HUMANRACE | RICE POWDER CLEANSER

One of the things that’s uniquely New York is that we’re kind of all on top of each other, co-mingling out in the world. We’re just humans going about our day. No matter who you are, however famous or infamous, you put your pants on one leg at a time. When you gotta go out and get a loaf of bread, you walk to the corner market. It is what it is.

During most of my time working at Kiehl’s, our home offices were in the West Village. The neighborhood sandwiched between Greenwich Village and the Hudson River is home to numerous celebs. During many lunch outings with co-workers, we had celebrity sightings with our chicken salads. Edie Falco shopped in the health food store across from the Kiehl’s office. Her Sopranos hubby, James Gandolfini, lived up the block. Unassumingly, Heath Ledger would pop into one of our favorite lunch joints.

Sure it was cool, but I’ve never really been one to much care about celebrity. I like people (or don’t) based on who they really are. When I worked at Barneys in the 90s as a cosmetic department manager, Faye Dunaway was a frequent patron. She was quite nasty. I’ve never forgotten it.

And I’m always skeptical about celebrity skincare lines.

I’ve perhaps said some not-so-kind things about Kylie Jenner’s Kylie Skin. The products aren’t awful; but, as expected, they’re not great either. I reviewed Kylie’s relatively average skin care over a year ago in my blog article titled, My Fall Empties: Hydrating Serums, Anti-Aging Serums, Facial Cleansers & More! which you can catch here.

Madonna’s MDNA, on the other hand, is surprisingly good. The formulas are of superior quality, made in Japan by a Japanese skincare conglomerate. But what credibility does either Madonna or Kylie bring to skin care? Madonna has had quite a bit of work done. She looks great. But, trust me, her plump, contoured and glowing complexion has nothing to do with her namesake skin care — as good as her formulas are.

So when Pharrell Williams announced he was introducing a skincare range, I thought every celebrity and their mother has a skincare brand, why not Pharrell?! I happen to really love everything Pharrell is involved in. His Billionaire Boys Club streetwear is one of my favorite clothing brands. So I was excited and more hopeful than usual.

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HUMANRACE - PHARRELL WILLIAMS' SURPRISINGLY CLEAN, SUSTAINABLE & REFILLABLE SKINCARE

ON MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL HERE

And I gotta say, I think Pharrell nailed it with Humanrace. It’s a sustainable skincare brand comprising three products, each of which is natural, vegan, pro-skin health — and, most importantly, easy to use and understand.

It seems to me that the intent of Pharrell’s Humanrace is to provide someone who may be a causal skincare user (or doesn’t use skin care at all) with an ideal, simplified routine, something that’s easy to stick to day after day.

Each of the three products — a face cleanser, weekly exfoliator and moisturizer — is really well formulated. But it’s not as basic as it sounds. The face cleanser is a cleansing powder, one of my favorite types of cleansers and perhaps the least common face cleanser. The weekly exfoliator is powered by fruit enzymes and an 8% concentration of Glycolic Acid, not exactly for lightweights. (That’s even a lot for me!) And the daily face cream is infused with humectants, non-fragrant plant oils and antioxidants vitamins. Nary a fragrant component in sight. It’s really an impressive formula.

“Humanrace is a product company founded by Pharrell Williams with a mission to empower all people in their pursuit of wellbeing. Guided by experiences from his own wellness journey, Pharrell created Humanrace in the belief that taking better care of ourselves can teach us to take better care of each other.

Humanrace provides useful products and perspectives to help all individuals deepen their understanding of themselves and enrich their commitment to every day wellness. We believe that wellbeing is our most valuable resource, and are working to create a future where it is accessible to everyone.”

And, interestingly, each of the products is refillable! You can purchase refills as needed or enroll in the Humanrace subscription service. For $100, you can purchase what’s called the “Three-Minute Facial Routine Pack” — full sizes of each of the three products. Then, on a regular basis, you receive a refill insert at a slightly reduced price. As an example, the first time you purchase the Rice Powder Cleanser, it’s $32. Subsequent refills are $30. No extra plastic you don’t need. The original brilliant green containers are quite substantial and should last years.

