La Roche-Posay Effaclar Purifying Foaming Gel Cleanser for Oily Skin
by La Roche-Posay · skin_care
Editor's Take
Sodium Laureth Sulfate and Coco-Betaine strip oil efficiently, Zinc PCA manages sebum, but the ethoxylated base and synthetic fragrance disqualify it from clean frameworks entirely.
Four-pillar formula scores
- Efficacy: 7.4 / 10
- Modern Tech: 4.5 / 10
- Clean Beauty: 1.0 / 10
- Sustainability: 6.9 / 10
The Verdict
This is a clinically competent oily-skin cleanser built on legacy drugstore chemistry. The surfactant base delivers robust lipid removal, and Zinc PCA adds targeted sebum regulation , the efficacy is genuinely strong for the category. But the formula leans hard on ethoxylated materials (SLES, PEGs, Hexylene Glycol) and synthetic fragrance, earning a clean score of 1.0 and disqualifying it from COSMOS certification. It works well for oil control, but the base is decades old and incompatible with stricter ingredient standards.
Full INCI list
Aqua/Water/Eau, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Peg-8, Coco-Betaine, Hexylene Glycol, Sodium Chloride, Peg-120 Methyl Glucose Dioleate, Zinc Pca, Sodium Hydroxide, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Parfum/Fragrance.