A soap-free facial cleansing foam from Weleda, 150 ml, with witch hazel extract. It comes out of the pump already foamed, which is more useful than it sounds.
Why a pre-foamed cleanser is a good idea. A pump that aerates the product as it dispenses does two things. It meters a consistent, small dose, so you use less; and it delivers the surfactant already diluted and distributed, so you are not rubbing concentrated cleanser into your face and then working it out. On thin or reactive facial skin, less mechanical work is better work.
Witch hazel, accurately. Hamamelis virginiana is a North American shrub, long used by indigenous peoples and adopted into European and American pharmacopoeias in the nineteenth century. Its bark and leaves are rich in tannins, which are astringent: they bind proteins and cause tissue to contract slightly, which is why witch hazel makes skin feel tightened and temporarily reduces the look of large pores.
And here is the correction worth making: pores do not open and close. They have no muscle. Nothing you apply to your face opens or closes them. What astringents do is make the surrounding tissue swell slightly, which narrows the visible opening for a while — a real, temporary, cosmetic effect, and a completely different thing from the claim usually printed on the bottle. Pore size is largely genetic and determined by how much sebum the gland beneath produces.
One practical warning: many witch hazel products — particularly the cheap drugstore toners — contain a great deal of alcohol, which dries and irritates skin far more than the witch hazel helps it. If you have used witch hazel before and found it harsh, that was usually the alcohol. Check any witch hazel product's ingredient list, not just its front label.
How to use it. Morning and evening, on damp skin, worked gently with the fingertips for twenty or thirty seconds, then rinsed with lukewarm water. Not hot — hot water is the single most common cause of a face that feels tight after washing.
Weleda, Switzerland, since 1921. Available at Só Verde, an organic concept store in Foz, Porto.
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Weleda
Weleda
