In my evangelical post about the importance of cleansing, I promised a round-up of my cleanser stash. I must admit that looking at the picture above is pretty scary: when the cleansers are all hanging somewhere around the house, doing their thing, there doesn’t seem to be quite as many of them. But I’m not a Crazy Cleanser Lady who will die in a house full of unopened tubes – I do in fact use them all.

I mentioned the hot cloth cleansing method in the previous post, but it’s also worth noting that I generally double cleanse. I leave the task of explaining it to the incomparable Caroline Hirons (scroll down a bit to her evening routine), but the gist of it is – unsurprisingly – that you must clean your face twice, especially if you have been wearing heavy make-up and/or sunscreen. You could use the same cleanser twice, but I’m easily bored, so I switch it up:

1. Balms. If I had to live with one type of cleanser for the rest of my life, I would pick balms. The best of them are extremely effective and feel lovely on skin. My absolute favourites are Omorovicza Thermal Cleansing Balm and Eve Lom Cleanser. The first is absurdly gentle and I love it’s slightly whipped texture and dark grey colour; the latter is a bit tougher, but übereffective and I enjoy its medicinal scent. Neither of them can be described as cheap, though (I believe the technical term is ‘prohibitively expensive’, although you don’t need use much). For a more reasonable option, Emma Hardie Moringa Cleansing Balm and Clinique Take the Day Off Cleansing Balm (not pictured) are really good.

2. Oils. These work pretty much like balms, taking everything off in one go, so it’s mostly about which texture you prefer. I like balms better, because they don’t drip and don’t get into your eyes as much, but I do occasionally use oils, too. Tatcha’s Camellia Cleansing Oil is exceptionally good, perfect for dry and grumpy skin.

3. Creams and milks. Many of the traditional make-up removers belong in this category, but I don’t use the ones you are supposed to wipe off (see Caroline again on this, point no 6). While I haven’t found a cream I’m crazy about – I do use the Aurelia Miracle Cleanser, but my favourite thing about it is the scent -, one of my absolute favourite cleansers is a milky one. Sunday Riley’s Ceramic Slip Cleanser is actually something of a hybrid, not quite a milk, not quite a gel, that leaves the skin exquisitely smooth, as the name implies. It is, probably, my favourite second cleanse (generally after a heavy balm).

4. Gels. Another category where you would have a lot of the traditional stuff, namely the face washes of old. I steer clear of the heavily foaming ones, but I do use gels either with my Clarisonic or in the morning, when I prefer something refreshing to an oil or a balm. Ginvera Exfoliating Marvel Gel with Green Tea, a thick green gel from Singapore, is my favourite in that category and I have actually used up an entire tube – not a small feat, considering the size of my Cleanser Army.

5. Almost exfoliators. I don’t have a good name for cleansers with the grainy thingies and I wouldn’t bother to include them, if one of my absolute favourites wasn’t exactly this. Generally, I’m very suspicious of physical exfoliators and even with Tata Harper’s Regenerating Cleanser I don’t like the texture, I don’t like the smell, I don’t like the feel on my skin and I definitely don’t like the price. What I do like, however, is how my skin feels afterwords. Another one I often use in the morning.

6. Waters. Micellar waters are a God-send if you need to remove your make-up quickly or on the go. I sometimes use them as a first cleanse, and I keep a small bottle in the office and sometimes in my bag. They are not enough on their own on a regular basis, though, despite all the good things you have heard about Bioderma (and I say that as a person who always has a bottle of it). My favourite is by Caudalie and I like the Decleor version a lot, too.

7. Eye make-up removers. Mostly, I do not bother with a separate eye make-up remover, as it would effectively mean a triple cleanse and that’s a bit too obsessive-compulsive even for me. But I have something on hand for the rare days when I wear heavy eye make-up: currently a tiny bottle of Chanel’s Demaquillant Yeux Intense, as the dual-phase ones are the most effective.

8. Wipes. Wipes are evil, as they are wasteful and not an adequate substitute for a proper cleanse. But when I travel, I usually have a package of Ole Henriksen’s The Clean Truth wipes (not pictured) with me. In addition to being super convenient, they have the advantage of NOT being a liquid, hence not being looked upon with suspicion by the airport security people who simply have no appreciation for the challenges a cleanser addict must face when packing.

9. Soaps. Yes, soaps. Or you could call them cleansing bars or something, as they are far gentler and about 746 times more expensive than your garden-variety soaps. I own an tiny Erno Lazlo one, the Sea Mud Deep Cleansing Bar (it got lost in the big photo, so I took a separate one) and it’s nice enough.

I am a lazy person and I don’t necessarily like spending my evenings double cleansing, but what I do like is results. Cleansing is the one element of skincare where you can see the impact of your actions right away and I suspect this is one of the reasons I enjoy it.

Well, if you absolutely need to know, yes, I do like analysing and plotting and planning the perfect cleansing routine as well.

So maybe I’m a Crazy Cleanser Lady after all.