What’s The Difference Between Face Wash and Face Scrub?
Different products for face cleansers have different textures and ingredients that may be better or worse for your unique skin type based on your goals and ideal skincare routine. Face wash and face scrubs are two broad categories of skincare products that can help exfoliate, cleanse, and nourish skin with essential ingredients. Let’s find out how these products can become an integral part of your skincare routine and who can benefit from one over the other.
What is a Face Wash?
Face washes are also called face cleansers by certain brands and manufacturers. These formulas are designed to gently lift away oil, makeup, and environmental debris from your skin to help clean your pores while not aggravating the skin's surface. These formulas tend to have a smooth, sometimes foamy consistency, and are usually gentle enough to use at least once a day.
Face washes often contain antibacterial compounds to promote healthy skin and help control acne, for example, as well as other formulas with more potent ingredients like salicylic acid to help flush trapped dirt from pores.
What is a Face Scrub?
Face scrubs tend to be more exfoliating than cleansing. This means their formulas often have physical scrubbing components like polished walnut shell fragments, salt crystals, or other granules that scrub away dead skin cells and dirt. This usually serves to brighten, stimulate, and refresh the skin and prepare it for absorbing other skincare products more efficiently, like moisturizers, by opening up pores and softening skin.
The Difference Between Face Scrub and Face Wash
The key difference between a scrub and a cleanser is that facial scrubs are usually intended to remove dead skin cells through abrasion or chemical dissolution. Not only does this limit how often people with certain skin types should use scrubs, but it also means that washes are useful in different circumstances. Since the skin is constantly regenerating its own cells, dead skin cells can pile up and clog pores, dull the complexion, and contribute to a flaky appearance to the skin. This is why regular exfoliation is helpful, but it has its drawbacks.
Facial cleansers or face washes, on the other hand, are less aggressive forms of cleansing that are recommended to remove the daily buildup of oil and debris and prime the skin for the rest of your skincare routine. Exfoliants are also essential parts of a skincare routine, but probably should not be used every day due to their intensity.
Who Should Use a Face Scrub vs. Face Wash
The simple point is that anyone can benefit from either a face scrub or a facial cleanser. Face scrubs are good at refreshing the skin of your face once or twice a week, whereas cleansers are a daily necessity. When you choose a scrub and cleanser that are specifically formulated for your skin type, with potent ingredients like Vitamin C or hyaluronic acid, you ensure that you receive the most nourishing benefits from either a scrub or a face wash.
Epicuren Discovery uses clean, high-performing ingredients like vitamins and salicylic acid in our facial cleansers and scrubs, with options for skin types from oily and blemish-prone to dry or sensitive skin.
How to Use Face Scrubs and Washes
Cleansing is the first step in any high-quality skincare routine. Even when exfoliating on top of cleansing, use your facial cleanser first before your face scrub. For the best chance of having clear, glowing skin, use a cleanser both in the morning and at night. Use exfoliants as directed; over-use of these potent scrubs can result in stripping the skin of its good oils and resulting in the over-production of oil or irritation.
High-Quality Skincare Ingredients from Epicuren Discovery
If you’re ready to experience the best face wash, you’re in the right place. Epicuren Discovery provides luxurious cleansing formulas and deeply exfoliating face scrubs so you can enjoy smooth, soft, and clear skin that looks great. Browse our cleansers or exfoliants or take our Skin Quiz to find formulas suited to your skin type and skincare goals.