BANILA | CLEAN IT ZERO CLEANSING BALM

This product review was originally part of my blog article titled, The Best Cleansing Balms for Dry Skin, Oily Skin and Sensitive Skin. You can still catch the full piece here.

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The Banila Clean It Zero Cleansing Balm was the first cleansing balm of its kind that I’d ever tried. Which is why it will always hold a special place in my heart. But even more so today with the K-beauty brand’s new and improved formula. Banila decided to clean up their act by removing toxins and potential skin irritants — in turn, cleaning up ours!

Out are the parabens, including butyl parahydroxybenzoate, or butylparaben — an organic compound that’s been a popular antimicrobial preservative in cosmetics and skin care until recently. And good thing, too, because it’s a bit of a nasty — though the jury is still out on parabens in general.

The experts on the Paula’s Choice Research Team rate butylparaben as a “good” ingredient in skin care formulas; yet, it’s rated a bright red alert nine from EWG.

In fact, “the European Chemicals Agency classifies butylparaben as a substance of very high concern due to endocrine disrupting properties and associated effects on male fertility.” Source reference: European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) 2020. Substance of very high concern (SVHC).

Yikes! So, it’s gone from Banila’s new Clean It Zero Original Cleansing Balm — though its replacement preservative phenoxyethanol is hardly without controversy and has the potential to be toxic to skin over time.

Are parabens in skincare bad?

The controversy over parabens in skincare is discussed in an article published by the Paula’s Choice Research Team of experts titled, Are Parabens a Problem? Particularly noteworthy to me was this:

Parabens: Fact and Fiction
The reason there’s concern about parabens is because of research suggesting they can alter or disrupt how some biological systems work, potentially leading to health problems. There are also claims that parabens can cause skin to break down. The problem? The studies that used to make these alarming allegations didn’t take into consideration how parabens are used in cosmetics products.
In some studies, high concentrations (up to 100%) of parabens were used. Much lower amounts, usually less than 1%, are used to preserve cosmetics. In other studies, large quantities of parabens were fed to lab animals, not applied topically as they are with skincare and makeup products.
Let’s clarify a common misconception: Most ingredients applied to skin do not get into the body. They remain within skin’s uppermost layers where they do the most good. One of skin’s natural roles is to shield the body from external influences, and that includes things we apply to it. Besides, if all those ingredients sailed right through skin, nothing would be left to protect it and lead to visible improvements.

The most salient point is that most of what we apply to our skin in the form of topical skincare doesn’t actually get past the skin barrier. Hence the popularity of derma-rollers, micro-needling devices and the use of denatured alcohol in skin care — all to get actives deeper into the skin. So, the conversation about parabens continues.

Not the least bit controversial in Banila’s new formula is uber-emollient and antioxidant Tocopheryl Acetate, aka Vitamin E. There are a smattering of botanical extracts in the iconic cleansing balm, too — and very low oil content.

Oddly, and I’m not sure if this is new to the reformulated version of Clean It Zero, about mid-way down the INCI you find a bizarre sounding ingredient called, Onsen-Sui. Of course, I had to look it up! Onsen-Sui is a Japanese hot spring water believed to possess an anti-inflammatory and vasodilative benefit. Umm, okay.

Interestingly, according to INCI Decoder, Onsen-Sui is popular in K-beauty products, though not necessarily in Japanese skin care. The Japanese probably think it’s just water.

In Korean skin care, Onsen-Sui is actually found in everything from the Tonymoly Egg Pore Blackhead Steam Balm to Missha’s Near Skin pH Balancing Cleansing Oil.

Even Dr. Jart is on the Onsen-Sui bandwagon, incorporating it into many of its skincare formulas.

So what about the balm’s texture and its efficacy as a cleanser? Well, Clean It Zero has a waxier feel than the more luxuriously textured, oil-based Drunk Elephant Slaai Makeup-Melting Butter Cleanser and Ayond Metamorph Cleansing Balm.

But it does melt nicely into the surface of the skin when massaged and warmed up. It also has a mildly soothing emulsifying effect that transforms the balm into a lightweight, gentle milk when mixed with warm water.

There’s also a slightly sweet scent to it that reminds me of Kool-Aid fruit punch, which I don’t mind. If your skin is super sensitive, I would avoid this one. With its low level of oils though, the Banila Clean It Zero Cleansing Balm is really the best cleansing balm for oily skin.

SHOP THE BLOG: Purchase the Banila Clean It Zero Cleansing Balm for $19 here.

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