When you have healthy skin, you aren’t only showing off your cleanliness and care for yourself on the outside, but also the health of your inner body.
One of the most common problems that you will hear people complain about is that they have acne or pimples on their face.
While acne can be caused by dirt or bacteria in the pores, it is often actually caused by something happening inside your body, like stress, poor diets, hormonal imbalances, liver disorders, and poor digestions or even some medications.
To fight these breakouts, the root of the problem needs to be addressed whether it is an internal problem or something caused by external factors.
While we all know about cleaning our faces properly, not many people know about the inner problems that must also be treated to help clear up the skin and have healthier, more beautiful skin.
Clearpores is a skincare product that is one of the many that is trying to treat acne using a more holistic approach. That is a good idea, because unlike it takes internal factors into account instead of just the external factors.
The team behind this treatment states that is can help to heal your acne from the inside out in just three simple steps – but is that actually the case when you test it?
Let’s find out:
Contents
What is the clearpores acne treatment ?
Clearpores is a 3-Step Acne Recovery System, which means that it has three main components to follow.
- The first step is a Daily supplement, which helps the body recover from internal problems that can cause acne, like stress, digestion problems, hormonal imbalances, liver problems, and other problems that can be found within the body.
- The next step is a Deep Facial Wash, which is basically a cleansing agent to wash off the dirt, bacteria, and other elements that are on your face and can cause acne. Since we can’t avoid these in our daily lives (unless we live in a bubble), we have to remove them.
- The final component is a Protection cream that does help to protect the skin from the external factor listed above. This creates smoother, healthier, more beautiful skin.
Ok now let’s review those products.
Our detailed and complete clearpores review
Let’s review each product one by one. A big thank you to our lovely “guinea pig” naerin for the impressions and results
Deep Facial Wash
Composition: Water, Glycerin, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, Propylene Glycol, Cetearyl Alcohol, Xantham Gum, Linum Usitatissimum (linseed) Seed Extract, Ulmaria (Meadowsweet) Root Extract, SD alcohol 40, Farnesol, Polysorbate 60, Cyclopentasiloxane, Salicylic Acid (beta hydroxy acid, abbreviated BHA) , Sclerotium Gum, Disodium EDTA, BHT, Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate, Retinyl Palmitate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Polysorbate 20, Capryloyl Glycine, Phospholipids, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Bisabolol.
This is a water based facial wash that is supposed to remove excess oil and dirt from your skin without damaging your skin. It is a product that uses salicylic acid as the main acne ingredient to exfoliate the skin and remove the dead skin cells.
Even though it includes some nice botanical ingredients such as linseed extract, meadowsweet extract, we don’t really like the overall formulation.
This product has some alcohol in it (sd alcohol – 40), which has long-term drying effects, which can be “seen” as positive in the first stages of the treatment for oily skins, but its cumulative drying effect will make your skin even more sensitive and irritated in the long run.
This facial wash also contains some clogging pores ingredients such as cyclopentasiloxane. This silicone is used to give to the product an elegant feel but could have been avoided. We also find the presence of Retinyl palmitate useless (vitamin A) in this cleanser, as it won’t stay long enough on the skin to have a real effect as it is washed out.
Regarding the preservatives, they used parabens. They could have replaced them and used other less controversial preservatives.
So right before using the product, we can tell you we don’t like the product on the paper.
First impressions:
This is a creamy facial wash that turns into light foam; it is pretty pleasant to use but as we expected, you can feel from the first use that this cleanser will dry your skin. I could feel some tightness right after washing my face. It kinda liked it because I had the feeling my face is super clean but at the same time, this tightness indicates it is too drying.
Protection Cream
Composition: Water, Isoproply Palmitate, Propylene Glycol, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate, Stearath-21, Dimethicone, Soy Lecithin, C13-14 Isoparaffin, Ceteth-10 Phosphate, Steareth-2, Thioctic Acid, Glycolic Acid, Salicylic Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Citric Acid, Diazolidinyl Urea, Laureth-7, Methylparaben, Disodium EDTA, Propylparaben.
The Clear Pores Protection Cream is advertised as protecting the skin from future breakouts and giving it a healthy glow.
So what about the formulation?
This is a simple cream that includes salicylic acid and glycolic acid to help clear the pores. No percentage is indicated which is always difficult for potential customers to have an idea of its strength. We don’t like the presence of dimethicone and isoparaffin that can create a barrier on the skin, and trap bacteria in the long run. It would be fine if it was not a daily use cream or if it is completely taken off at the end of the day with proper washing. So better be safe than sorry.
We also have the same issue as for the facial wash: they used parabens as well in this cream.
First impression:
I used it in the morning right after using the facial wash; the texture is maybe a little thick but is easy to apply on skin. I am not sure I could use it in summer time. There is no specific smell, which is a good thing for most people. My skin felt moisturised but was pretty oily in the afternoon at 4-5 pm. I had to use some blotting papers to get rid of the greasy look. Except the oiliness issue, I did not feel any dryness or stinginess.
Daily supplement to Fight Acne “From the Root”
Composition: Dandelion Root (Taraxacum Officinale), Burdock Root (Arctium Lappa), Aloe Vera, Yellow Dock (Rumex Crispus), Echinacea Purpurea, Red Clover, (Trifolium Pratense), Sarsaparilla Root (Smilax Officinalis), Licorice Root (Glycyrrhiza Glabra), Turmeric (Curcuma), Atlantic Kelp
(Ascophylum Nodosum), Cayenne (Capsicum Annuum), Partially Hydrogenated Cotton Seed Oil
Other Ingredients: Kosher, NF, Magnesium Stearate, Gelatin Capsule
This is the herbal supplement component, which is formulated to fight acne from the inside out. Acne breakouts are influenced by some internal factors such as stress, hormonal shifts, liver dysfunction… all in all, it claims to restore balance, and help your body flush out toxins, which should lead to optimal skin health.
