Rationale Catalyst Cleanser

1 Review

1. 

   superiorPolenta1

   Reply

   Before I begin reviewing Rationale’s Catayst Cleanser I will first review their Essential Six first step ProCeramide Emulsion Preparatory Cleanser as I previously reviewed the brand Rationale as a whole rather than the cleanser itself in my last post on makeupalley, please find it my reviews.

   This cleanser is housed in a nice elegant almost cubist futuristic style pump dispenser with clement font. All of the essential six steps are indicated by big bold colourful clement style numbers. It’s texture is that of a cream cleanser, a pleasant refreshing scent of citrus oils (I will get to why you should avoid essential oils later), applies smoothly to dry or damp skin and rinses clean without any pore clogging residue. This is what you would call an emulsifying cleanser. An emulsifying cleanser is similar to a cleansing oil and balm (only this is a cream texture) in that they are to be applied to a dry skin only, massaged over the day’s stale make-up, impurities, dirt, excess oil etc one would then splash the face with water to create a milky reaction which would then be easily removed from the skin through lavish rinsings without the aid of a flannel/washcloth/terrycloth/facewasher/face cloth whatever you call it. If you must wipe at the skin be ever so gentle in doing that.

   This cleanser removes a a full face of light to medium coverage make-up, maybe struggles a little with waterproof mascara (I had to use my usual foaming cleanser to remove the rest of my waterproof eye make-up). It’s main cleansing agent or solvent in this case is an interesting ingredient called Propanediol. According to the Rationale website Propanediol is 1. An organic solvent derived from corn 2. Solubilises and emulsifies oil, dirt and makeup and rinses off the skin 3. Stimulates ceramide synthesis

   It one of those interesting multi-functional ingredients as it also has hydrating properties and is used as a penetration enhancer, a well tolerated ingredient not likely to cause sensitivity.

   There are no detergents/surfactants in this cleanser, Rationale is against detergents and foaming cleansers, they believe that it strips the acid mantle, disrupts skin’s PH balance and removes very much desired ceramides and lipids from the skin. Soaps are harsh, not surfactants. Please don’t exaggerate Rationale. This is wrong.

   I do not believe in this. I think a well formulated gentle water soluble foaming cleanser is one of the best and logical methods available to gently clean the face. Everything is done at the sink or in the shower, preferably with warm (not hot) water. There are so many different types of surfactants/detergents (these two terms are used interchangeably) available for a cosmetic chemist to formula a cleanser with. Most facial cleansers on the market these days are gentle, water soluble(rinse off with water), are PH balanced, fragrance and colour free and formulated with just enough gentle surfactant/detergent cleansing power to cleanse only what’s on the surface of skin that needs to be removed like make-up, oil, impurities, dirt etc without causing harm or superficial dryness to skin. Most cleansers these days are also soap free and contain no soap constituents whatsoever. The easiest way to test if your cleanser contain soap constituents is how your skin feels after rinsing. If it feels dry and tight it most probably contains soap, or the synthetic detergent surfactant blend is too strong for your skin type.

   There are several gentle surfactant/detergents availble for a cosmetic chemist to use the most gentle I have found are Decyl Glucoside, Laury Glucoside, Cocomidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate and Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate. All of these have quite good evidence and research proving their gentleness on skin whilst cleansing. They don’t seem to react with the horny layer of skin’s lipids and remove them as much as other stronger surfactants like the big bad wolf for example, the notorious Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. It isn’t an evil ingredient and it wont kill you, it’s cleansing power is simply too strong for the skin.

   Very foolish and misguided advice from Rationale to indicate that all foaming cleansers are harmful. For someone with combination to Oily/Very oily skin a gentle foaming cleanser is a life saver! If you’ve a normal to dry skin you don’t need one! Simple as that!

   Both the Catalyst and the Proceramide Emulsion Preparatory cleanser contains several good ingredient’s for skin such as,
   the entire ceramide complex, skin identical ingredients like phytosphingosine etc, several if not all of the amino acids, Vitamin E derivatives, omega fatty acids, gluconates, Vitamin A, orange essential oil(ouch) and ends with several australian botanical extracts. This is marketed as a treatment cleansing mask something that can be left on the skin as a mask while you cleanse then rinsed off. I do not believe in expensive cleansers, never have, they are a huge waste of money, my rationale is that in the brief moment that is cleansing it is practically impossible for ingredients to penetrate while you wash, where is the science? This is why they want you to leave it on for a few minutes then rinse. The Catalyst Cleanser contains more exfoliating acids like Salicylic acid as it is marketed towards a problem skin like acne and those with oily congestion. It is also contains a group of ingredients I often see from brands and cleansers that claim to use so called “Natural fruit acids”. This warehouse supplied group of ingredients is called FSS Fruit Mix (Fruit Acid Complex) and can be found here at

   The supplier of this ingredient is in the belief that these so called fruit acids are superior than synthetic versions of Gylcolic, Lactic, Salycylic, Tartaric and Malic acids. I do not believe they are as effective as I have used products with this very blend and they are no match for something from The Ordinary or PC