The Next Generation of Face Wash: Jiggly Spheres and Powerful Powders

by Lesa Hannah November 24, 2017

Cleansing our face has generally been viewed as a functional step at the end of the day. It’s never been particularly exciting, with the laziest among us opting for the bare minimum with a facial wipe or cringingly worse, skipping it altogether. (Please don’t do that, we beseech you with pearl-clutching horror). But the humble face wash is in the midst of a change that is taking it from being a mundane, tedious task to a pleasurable and maybe even entertaining experience. “A lot of my North American clients tell me that skincare is a chore,” says Valérie Grandury, the French founder of Odacité. “The trend of creating a more ritualistic skincare routine is also about teaching North American women that skincare is a pleasure worth taking time for.” While most cleansers foam, the latest crop transform in slightly more unusual ways; they start out as one texture and morph into another. “I think the transformation adds a wow factor―a form of sensuality and fun―to the product, which we can all use a bit of in our lives,” adds Grandury.

Take Boscia’s Charcoal Jelly Ball Cleanser. It has detoxifying and antibacterial properties, but its gelatinous texture and spherical shape are what make it a kind of cleanser rarely seen before. And that means you can expect to see it bouncing around on an Insta story―another factor driving these experiential cleansers. “We’re making products that people want to share as well,” says Michelle Fry, product development director for Boscia. “That’s the reality of the time we’re living in today.”

See which products are changing the face wash game

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Next Gen Face Wash

Green Ceremony Cleanser

($70, Odacité)

Grandury was inspired by a class on the principles of the tea ceremony that she took on a recent trip to Kyoto, Japan when she created Green Ceremony Cleanser. Blend a few drops of water with a scoop of powder to create a premium-matcha-infused foam.

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