If you’re anything like me, when you’re traveling light, you probably don’t feel like transferring your normal face wash into a smaller container—so you’re forced to select among the travel-size options at your local drug store. The last time this happened to me, I opted for Clean and Clear Deep Action Cream Cleanser because it looked pretty good (and I was hoping it would be a better choice than the MUJI moisturizing face soap I chose last time). After using it for a week, I have to say that I liked it more than the MUJI face soap, but not enough to replace my normal everyday CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser.

Clean and Clear Deep Action Cream Cleanser ingredients

This cleanser is a cream cleanser, which means that it’s pretty thick, opaque, and creamy in consistency. It contains a fatty alcohol called cetyl alcohol, which is also included in CeraVe Hydrating Facial Cleanser and CeraVe Daily Moisturizing Lotion. Therefore, it feels almost like a lotion rather than a cleanser, but slightly more slippery.

When you rinse this off your face, you’re left with a cooling sensation (probably due to the menthol). It also contains salicylic acid, which helps improve skin texture by exfoliating. Although salicylic acid is not chemically considered a beta hydroxy acid (BHA), for marketing purposes, it’s categorized as a BHA, and the FDA requires companies to recommend using sun protection on the label of any product that contains salicylic acid.

Clean and Clear Deep Action Cream Cleanser is actually quite similar to Neutrogena Deep Clean Cream Cleanser—and not just in the product name. Deep Action…Deep Clean? Very similar. No, these two products actually contain quite a bit of overlap in their ingredient lists. See Neutrogena’s ingredients below.

Neutrogena Deep Clean Cream Cleanser ingredients

Clean and Clear Deep Action vs. Neutrogena Deep Clean Cream Cleanser showdown

Like Clean and Clear Deep Action Cream Cleanser, Neutrogena Deep Clean Cream Cleanser contains cetyl alcohol as the second ingredient. In fact, it contains every single ingredient that is in Clean and Clear’s version—with a few extra thrown in there: methyl gluceth-20 and steareth-2.

Actually, I used to use Neutrogena Deep Clean Cream Cleanser exclusively in my college years. I liked that it was oil-free and it didn’t dry out my skin. The fragrance was pretty light, and it didn’t irritate my skin. It’s a non-foaming cleanser and it makes your skin feel very refreshed after rinsing it off, because of the cooling aftereffects of the menthol. However, I think the cooling sensation wore off after weeks of continued use, so keep that in mind. Eventually, I decided to experiment with other types of face cleansers.

Cream cleansers: not the cream of the crop

I do like cream cleansers, but I don’t like that both of these cream cleansers include fragrance and gelatin, both of which seem to be unnecessary ingredients. On an everyday, long-term basis, I much prefer to use lightweight, non-foaming, fragrance-free cleansers like Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value Gentle Skin Cleanser and CeraVe Hydrating Facial Cleanser.

So there you have it: Clean and Clear Deep Action Cream Cleanser is an acceptable choice for a short period of time, and for travel purposes, but look elsewhere if you have sensitive, acne-prone skin that doesn’t react well to fragrances.

Related reading

• Whole Foods Gentle Skin Cleanser vs. Cetaphil: Which one reigns supreme?
• CeraVe skincare products: A texture comparison
• CeraVe vs. Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream