Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleanser vs La Roche-Posay Toleriane Purifying Foaming Cleanser

Which should you pick?

What each delivers

Side by side

What's in one but not the other

The two labels share 5 of the 23 ingredients between them. The actives are where they part company.

What each one adds acts on The stratum corneum for Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleanser and The stratum corneum for La Roche-Posay Toleriane Purifying Foaming Cleanser. That is the layer each is understood to act on, not how deep it travels.

Where each label stops telling you the dose

Ingredients are listed in order of how much is inside, but only down to 1%. Below that the brand may list them in any order it likes, so the bottom of a label is a set, not a ranking. These two stop being a ranking in very different places.

Below the line is not too little to work: ceramides, retinoids and peptides all act far under a percent. It means the position stops carrying information. Where the line falls is inferred from the first ingredient whose whole job is done at a fraction of a percent, so it is a close read of the label rather than a number from the formula sheet.

Better for…

• Dark spots & uneven toneEither works
• Breakouts & congestionEither works
• Dryness & dehydrationEither works
• Sensitive, reactive skinToleriane Purifying Foaming Cleanser

What the scene shows

The cross-section at the top of this page is not decoration and not a diagram of the skin in general: it places the molecules these two are sold on at the layer each is understood to act on. Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleanser is placed by Glycerin (the stratum corneum), Niacinamide (the living epidermis), Pro-vitamin B5 (the stratum corneum). La Roche-Posay Toleriane Purifying Foaming Cleanser is placed by Glycerin (the stratum corneum), Ceramide 3 (the stratum corneum), Niacinamide (the living epidermis). A layer is where an ingredient does its work, never how deep it travels, and never a claim about how well it works.

Back up to the scene