B. Kamins Soothing Cleanser

I first used the B. Kamins Rosacea facecare line several years ago and loved a few of the products (the serum) and wasn't as impressed with some of the others (the face cleanser), however I found Caudalie soon after and had been taken with that line ever since.  However I promised myself that I would attempt to branch out with my skincare products this year and would keep an open mind as I tried as many new skincare items as I could.  I found out that B. Kamins had repackaged and reworked some of their facecare line so I decided that I would try the cleanser again and so I ordered it from the company's website.  But a new package doesn't always mean a new or better product...

First we will look at the company's description of the product and then we will go into both of my experiences with the face wash.  "A soothing cleanser to gently remove dirt and impurities while helping to soothe reddened, inflamed skin.  Anti-inflammatory bisabolol to restore smoothness while calming and cooling rosacea-type skin.  Particularly formulated for reddened skin associated with rosacea."  The features of this cleanser are as follows: "Completely oil and fragrance-free to minimize irritation.  Gentle soothing cleanser to calm and cool redness and inflammation associated with rosacea-type skin.  FDA approved blue tint cosmetically neutralizes redness.  Contains anti-inflammatory bisabolol to relieve irritated skin.  Formulated with mild corn-derived vegetable skin surface cleansers."

Based on the product description, this sounds as though it would be the perfect product for sensitive, red skin.  The texture of both of the washes was exactly the same, it is a thin, runny gel texture that doesn't foam at all when used on the skin.  I found this very surprising, since normally gel cleansers are made to foam and cream cleansers aren't made to foam.  That was a bit off-putting the first time that I used the product but it didn't really affect what I thought of the product.  The cleanser rinsed off completely but I felt that it left my skin dry and stripped of moisture, precisely what a cleanser made for red skin should not do. 

The first time that I used this product was several years ago and the redness in my face was worse than it is today however it wasn't quite as dry as it is now.  My major issue with this cleanser was how dry and tight it left my skin.  This was not at all what I thought the face wash should do since it made my skin even worse than before I used it.  With my skin being left tight and dry, the redness in my cheeks actually got even worse and really dried the area out.  The blue tint in this product did nothing to reduce cheek redness in the least and added nothing to the overall product.  I was so disappointed with this product the first time that I used it.  I really wanted to like this product since the serum and face cream in the line were great quality but I just couldn't get this product to work well for me.

The second time around was no different.  I was hoping for a bit of a reformulation of this product to match the redoing of naming and packaging. however the product is exactly the same.  The texture and issues that I had with the product the first time were exactly the same this time.  This product might be better for someone with skin than is more oily than mine but it still did nothing for the redness in my cheek area. 

I have to conclude that this product was just not for me, however I really liked the face cream and serum in this line.  I will be sticking to my Caudalie cleanser when using the other products in the B. Kamins Rosacea care line.

photo courtesy of B. Kamins