I really love this incredibly gentle cleanser. As I've gotten older (I'll be 45 this month), my skin has become more and more sensitive. I remember the same thing happened to my mom when she was in her mid-40's. I also have gluten sensitivity that I've come to recognize over the last five years, and my face is the first place I notice any reaction from wheat I may have untintentionally ingested. Oddly enough, even plain old tap water irritates my skin. Eau Thermale Avène products were recommended, particularly to calm the perioral dermatitis (aka atopic dermatitis, aka herpetiform dermatitis), which is basically itchy, prickly, painful small blisters that have a clear serous fluid in them and appear on the chin, around the mouth, around the nose, even on the forehead or around the eyes. Mine mostly appears on my chin. I'm sorry for the disgusting details, but if my review can help any fellow sufferers, it's worth it! Anyway, I started using all the recommended products from Avène, which include this gentle cleansing lotion, thermal water spray, gentle hydrating cream in the daytime, and the Xeracalm balm at night. My skin hasn't looked or felt this good in the past year. I wish I had heard about it sooner. After just the first usage of all the products at bedtime revealed a more calm and soothed complexion by morning. After the first week, almost all of the redness is gone. I couldn't be happier with my skin care products! I love that the cleanser can just be tissued off, so I don't have to irritate my skin with tap water. The thermal water spray is nice, especially if you're concerned about leaving any cleanser residue on your face. We Americans are funny about that, wanting squeaky clean skin, even though it can be too harsh for our faces. I don't mind the cleanser residue left behind after tissuing off, because it's non-irritating and hydrating. I simply spray the thermal water overtop, allow it to dry mostly, blot the excess, and then apply the hydrating lotion or balm. Avéne offers a sensitive skin complexion kit that comes in a box for around $38; it contains travel sizes of the cleansing lotion and thermal water spray, and a full size of the hydrating lotion. I tried that first, then purchased the full-sized products along with the Xeracalm balm. I hope none of these products are ever changed or discontinued!

Based on Avene's description of the product, I thought this was more of a creamy thick white lotion type face cleanser to replace the one they discountued. Sadly, it is not. It is a very mild cleanser. Know if you have greasy skin it will not be strong enough for you. The smell is neutral and the bottle is small in size. This product sadly did not work for my skin type.

I wanted to love this, and I wanted to believe it was helping my easily irritated skin. At first it felt very soothing, and gentle. No redness, no itchiness, no flakes. I then noticed texture appearing on my cheeks. After extended use I realized it was breaking my skin out, and it was not nearly effective enough as a cleanser. My skin is still trying to bounce back. Careful if you're acne prone and oily!

So very thrilled with this product!!! My beloved Verite cleanser was discontinued and I got left hanging out to dry, literally and figuratively. I have crazy overly sensitive skin with rosacea and this is only the second product (verite being the first) I have found that works for me. After only two uses of this with the skin recovery cream and my face was greatly improved (attempted to try the "substitute" product for 1-1/2 months). I think it actually is better than verite and less $$. Very thankful in the end and wondering what else I need from the product line!!

I have oily/combination, acne prone skin that is insanely sensitive. I mean, my skin is so reactive, and it's extremely hard to find a face wash that doesn't backfire on me a month into using it. I searched and searched and when I came upon this, I researched ALL the ingredients that go into this face wash, and what I found was it seemed to be the safest wash for me. I'm about 3 months into using this face wash and I still love it. It doesn't over-strip/over-dry my skin. It removes my waterproof eye makeup pretty well. And it doesn't seem to break me out. I've used Cetaphil before, and this stuff is by far better. I know a lot of people compare the two face washes and say this is an overpriced version of Cetaphil, but I totally disagree. The ingredients in Avene's cleanser are by far better than the ingredients in Cetaphil. I would recommend this face wash for any skin type.