Simple Skincare, a brand that has its roots in the UK and has been around since the 1960s, launched in India in 2019 with an exclusive tie up with Nykaa. Simple Skincare is considered to be UK’s #1 Facial Skincare Brand, and they focus on one thing, and one thing only – ensuring their products are suitable for sensitive skin, or in their words, is “Kind to Skin”.
I have grown out of my sensitive skin phase that I had as a kid and well into adolescence. I do however get bouts when my skin acts up and reacts even to my normal routine (especially during winters). The easiest way I consider tackling this issue is using a gentle face-wash that won’t strip away all the natural oils and bacteria that our skin needs to protect itself – and that’s how I came across this wonderful product.
Simple Skincare has a large variety of products available abroad, however, it only sells a few products from its Kind-to-Skin line in India. Their Micellar Facial Gel Wash from their “Water Boost” line is extremely popular as it can take off any remnants of makeup and hydrate your skin all while being gentle. However, this product is not yet available in India, and so I tried the next best thing – The Simple Kind to Skin Refreshing Facial Wash.
So with that, let’s jump straight into what is in this product, are the ingredients truly gentle enough for sensitive skin, and a little on Simple Skincare.
Simple Skincare retails exclusively with Nykaa, so if you see it on Amazon - It’s most probably fake (like most other products on Amazon).
The face wash retails at INR 325 for 150 ml.
Nykaa always has ways to help me save a buck or two here and there (and eventually spend it again on their page), and I got this for INR 195 with one of their sheet masks thrown in for free.
Simple Skincare - Sensitive Skin Experts
Simple Skincare was developed in the swinging 60’s with the aim of focusing on developing skincare products with no artificial fragrances, no dyes and no harsh chemicals – an idea that isn’t unique in today’s world, but Simple back then was a pioneer in the industry.
They believe in saying a big “No, Thankyouverymuch” to almost any ingredient that can be a skin irritant and look to include ingredients that work well on skin and help in restoring and keeping the skin’s natural balance.
Simple Skincare doesn’t believe in adding ingredients such as fragrances or dyes, or in fact any other ingredient that make a product more marketable while not giving any benefits to the skin. They do not use artificial fragrances, colourants, harsh chemicals that can upset your skin, denatured alcohol, parabens or animal derived products. Even the preservatives they use are claimed to be kind to the skin. All their products are hypoallergenic, dermatologically tested, non-comedogenic (i.e, will not clog your pores), ophthalmologically tested (i.e., tested to be safe for your eyes) and pH balanced for skin.
I have always admired brands that look to educate their customers, and Simple Skincare does that. Their website has a section called “Skincare Tips”, where they delve into many topics on taking care of your skin, as well as understanding what the root cause of skin sensitivity could be.
What's in my product?
Ingredients: Aqua (Water), Cocamidopropyl Betaine (CAPB), Propylene Glycol, Sodium Chloride, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Panthenol, Di Sodium EDTA, Hydroxypropyl Cyclodextrin, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, Pantolactone, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Hydroxide, Tocopheryl Acetate
Green - Yay!! Blue - Good/Fair Orange - Bleh! Red - Nope!
Before jumping straight into what ingredients are in this product, it is important to understand about skin sensitivity. There are two main aspects to skin sensitivity:
Firstly, skin sensitivity is a skin condition and not a skin type, meaning you could have normal, dry or even oily skin that is sensitive. It is important to ensure that you look at products which would help address both concerns - skin type and skin conditions. For e.g., an oily skin type might require a strong face wash to get rid of excess oil, but this could aggravate their skin sensitivity - in this case choosing a double cleanse system with a gentle face wash might be beneficial.
Secondly, everyone can get skin sensitivity - you might think your skin is doing great, but there are several reasons your skin could become sensitized. This could be due to weather (generally cold), stress, pollution or even long-term use of some products with sensitizing ingredients. This is one of the main reasons you should try to stick to products with clean ingredient lists that avoid unnecessary skin irritants.
