Sanctuary Polishing Hot Cloth Cleanser

Sanctuary Polishing Hot Cloth Cleanser

The Claims

"Beeswax, cocoa butter, coconut & jojoba oil & soothing camomile are blended into this nourishing creamy cleanser & when partnered with the gently exfoliating muslin cloth delivers a quick & powerful cleansing result. Dead skin cells, dirt & impurities are gently buffed away to reveal skin that is perfectly clean, soft & glows with health."

The Ingredients

(Please note these ingredients are for the 'new improved' version, I own the older version.)

Aqua (Water), Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Esters, Cera Alba, Glycerin, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Polysorbate 60, Sorbitan Stearate, Camelina Sativa Seed Oil, Diazolidinyl Urea, Sodium Benzoate, Disodium EDTA, Anthemis Nobilis Flower Oil, Potassium Sorbate, Triethanolamine, Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit) Peel Oil, Limonene, Humulus Lupulus (Hops) Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract, Phenoxyethanol, Benzoic Acid, Dehydroacetic Acid, Ethylhexyglycerin, Polyaminopropyl Biguanide.

The Immediate Concerns

There are some really good ingredients in this cleanser, most notably cocoa seed butter and coconut oil, but weighed against them are ingredients that release formaldehyde (diazolidinyl urea) a component that it highly irritating to the skin, eyes, nose, and throat and can cause cancer if encountered in high enough levels. Alongside sodium benzoate, which if mixed with vitamin C creates benzene another carcinogenic. Several other ingredients are known irritants (potassium sorbate, triethanolamine, citrus grandis (grapefruit) peel oil, limonene) and chamomile which features in the claims is so far down the ingredients list as to be completely ineffective.

How Did It Fair?

I've used this cleanser on and off over the past few years before ever looking at the ingredients, thankfully for me I've not got particularly sensitive skin so I've never had a reaction to the product, although I have heard of people whos skin went red, sore, inflamed etc after using it, however they themselves said they suffered from very sensitive skin so if that's you, give this one a miss.

As a cleanser it is a fairly effective product, a thick cream you massage onto dry skin then wipe off using a wet muslin cloth. It has a strong chamomile scent even though chamomile is fairly low on the ingredients list, personally I find the smell repulsive and I often wonder why I bother repurchasing, but then I have a hate hate relationship with chamomile. I hate it and it hates me.

My Conclusion

I've bought it several times whenever I've run out of Cleanse & Polish, however with the combined issues of me disliking the smell and finding a formaldehyde releaser in it I doubt I'll be buying this one again.

Next time on the blog.

Eyebrow Grooming

Do you use this cleanser, has finding out what's in it changed your opinion on the product? I'd love to hear from you. Drop me a comment below.