Bee Good (or go home)

Honey & Propolis 2-in-1 Cream Cleanser

I chose Bee Good Honey & Propolis 2-in-1 Cream Cleanser as part of my build a box from Latest in Beauty last month as I've been intrigued by the Bee Good company for a while now mostly because honey, mmm yummy honey. Although you can't eat this cleanser.

The Claims

"Our multi award-winning Honey & Propolis 2-in-1 Cream Cleanser sweeps away make-up and grime without drying out your skin. Used with the included pure muslin cloth to gently exfoliate, it leaves skin bee-autifully clean, soft and silky-smooth. 

Bee Good's Honey & Propolis 2 in 1 Cream is simply bursting with active ingredients including super-moisturising British wild flower honey, nourishing British crambe oil and British propolis.

The only British premium skincare brand to exclusively use British beeswax, honey and propolis in all our products."

The Ingredients

Aqua, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Stearic Acid, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Mel, Propolis Extract, Cera Alba, Crambe Abyssinica Seed Oil, Brassica Campestris Oil, Benzyl Alcohol, Limonene, Sodium Hydroxide, Phenoxyethanol, Parfum, Xanthan Gum, Disodium EDTA, Dehydroacetic Acid, Ethylhexylglycerin, Linalool, Alcohol Denat. (SD Alcohol 40-B)

The Immediate Concerns

By now I'm sure you're all aware of my concerns with several of the ingredients marked in red here, so I contacted Bee Good to ask why their award winning natural skincare contains in particular Sodium Hydroxide and Phenoxyethanol. 

The response I got is below;

Here is some more information on the two specific ingredients that you highlighted (its a bit longer than 140 characters hence the email, I hope you don't mind!)

SODIUM HYDROXIDE on its own is not recommended for general use including in skincare, however after it is combined and reacts with oil and water it creates what is called castile soap which is harmless and in fact very useful - particularly in cleansers. In very small quantities we use Sodium Hydroxide to help to hold the pH of the product and because it is a good cleansing agent. It is completely safe after it is combined with other constitutes and helps us to create a soft, effective and skin-friendly cream cleanser.

PHENOXYETHANOL when expertly combined with other suitable ingredients as it is in our cleanser, it is totally safe and very beneficial. It is a preservative, however it is one that is paraben free. (We will not use parabens in any of our products). We use it in very small quantities in a blend that is beneficially working to ensure the safety and shelf life of our products.

The fact they responded to me impressed me, although I don't know how convinced I am that these ingredients are any good, however, as a cleanser it is on the skin for a very short space of time, so within that time constant could do little harm.

It does also contain some lovely ingredients that are pretty good for the skin such as Glycerin, Mel, Propolis Extract, Cera Alba, Crambe Abyssinica Seed Oil and Brassica Campestris Oil all of which are nourishing and skin conditioning.

How Did It Fair?

This is a very thick cream cleanser and it took a bit of rubbing to spread it thoroughly across my face, due to that I think I used more product each wash than I usually would with a thinner consistency cleanser. It has a lovely, almost citrusy scent to it which is very pleasant, and it cleansed my skin very well, although if you wear more makeup than I (which is rather little) you might want to pre wash, double wash or use a toner afterwards.

My Conclusion

I only had the small size cleanser which is 30ml, I used it for about two weeks before it ran out so it's not really long enough to tell if it has has an affect on my skins condition however it was a nice cleanser.

30ml of Bee Good Honey & Propolis 2-in-1 Cream Cleanser costs £4.95 and 100ml costs £11.50 from the Bee Good website.