This is a nice, short and sweet ingredient list with 9 of the 13 ingredients purely being humectants & moisturizers, thickeners (to get the smooth gel consistency), formulation stabilizers and preservatives. Just looking at this ingredient list makes me happy (also means this review will be shorter!), and with that let’s jump right in -
1. Panthenol
This is the alcohol form of Vitamin B (Pantothenic Acid) and is also called as pro-vitamin B5. Keep in mind this is not a Vitamin in itself, but a pro-vitamin, meaning when it is consumed by living cells (skin cells are living – hair and nails are not) in our body and metabolized, it releases Vitamin B5.
Fun Fact – Pantene gets its name from Panthenol, they use it extensively in their products and claim that it helps to strengthen and thicken hair. As I mentioned earlier, Panthenol requires living cells to be able to deliver all its wonderful properties, so Pantene’s claim might not be 100% true. Studies have shown that there are some benefits of using panthenol to hair and as it is naturally a humectant, can help hydrate the hair and scalp; but at the same time thickening the hair seems a bit of a stretch. It can however help the scalp heal.
How it works? Panthenol is essentially a humectant, meaning it helps attract moisture and keep it locked in, but there are also other benefits of this pro-vitamin apart from hydration:
There is some research showing that Panthenol when applied to the skin, can help it produce lipids that are extremely important in the formation of a strong and healthy skin barrier.
Research has also shown that panthenol could potentially be wound healing as it promotes the growth of certain cells in our skin that produce collagen (Fibroblast cells).
It has anti-inflammatory and skin protecting abilities and can help reduce irritation caused by other skin-sensitizing ingredients in a product.
There have also been studies that show that a nail treatment with 2% panthenol could get into the nail and increase the hydration (keep in mind that the nail are dead cells and that the product can hydrate the skin, and the portion under the skin that creates the nail called matrix)
Similarly, panthenol might be able to help hydrate hair by affecting the scalp and providing moisture to follicles, which might lead to hair being slightly more elastic. (Current studies have used scenarios where hair is submerged in panthenol for extended periods of time – in reality, panthenol is used in a rinse off formula, and will not be as effective as claimed)
How safe is it? Panthenol is pro-vitamin B-5, and in its Vitamin form is an important component in a healthy diet and skin, and it occurs naturally and is in many common food sources. In fact, it appears in most food, supplements and hygiene products.
2. Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E)
Vitamin E, an ingredient you would definitely want in your skincare, is a powerful antioxidant and has photoprotective properties. Tocopheryl Acetate is a derivative of Vitamin E that is not as effective, but is much more stable and gentle on the skin. You can read about the benefits of Tocopheryl Acetate here.
In this ingredient list, tocopheryl acetate is the last ingredient, which means it is in a very small quantity and might not deliver the benefits it is well known for. Given that this ingredient is not known for its skin penetration abilities, and is in a rinse off formulation, this might honestly not provide any of its antioxidant benefits to the skin.
I am not particularly bothered about it being in the formulation, just unsure of how this will be beneficial. (Could be serving a functional purpose in the formulation as well)
3. Cocamidopropyl Betaine (CAPB)
Cocamidopropyl Betaine is a cleansing agent or surfactant (Surface Active Agent), meaning it acts as an agent that dissolves or reduces the bonds of water or oil (known as surface tension). This makes it easy for the dirt, sebum and make-up to be rinsed off.
CAPB, a gentle surfactant, is generally used as a secondary cleansing agent and is considered to be a low risk for sensitizing skin. When used alone it can be too mild to clean adult skin and hair. It also helps in creating and stabilizing foam, giving a nice lather to the product. Another benefit of this ingredient is that it is biodegradable and is used by brands that actively look to reduce their impact on the environment.
CAPB, the second ingredient on the list, is the only cleansing agent in the formulation and has most probably been used in a high enough quantity to be able to work well while remaining gentle to the skin.
4. Propylene Glycol (PG)
We have now arrived at the most controversial ingredient in this ingredient list – Propylene Glycol – a substance that is manufactured from byproducts during oil refining. Propylene Glycol is used as an antifreeze, i.e., to reduce the freezing point of a liquid, and is a major ingredient in brake and hydraulic fluids. You can see why people don’t want this in their skincare – but is it really that bad, and if it is, why is it one of the most common ingredients that you find in not only skincare, but even in food AND medication!
