Today, Iām going to discuss a French pharmacy classic, which is probably one of the most popular cleansing milks out there, especially among people with sensitive skin! I tried the famous Toleriane Dermo Milky Cleanser from La Roche Posay and these are my thoughts!
I mentioned it a few weeks ago in my review of the Sioris Cleanse Me Softly Milk Cleanser, Iāve been testing several different cleansing milks at the moment.
I use them as a gentle morning cleanser, not to remove my makeup (usually, cleansing milks are not so effective in removing long-lasting makeup and the several layers of sunscreen I use every day).
I started using tretinoin a few months ago and I have to treat my usually combo skin like a dry and fragile skin while it adapts to this ingredient (which can take quite a long time, as I mentioned in my dedicated Focus article on Retinol). This requires a bit of adjustment in my skincare routine, as you can imagine!
I used to swear by foaming cleansers in the morning, but I had to switch to cleansing creams, then recently to cleansing milks.
So, Iām experimenting with a lot of them! And when I asked for recommendations on my Instagram, I heard a lot about La Roche Posay Toleriane Dermo Milky Cleanser! Itās apparently overwhelmingly popular among people with sensitive skin, but not only just them.
It was not difficult to find, since it is sold in pharmacies in Dubai too š
I give you my review of this cult favorite skincare product from the French pharmacy!
La Roche Posay, a story of French water:
I wondered if it was worth presenting La Roche Posay, a famous French brand of pharmaceutical skincare products, and then finally, I thought it might be fun to go back over a few lesser-known details!
So it all started with a knight in the Middle Ages (yes, I swear!). During one of his journeys, this knight stopped at a source with his horse to drink. The horse, that suffered from eczema and was probably too hot, decided to take a dip in the spring and came out with its skin healed. OK, this is a medieval legend but thereās probably some truth in it!
As you may have gathered, this source was the one in La Roche Posay, located in the New Aquitaine region in France.
In France, people know a good deal about the therapeutic virtues of thermal waters, which can cure many diseases, and the whole world envies French people for our thermal treatments reimbursed by the French Social Health Department (la SĆ©cu!)! I once told this to an American girlfriend and she didnāt believe me: āSo the French State reimburses you for your stay at the spa! How come?ā
La Roche Posay water is a spring water, naturally very rich in selenium, which has many therapeutic virtues in dermatology. Itās particularly effective at soothing irritated skin and treating skin diseases such as eczema, for example. Recognized as an official public utility in 1869, it became the first European thermal center exclusively dedicated to skin diseases.
The cosmetic brand arrives much later, in 1976. From its beginning, its dedicated to treatments for sensitive skin, highlighting the high content of La Roche Posayās thermal water in its products.
In 1989, the brand was acquired by LāOrĆ©al and is now distributed worldwide!
La Roche Posay Toleriane Dermo Milky Cleanser, product presentation:
Toleriane is one of La Roche Posayās most well-known ranges. It is designed for intolerant skin, very fragile, or sensitive skin in order to soothe it as much as possible, and above all to avoid irritating it on a daily basis.
If you donāt have sensitive skin, itās hard to imagine that something as innocent as cleansing your skin can be very uncomfortable! Indeed, many fragile or sensitive skins are afraid of contact with water, and even the rubbing with their fingertips can trigger redness and an unpleasant feeling of tightness.
La Roche Posay Toleriane Dermo Milky Cleanser is precisely formulated for these types of skin, when people are looking for a product that allows them to cleanse their skin easily and pleasantly, without it being an ordeal!
The formula is really focused on softness with very few cleansing ingredients. In fact, there is only one: Ethylhexyl Palmitate. This highly emollient ingredient acts as a solvent that helps dissolve grease and skin impurities so they can easily be removed from your skin.
The main active ingredient here is glycerin, a moisturizing ingredient that is very well tolerated by all skin types.
La Roche Posay Toleriane Dermo Milky Cleanser is consequently a truly moisturizing and very gentle product. I would say that itās primarily intended for people with dry skin, which doesnāt need to be very thoroughly cleansed.
For me, who uses a lot of makeup, and applies sunscreen every day, itās not the product I would consider as a makeup remover, even though the brand says it does both. Its cleansing power is a bit limited.
Thatās why I prefer to use it in the morning when I wake up, as a gentle cleanser. In the evening, I do my double cleansing as usual with an oil or makeup remover balm, following by a foaming gel cleanser!
Its texture is a kind of creamy milk that you are supposed to apply with your fingertips on dry skin (or wet skin, the brand doesnāt specify) and then remove either by rinsing with water or with cotton pads.
It can be used on the face, neck and eye contour.
La Roche Posay Toleriane Dermo Milky Cleanser, my experience:
Iāll tell you one thing (but I guess it wonāt be a big surprise if youāre a regular reader lol). I wasnāt overly enthusiastic at the idea of trying this product.
Sure, itās not too expensive and itās easy to find. It also seems ideal if you have sensitized skin like I do now.
You can call it my preconceived bias about French pharmacy, but basically I was expecting a product that wouldnāt be sensorial to use, with a slightly thick texture, like an old-school makeup remover milk, sticky, not the easiest to massage and difficult to rinse off.
And unfortunately, when I tried it, all my fears were confirmed.
I really donāt find it pleasant to massage into the skin, itās quite sticky (I tried to use more, it was worse), it doesnāt melt on the skin like my beloved Sioris milk. And I have to allow a good 2 minutes to rinse it off, it doesnāt really emulsify with water.
Icing on the cake, it leaves a slightly oily film on my skin. I feel like I have to do a second cleanse, which defeats the purpose here. I guess on very dry and sensitive skin, it could be a plus, though.
I donāt think Iām the intended target of this product. Even sensitized, my skin remains combination, and I donāt want to have an oily residue left on my skin after cleansing. Also, I like when a product is gentle AND sensorial to use. I like nice textures that melt into the skin, not the sticky, viscous textures that donāt rinse off well.
In short, Iād be glad to have this product at hand if my skin has a crisis (it can always happen to me, you never know), but Iām not going to use it unless I really need it.
I have other similar products to test that are much more fun to use than this one!
In conclusion:
As you can see, this product wasnāt a hit for me. Itās a shame because I would have liked to be wrong!
It has the big advantage of being very accessible and itās fairly affordable as a bonus (at least where I live), which is always a big plus!
But clearly, and I know itās very personal, Iād rather pay a little bit more and have a product that I enjoy using than force myself to use a product that I donāt like.
The retails for $24 for 200ml (thereās also a 400ml version).