the B. spot

For those of you into all things “mineral”, Bare Escentuals has a cleanser just for you!  It’s a water activated cleanser that exfoliates and delivers antioxidants such as green tea and beta carotene.  It also contains anti-inflammatory ingredients  like colloidal oatmeal to offset irritation due to it’s exfoliating properties (even though the exfoliants used are not “harsh”).  It comes as a powder so it’s not as user-friendly as a traditional aqueous (water based) exfoliant cleansers, but if you follow the directions it shouldn’t be too messy because it thickens a bit once it gets wet.

Science Behind It:

The gentle exfoliation comes from the rice starch and sodium bicarbonate.  These rather small exfoliants are hard enough to exfoliate but soft and uniform enough not to cause microtears in your skin.  Sodium bicarbonate is water soluble and will begin to dissolve during the cleansing process.  The exfoliation process is removing the dead skin cells that would otherwise block the antioxidants and anti-inflammatories from getting into your skin; you are driving the “goodies” into your skin as you rub.  FYI, it’s also that layer of dead skin cells that makes your skin appear dull and lackluster.

The cleansing surfactant used is sodium cocoyl glutamate.  It is a mild, natural surfactant created from L-Glutamic Acid (an amino acid) and coconut fatty acids.  Oh, I almost forgot, the minerals in this product are kaolin (the first ingredient), silica, calcium sodium phosphosilicate and Bare Escentuals “soil mineral concentrate”.  Just in case your interested, this product contains natural and essential oils for moisturization and fragrance- exfoliation tends to leave your skin dry and taut.