How it works? Propylene Glycol is very similar to glycerine and is in fact a cheap substitute for it. They are both humectants and help attract and retain water, and when used in skincare can help to hydrate the skin. However, PG’s main job usually is to ensure that your favourite skin care product doesn’t melt at high temperatures or freeze in cold temperatures – without which you might have either extremely runny or clumpy and frozen products.
Propylene Glycol is also used to enhance skin penetration and can help the key actives in a product function effectively. There have been questions regarding this as higher concentrations (10-15%) of propylene glycol would be required for this to happen, at which level PG would definitely sensitize the skin.
Simple’s face wash does have PG, but that could be because PG can also be used to act as a cleansing agent – it would ideally stick to the oils on your skin – and is less damaging to the skin as compared to most other surfactants. Given that this is the third ingredient on the list, and CAPB works best in conjunction to other surfactants, PG is most probably being used to help rid your precious skin of all the dirt and grime it doesn’t need.
How safe is it? PG ensures a product doesn’t freeze or melt, acts as a humectant, acts as a solubilizer and can enhance the texture of your product, all while being cheaper than glycerine – why wouldn’t a brand include this in their products!? Especially when FDA has approved its usage in both food items as well as in drugs.
The question about the safety of Propylene Glycol began when its Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) – which is basically a material handling guideline used especially in industries – warned users to avoid skin contact. MSDS was talking about a concentration of 100% and not the <2% that it’s actually used in skincare. Just to lay it on the table, as per MSDS, water and salt are also unsafe according to their guidelines.
At the end of the day the choice to include or exclude a specific ingredient is personal, some people do not want to support the oil industry (as no oil refining = no PG), some are not comfortable using a product that could potentially harm them, or maybe pregnant women and young children would be better off without a chemical like this – in the end the choice is the customer’s, to make decisions that are best suited to their needs.
Others:
Sodium Hydroxide - Is also known as lye (used in soaps) and is highly alkaline in nature and is generally used in skincare as a pH adjuster. Sodium Hydroxide is a potent skin irritant in itself, however, when used in skincare products it has already reacted with the other ingredients and is harmless. In Simple’s face wash it is right in the end meaning it’s in a small concentration, but if you see Sodium Hydroxide somewhere on the top in any other product, do be careful (especially if you have sensitive skin).
My thoughts on the product
Initially I did not really like this product – you want to know why!? – because I did not read the instructions (something I tell people to do and follow all the time). In this case however, it wasn’t really my fault – Let us see why:
1. Packaging
The product does not have any outer packaging
and comes in a nice sturdy plastic tube. If I were to attempt to describe the feel of the tube, it’s some sort of a matte finish and the tube won’t really slip if your hands were wet.
The colour scheme for their entire “Kind-to-Skin” line is green, green and some more green (Even the barcode is a dark green). It doesn’t look bad in any form or way, but some parts like the How to Use I completely missed, because it almost blends in with the green tube. It is not just the How to Use, but other portions mentioning it is 100% Soap free in the front, about who it is designed for that are also blending into the tube.
One aspect of the packaging and labelling I
particularly do not like is that there is waaaaayyy too much information on the back of the product and seems to be a mess – different colours, different fonts, different font sizes. Presentation of information in a manner that your customer can consume that information is key, not just on the back of a skincare product, but in almost every scenario – You wouldn’t show a presentation with a data dump, some important sections blending into a slide, fonts of every type to your client, would you?
2. Touch & Feel
The face wash has a nice liquid gel consistency, but slightly on the watery side.
It is completely transparent – you might get confused and think it’s slightly greenish (I did till I was checking it for this blog), but that’s only because the tube is green.
It has a very faint smell of aloe vera, however, they do not use any aloe in this product, and they do not use fragrances either – I cannot believe that just chemicals can smell this nice.
