Cetaphil. She mentions cerave in the similar products bit... I just bought a bottle when I was in the states recently. I bought it because it said it had ceramides and hylaronic acid in it but looking at the ingredient list it seems to contain a lot of variations of alcohol. Are these products similar? Am I better of not using it? I have fairly sensitive skin. Any views appreciated! And why are they recommended by dermatologists if they are rubbish for the skin?

CH's stances are based on her personal value systems that are not widely shared by dermatologists. They, in turn, have their own biases but the ones that I know are dealing with stuff like skin cancer, psoriasis, rosacea and allergies from occupational exposures in their day to day practice and tend to be quite skeptical about cosmetics. They see mineral oil as a great occlusive for leaky atopic skin and many 'natural' products as cocktails of allergens (because some massage therapists, hairdressers and nail technicians develop serious allergies at work and need to be retrained).

I find Sam Bunting a tad irritating, what with her bottom wiggling in her youtube videos.

I believe Dr. Sam Bunting even uses Cetaphil for herself and praises it for its uncomplicated formulation which is what you'd want in conjunction with a prescription.

I think it's a little tin hat to suggest CH is slating Cetaphil on behalf of other companies and more likely that she took on the review because many asked her opinion on it and it suits her brand to address it in the manner that she did. It reaffirms her brutally honest opinion on products ('saying it like it is', etc.) whilst not burning any bridges with that company as she doesn't really represent their target audience. It also reaffirms her stand on anything potentially foaming = evil.

Frankly it would have been odd had she suddenly started praising it, it would be like the Beautypedia faction praising a product full of alcohol, fragrance, and essential oils, even if it was a great product that was loved by all they'd have to (and do) slate it to remain consistent with their philosophy of what makes great skincare.

Both dh and I use cetaphil. It suits both of us really well, and is significantly cheaper than what j was using before.

My skin does not do well with lots of fussing. When I tried a Hirins type regime it was an expensive way of making everything worse.

Frustrated if I wasn't a bit thick and terminally sarcastic I would have loved to have written your post. It needs to be forwarded to La Hirons.

And I love your post Dame D! Made me laugh. But I totally agree with you.

I'm not sure I agree with CH giving 'brutally honest opinions' botemp. I'm far too sceptical and think that her persona is well formulated by a very well paid machine with many vested interests.

John am so happy. Do you hate the womb-like living room too? Who wants to apply free moisturiser in a uterus? There is nothing worse than CH being 'brutally honest' except when she is being 'brutally honest' in a messy bun with Sali doing Darth Vader impressions in the background. Twats.

Perhaps I should have put that in apostrophes too Cheese, as I agree with you on that. I think there are far too many conflicts of interest to be truly objective.

What I meant to say was that her 'brutally honest opinions' persona is the basis of her brand, and the woman is very much a brand. Anything to reinforce that image without actually damaging brand relations is a win-win and Cetaphil is an easy target, dismissed by ingredients alone. I suspect had it been a less known/popular product leaving her unimpressed it wouldn't have received the space on her blog that it did.

I honestly don't know why clearly intelligent women would suck up any advice from CH. She looks like a bag of spanners and lies through her teeth. She is the used-car saleswoman of skincare.Lots of us struggle with our skin - I know I do. My first port of call will always be MN. It may not work for me but you do get honest opinions from actual real people.

Where are you all getting your cerave SPF moisturiser? Amazon?

Not a fan of CH. Find her very very restricted in what brands she likes. She basically eulogises about 6 (expensive) brands in every second blog post year in year out. Getting VERY boring.

You can get Cerave on Amazon.

I bloody love the cetaphil cleanser. Should I try Cerave?

Not tried the Cerave cleanser. I love love love the Cerave PM moisturiser.

I get it on Amazon.

I haven't tried he cetaphil but the cerave cleanser is nice. Very mild. It will not shift make up though. I have started using it in the mornings and on make up free days.

Snort at 'used car saleswoman of skincare'!!
Hard sell. And yy re the room, has that room not changed? I haven't looked at CH for a long time, life's too short. It's all tedious.

I use the Cerave pm moisturiser. V nice.

I really rate Cetaphil, my skin likes it and doesn't react badly at all unlike with other cleansers.

I like the cetaphil cleanser too. It hasn't done anything amazing for my skin but I find it does a straightforward clean without causing any problems.

i use the Cetaphil cleanser and moisturiser for normal to oily skin. I find the cleanser can sometimes leave my skin a bit dry, so I don't use it everyday (just water most days), but when I am a bit grubby it's great. I love love love the moisturiser: it makes my skin lovely and soft and provides a great matte base for make up. It's got SPF 30 too, so no need for additional sun protection. I'm genuinely surprised that CH hates it so much!

What I find really odd are the comments from people saying they've used it for ages and didn't realise it was bad but they won't repurchase now they've read her post.

That's madness! Why on earth, if you've used it for ages, would you change on her say so??

I can believe it.

I used to follow her blog obsessionally. When she started posting against mineral oil there would be comments from people who clearly had real problem skin saying stuff like 'I've just looked at the ingredients of the Retin-A my dermatologist prescribed for my acne and it has mineral oil in. Thank-you Caroline for telling me about this - I'm now going to throw my prescription cream in the bin as I realize this has been the cause of my acne all along, why would my dermatologist do this to me?'

I was like that people were this vulnerable and not advised that they should be taking advice from their real life dermatologist, not a beauty therapist on the internet who had never seen them.

The comments are also full of students with bad acne, as you would expect from teens and early twenties, trying to fix it with high end products. Caroline is very honest that she is into high end products and that is what her blog will be about - but it's sad seeing desperate youngsters miserable about their skin spending a fortune.

'She looks like a bag of spanners'?? Really? So, she's ugly therefore can't know anything about skincare? Not to mention a badly decorated living room, whoch clearly means she doesn't know jack shit about jack shit.
Yes, she recommends a lot of high end products but that's her market, and she usually recommends cheap (including very cheap) alternatives. Yes, she gives her opinions, but says 'but if it works for you, keep on' and constantly tells people to buy what they can afford.
I'm not a huge fan (my main query being: how can anybody who uses 10+ different products on her face every day really know which ones actually make a difference and which don't), but I enjoy her blog and have found some lovely brands through it. The vitriol here seems completely unnecessary.
And aren't pharma companies constantly being had up for bribing doctors to prescribe more of their medicines? Why would you think dermatologists are somehow above all that?

phoolani I apologise. When I said ' bag o' spanners' I didn't mean she was ugly. CH is an attractive woman but I do think for someone who bangs on about product that she is a bit unkempt.
I also should not have criticised her living room - it's just you'd think that she'd do a quick once-over with a duster and hoover before she preaches about Sunday Riley serum.

Perhaps this lady just doesn't know how to use Cetaphil Gentle Cleanser.. I find that when I spread it over the face very gently and take it off with a hot wash cloth, but again very very gently, it's an amazing thing that instantly calms my face, leaving it clean and with some extra glow. The same goes for La Roche Posay Toleriane cleanser.
If I just rub it in and wash it off with water, the creamy texture usually gets into my eyes, causing blurring vision (contacts) and sometimes even causes some mild reaction (pink skin, etc).
I don't know why the result is so different if used in this extremely gentle way. But it does say on the box that it should be gently rubbed and patted dry without rubbing, so I guess there is some secret in it.

From a google search: Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser contains just eight ingredients: water, cetyl alcohol, propylene glycol, sodium lauryl sulfate, stearyl alcohol, methylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben.

Sodium lauryl sulfate is a foaming agent, a surfactant that can dry the skin. No other particularly good ingredients. I'm not bothered about parabens, they're preservatives, but a lot of ppl steer clear of them.
CeraVe, for example, has 3 types of ceramides, glycerin and Hyaluronic Acid. Ingredients which are actually beneficial and work to repair and keep moisture in the skin.

I think it's a complete myth that dermatologists are, by default, up to date and experts on all things skin. Some are very much in the past, still recommend things like Aqueous cream, they will recommend what's on their list or what has been promoted by the huge pharmaceutical companies. It's not some huge conspiracy, but it's big business.

I've had hugely helpful advice on online forums like Mumsnet, bloggers like Gothamista and the Ordinary group - not for their products funnily enough, but Korean brands which seem to suit my reactive, eczema prone skin. I now know to look at ingredients and not the marketing claims.

All advice needs to be taken with a large pinch of salt. What is one person's holy grail can cause a terrible reaction for someone else.

Both teenagers have had pretty bad acne, one on ABs but both use cetaphil cleanser now and have seen improvements. I use it for my mature, dryer skin and won’t be buying anythng else now.