Personal care products have gone up a lot and Cetaphil (multipurpose cleanser and makeup remover) has now been reformulated in a way that’s irritating to a lot of people, so here you go.

While it’s often considered as a moisturiser sorbolene was created as a gentle soap free cleanser and can remove makeup because of the oil in it - like dissolves like. I have even used it in the past to remove eye makeup.

Disclaimer: Despite being gentle and unscented some people (unfortunately including me) can still be sensitive to sorbolene and find it causes stinging and redness.

I have no idea whether this is due to the glycerin, the fact that it contains a small amount of detergent, or something else. ie. a damaged skin barrier, a reaction to a preservative, or just some kind of allergy.

You might want to do a patch test first (which is a good idea for any new product) and be aware it wasn’t originally made to be left on your skin.

However if your skin doesn’t have these sensitivities?

It’s a great multipurpose product that removes makeup, can be used as a gentle cleanser or baby wash, and may be used as a basic face/body lotion if it does not cause you issues to do so.

Try a small $2-3 bottle. If it works for you, spending $8 for a 1L multipurpose bottle may help you save heaps on all the specialised products.