The product does not lather much, it has the teeniest tiniest bit of lather, and this for me kind of takes away the joy of cleansing (I love and use foam cleansers more than I should).
The product spreads well on the skin while cleansing and a pea sized blob of this is more than enough to cleanse both the face and neck.
What I do not like is that it doesn’t wash off well, initially, there were times when I felt there was some product left and I washed my face with water a second time. Now I spend more time (and waste more water) to make sure I wash off all the product.
3. How-to-Use
Cleanser is always, and I mean always in any and all situations the first step of a skincare routine. If you apply any product before cleansing, you will be losing out on all the benefits of the product you’ve used (face masks – rinse with water and not a cleanser).
The packaging recommends to, “In your hands, work a small amount into a lather. Massage onto wet skin, avoid getting into your eyes. Rinse with water”. For the longest time I was using this product without working it into a lather on my hands – it felt like rubbing gel onto your skin and didn’t seem to be working very well. One day I accidentally rubbed it between my hands for about 10 seconds longer and I realized there was some lather, and felt more effective as well (skin felt more clean). This is why it’s important to read instructions - I just assumed that I could use it like every other face wash. This is also why the brand needs to ensure their messaging reaches their customers, and the products are being used the way it has been designed to.
4. On using it for over a month
I have normal to combination skin (oily T-Zone), my skin doesn't breakout very often, but I do get very painful deep-seated pimples during my time of the month. My skin concerns are mostly unevenness of skin tone, dark spots/moles on my face - I lost count of how many of those I have, whiteheads on the nose, appearance of fine lines on my forehead and around my eyes, and a small degree of sensitivity.
This product is extremely gentle on the skin, and the whole experience is actually refreshing just like in the product description. (Still find it weird that it smells like aloe vera and feels like aloe vera – but is not).
With that being said, I do not know if this is a product that is suitable for Indian summers and pollution. I use it as a morning wash, when I just want to get rid of the slight oiliness that might have creeped up on me during the night and to get rid of the remnants of my PM routine. In the evening I would use a stronger cleanser. However, for those with sensitive skin that might not be an option, and would recommend using a double cleanse system – go for an oil cleanse or micellar water first followed by the face wash. (I follow a double cleanse system and find it the best and a gentle way to get rid of make-up and/or sunscreen)
Final Thoughts
I have mixed feelings regarding this product, it does what it says – cleans your skin gently, and uses clean and gentle ingredients – but I don’t love it and might think twice about repurchasing the product. Also, given summer has begun, getting rid of the oil and sweat from your face would be a bit of a task with this cleanser.
Overall Rating: 3.5 / 5
I am completely sold on the fact that is a wonderful product if you have sensitive to very sensitive skin. I would 100% recommend this product for sensitive skin types, as well as dry skin types – would gently cleanse without stripping an already dry skin of its much needed natural oils.
This would be an okay product for normal and dry type combination skin types, especially if you’re looking for a gentle cleanser – you won’t find many products like this in the market.
Would not recommend this for oily and oily combination skin types - if at all you can use it during winters when skin is more prone to drying out and sensitivity.
This might be a good and gentle alternative for those with acne-prone skin, on those days when there is excessive inflammation and the skin seems extremely sensitive. Could also be a good go to product for those with dry skin and are prone to acne.
With the onset of summer, I am most probably going to keep this face wash for winter when my skin does dry out and even start to react at times to the most random things.
Disclaimer: I am not a dermatologist. The product review is my personal opinion on the product, and what I understand from articles available online. The description on ingredients has been sourced from websites that specifically look to provide information on commonly used ingredients in skincare and make-up. If I have mentioned anything incorrectly or wrong, please do reach out to me, and we can update the same.
Wherever I have mentioned a specific fact or figure, these have been sourced either from Paula’s Choice Ingredient Dictionary or INCI Decoder, and Journal sources listed on these websites. I neither take credit for this information, nor can I guarantee the accuracy of these facts and figures and do not take responsibility for the same.
My main aim is to help people understand the various ingredients in their skincare and how those ingredients work, to help make intelligent purchase decisions with regards to skincare.
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