So what do we think of its composition?
- Dandelion root may help with inflammation and gastrointestinal disorders, it is also considered as a good herbal diuretic.
- Burdock root is pretty famous for being a powerful blood purifier; it is also a good diuretic which helps expel toxins from the blood. Both of these ingredients are well chosen for acne prone skins, as they definitely help to clear your system.
- Aloe vera helps with digestion and detoxification. It is smart thinking from the formulators but we definitely think aloe vera in gel is much more effective than in this powder form (in gelatin capsule)
- Yellow dock root is said to be a good blood purifier and general detoxifier for the liver, which complements the action of dandelion root and burdock root.
- Echinacea is thought to stimulate the body’s immune system. The idea behind is probably to help your body better fight the acne bacteria and avoid or reduce skin inflammation.
- Red Clover contains natural compounds (isoflavones) that mimic the properties of estrogen. When estrogen levels are higher, oil production tends to decrease. So that could help with hormonal imbalances and acne.
- Sarsaparilla Root is also used in traditional medicine for its detoxification, and antiinflammatory properties, so you will find it often in herbal supplements to treat skin conditions such as psoriasis, acne.
- Licorice has very interesting properties: antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and hormone-inhibiting properties. It helps to “slow down” an enzyme that helps with the androgen hormones production, so as a result, it decreases sebum production.
- Turmeric is a plant from the ginger family that has strong antiinflammatory properties so it should help acne by reducing redness and irritation.
- Atlantic Kelp is packed with minerals that boost our skin metabolism and helps with its healing process.
- Cayenne is is the famous spice that we add in our chili. It helps to stimulate the blood flow and open clogged pores.
- Cottonseed oil is probably used to add some fat to the supplement. As some actives could be more soluble in oils, they probably added some cottonseed oil to increase the absorption through the intestine membrane.
This whole supplement seems to be well formulated to balance our inner system. So we are pretty excited to give it a try.
Our Results after 4 weeks
We tested this treatment for 4 weeks: 2 capsules a day at lunchtime and dinnertime, facial wash twice daily (morning and evening) and protection cream (twice a day as well – morning and evening).
The official website recommends to wait 5 minutes after using the facial wash, but we don’t think it is necessary to wait that long. Besides if you wait too long, you might feel even more tightness after the washing. So simply pat dry your skin and apply the cream.
For the first 3 days, there was no particular side effect, no dryness or irritation.
Then, my skin started to be irritated especially after washing. The cream seemed to add some irritation but I decided to keep using it. My skin became much oilier (I think it is due to the alcohol in the facial wash)
The problem is that new breakouts started to appear the second week.
They were small and not painful. Some of those pimples gradually went away, but the old ones did not seem to improve and the third week, I had the same problem with new breakouts.
AS expected, the facial wash was a bit too drying with the alcohol, which triggered more skin oil production as a result. The cream was maybe a little too thick and probably did not help with the silicone and the mineral oil, which trapped the dirt and oil excess. It would probably less of a problem during winter when our oil glands are less active. ( that is one reason why I like winter 🙂 )
So at the end of 4 weeks, there was no real improvement of my acne and pimples, it got a little worse with additional pimples probbaly from the cream being too thick and maybe not strong enough with salicylic acid. But in all fairness, keep in mind we tested it during summer.
Our take on this:
It would be better to make this cleanser more gentle (remove the alcohol part) and make the cream lighter and maybe increase a little the amount of acne actives in it. Th good thing is overall complexion seems clearer, that is probably to be attributed to the herbal supplement, which helps to flush out toxins
The price
One kit of 3 pieces: supplement, facial wash and cream costs $64.95
But what is the size of each product?
That is a very good question. Because before receiving the products, you won’t find any information about the sizes on the website. And how can your compare prices when you don’t know everything about what you are buying?
That is something that we really don’t like as we as customers should find all information on the website to make an informed decision.
It is like those brands that don’t even think we deserve to know the complete list of ingredients of each product. But that is another story.
Our opinion? When brands do that, most of the time, they simply have something to hide….
Ok let’s go back to our price discussion
- The facial wash size is 170 mL
- The cream size is 118 mL
- The supplement is for 30 days (60 capsules, 2 capsules a day)
Well the product sizes are pretty big which makes this kit very reasonable in terms of pricing. (Keep in mind proactiv plus kit product sizes are pretty small).
But, we really think the products could have been better formulated, with a more gentle facial wash (without alcohol) and a more effective cream with more salicylic acid to clear the pores and help with your acne.
So we recommend you to avoid this kit for the moment, this brand will probably update their products later on. At least this is what they should do to take into account the best actives and propose the best products to their potential clients.
Conclusion
We definitely think clearpores is on the right track with this approach that takes into account internal and external factors (as did Zenmed and Exposed). We really like the formulation and composition of their herbal supplement that is well thought out to boost our detoxification process. But the thing is the 2 other products (the facial wash and the face cream) are not as effective for the reasons we mentionned above.
There are more cost effective products out there that also take into account the inside and the outside factors with better-formulated skin products.
Click here to see our acne treatment comparison chart and complete guide with 8 criteria