Let’s take a look at each of the Humanrace products in detail…

Humanrace | Rice Powder Cleanser

I have to say, even though the Humanrace regimen is intended to be simple and easy to understand, the choice of a powder cleanser for the cleansing step is intriguing and, well, smart AF. Enzymatic cleansing powders are one of the most versatile of the cleanser category as they can function as both a gentle cleanser and a gentle face scrub.

Both cleanser and scrub, the Humanrace Rice Powder Cleanser is super functional — and fun to use. Cleansing powders are my favorite type of cleansers. Sometimes I want a super creamy cleanser and add more water. Sometimes I want an ultra mild physical scrub — and a cleansing powder is essentially the only type of physical scrub that I use. Most face scrubs have the capability of scratching the skin surface and damaging the vital skin barrier. And a damaged skin barrier is really not cool, is it?

What is the skin barrier?

I found a really insightful, quick read about the structure, purpose and functions of the skin barrier on the health website Healthline titled, What to Know About Your Skin Barrier and How to Protect It. Here’s an excerpt:

What’s your skin barrier and what purpose does it serve?
Your skin is made up of layers, each of which performs important functions in protecting your body.
The outermost layer, called the stratum corneum is often described as a brick wallTrusted Source. It consists of tough skin cells called corneocytes that are bound together by mortar-like lipids. This is your skin barrier.
Inside the skin cells, or “bricks,” you’ll find keratin and natural moisturizers. The lipid layer contains cholesterol, fatty acids, and ceramides.
This fantastically thin brick wall is literally keeping you alive. Without it, all sorts of harmful environmental toxins and pathogens could penetrate your skin and wreak havoc in your body.
Additionally, without your skin barrier, the water inside your body would escape and evaporate, leaving you completely dehydrated. Your skin barrier is essential for good health and needs to be protected in order to function properly.

Read that last point again: Your skin barrier is essential for good health and needs to be protected in order to function properly. Seriously, why would you want to do anything but protect your skin barrier? If you’re using a physical scrub, stop. The alternative, of course, is a chemical exfoliant or acid toner infused with alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) or beta hydroxy acid (BHA).

But if you just gotta have that physical effect, then a powder cleanser like the Humanrace Rice Powder Cleanser is your best bet.

Humanrace’s Rice Powder Cleanser is a near-perfect formula. (I never refer to any skincare product as perfect because perfection is a subjective concept except for things created by nature!) But it is one of the best cleansing powders — and one of the best face cleansers for oily skin.

As I said, it’s super gentle. It derives it’s mild exfoliating effect from the kaolin clay and rice powder in the formula at ingredients one and two, respectively. Both are common to powder cleansers and cleansing masks, too.

Where the Rice Powder Cleanser gets interesting is with the inclusion of multiple beneficial non-fragrant plant oils and extracts — including a high concentration (maybe 5%) of Olive Fruit Oil and humectant Snow Mushroom Extract.

Snow mushroom, aside from making a delicious soup in Chinese cuisine, also makes a deliciously hydrating humectant in skincare. Did you know that Snow Mushroom is a superb humectant on par with Hyaluronic Acid itself?

In fact, while it’s a common marketing claim that HA can hold up to 1,000x its weight in water, most HA molecules are rather large and don’t penetrate the skin barrier very deeply. Snow Mushroom has a smaller molecular weight and can go a bit deeper. So while it “only” draws 500x its weight in water, it’s a more effective humectant than the more popular Hyaluronic Acid.

The Humanrace Rice Powder Cleanser is a well-formulated, functional cleanser that fits perfectly into any pro-skin health regimen. And, as with all of Humanrace’s products, it’s refillable so you preserve the barrier reef whilst preserving your own skin barrier.

SHOP THE BLOG: Purchase the Humanrace Rice Powder Cleanser for $32 here.

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