The Best Cleansers for Sensitive Skin (and What to Avoid)

The best cleanser for sensitive skin is one that leaves out the usual irritants: fragrance, harsh sulfates like sodium lauryl sulfate, essential oils and alkaline soap. Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser and La Roche-Posay Toleriane Hydrating suit dry or normal sensitive skin. Neutrogena Ultra Gentle and Bioderma Sensibio Foaming Gel suit oily or acne-prone sensitive skin. Simple and Avène need a closer label check.

Before you buy, you can scan the barcode or photograph the label with the ingredient scanner in Pori (a Pro feature) to see how each ingredient is flagged for your skin type. Below is how we picked, a comparison table, each cleanser's case built on what its formula skips, and the ingredients to avoid. We judged these from published ingredient lists and evidence, not from our own wear tests. For the full morning and evening routine, see our sensitive skin routine.

What makes a cleanser good for sensitive skin?

A good sensitive-skin cleanser uses a mild surfactant at a skin-friendly pH and skips fragrance. The American Academy of Dermatology's general advice is to use a gentle, non-abrasive cleanser that does not contain alcohol, applied with fingertips and lukewarm water, and its rosacea guidance adds "choose fragrance-free (rather than unscented) products".

Surfactant choice matters because the cleansing agent is what touches your skin most. A 2022 review of soaps and synthetic detergents (syndets) gives the numbers: soap is typically pH 8.5 to 11, syndets about 5.5 to 7, and skin about 4 to 6, and skin proteins swell markedly once cleanser pH rises above 8. The same review describes amphoteric surfactants such as cocamidopropyl betaine as generally less aggressive than anionic ones, and non-ionic glucosides as having the lowest irritancy potential of the main classes, with weaker lather.

So our checklist for every pick was:

• No fragrance, parfum or essential oils on the ingredient list.
• No sodium lauryl sulfate, and ideally no sulfates at all.
• Not a true soap (no sodium tallowate, sodium cocoate or similar at the top of the list).
• Few ingredients, so it's easier to rule out the one you react to.

Which cleansers for sensitive skin are worth buying?

Ingredient lists change by country and over time, so treat this as a starting point and read the box in front of you.

1. Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser: best for very reactive skin

Cetaphil is the shortest list here, which is its main strength. The current US formula has ten ingredients: water, glycerin, cetearyl alcohol, panthenol, niacinamide, pantolactone, xanthan gum, sodium cocoyl isethionate, sodium benzoate and citric acid. Its single surfactant is the one the 2022 review uses as a mildness benchmark. Galderma's 2021 reformulation made the formula free of parabens and sulfates.

What it leaves out: fragrance, sulfates, parabens, oils and soap. The trade-off is that it barely foams and won't shift waterproof makeup on its own. It can also be wiped off without water when your skin stings under the tap. Full details are in our Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser review.

2. La Roche-Posay Toleriane Hydrating: best cream cleanser for dry sensitive skin

Toleriane Hydrating holds the National Eczema Association's Seal of Acceptance, and the NEA describes it as a daily face wash for normal to dry, sensitive skin in a gentle cream formula. Its 15 ingredients include coco-betaine as the cleanser, glycerin, ceramide NP, niacinamide, panthenol and vitamin E.

What it leaves out: fragrance and sulfates. It does contain propylene glycol and polysorbate 60, which most people tolerate but which are worth noting if you've reacted to them before. It's very close to CeraVe Hydrating; our Toleriane Hydrating review compares the two line by line.

3. Neutrogena Ultra Gentle Daily Cleanser: best foaming wash for sensitive, acne-prone skin

If you want foam, this is the cleanest foaming list on the shelf. Neutrogena says the formula is free of soap, fragrance, dye, sulfates and alcohol, hypoallergenic and non-comedogenic. It cleans with cocamidopropyl betaine and lauryl glucoside, an amphoteric plus a non-ionic, with a small amount of sodium lauroyl sarcosinate. It also contains centella asiatica extract, glycerin, and potassium sorbate as preservative.

What it leaves out: fragrance, sulfates, soap and drying alcohol. It suits people with sensitive skin who are also oily or breakout-prone, since the AAD advises acne-prone skin to wash up to twice daily and after sweating with a gentle, non-abrasive cleanser. If plant extracts tend to bother you, note the centella on the list. It comes in sizes from 5.8 to 16 fl oz.

4. Bioderma Sensibio Foaming Gel: best for combination sensitive skin

Bioderma's Sensibio Foaming Gel (Gel Moussant) is listed as unfragranced, non-comedogenic, soap-free and at physiological pH. It uses sodium cocoamphoacetate, sodium lauroyl sarcosinate and coco-glucoside, with humectants such as propanediol, mannitol and xylitol. Bioderma's US site listed it from $10.99 to $24.99 depending on size as of October 2026.

What it leaves out: fragrance, soap and sulfates. The brand's own usage test was small, 22 volunteers over a week, so treat its satisfaction percentages as marketing. If you'd rather not rinse at all, the same line's Sensibio H2O micellar water is unfragranced and labeled as a no-rinse formula.

5. Simple Kind to Skin Moisturising Facial Wash: budget pick with a caveat

Simple's wash is fragrance-free, but it does contain a sulfate. One published version of the list starts water, sodium laureth sulfate, decyl glucoside, cocamidopropyl betaine, glycerin, then adds panthenol, vitamin E (tocopheryl acetate) and bisabolol, with no fragrance or parfum entry. Sodium laureth sulfate is a different ingredient from the sodium lauryl sulfate on the AAD's rosacea avoid list, but it's still an anionic surfactant, the class the 2022 review describes as generally potent irritants to the skin when used alone. Here it's blended with milder co-surfactants, which is the standard way to soften it.

What it leaves out: fragrance and true soap. It's mainly a UK brand, and it's a reasonable choice if you tolerate it well. If your skin flares with most foaming washes, choose picks 1 to 4 first.

6. Avène Gentle Milk Cleanser: check the label before you buy

Avène's milk cleanser is a soft milk you apply with a cotton pad, and its oil-rich base appeals to dry skin. The catch for sensitive skin is fragrance. One retailer listing of the formula shows Avène thermal spring water, mineral oil, propylene glycol, PEG stearates, butylparaben and fragrance (parfum), and that listing now marks the product as no longer available, which suggests the formula or packaging has changed.

What it leaves out: sulfates and foaming surfactants entirely. Whether it leaves out fragrance depends on the bottle you find. If your box lists parfum, skip it if fragrance is a known trigger for you. If you love the idea of a milk, look for one with no fragrance line at all.

What should you avoid in a cleanser for sensitive skin?

Avoid fragrance first. DermNet notes that fragrance allergy is second only to nickel allergy as a cause of allergic contact dermatitis and affects around 1% of adults. The FDA warns that even some products labeled "unscented" may contain fragrance ingredients added to mask other smells, which is why the AAD says to choose fragrance-free over unscented.

• Fragrance and parfum, including essential oils. DermNet adds that products listing "botanical," "herbal" or "natural" ingredients may contain an unidentified fragrance. Our guide to fragrance and essential oils in skincare covers which ones cause the most reactions.
• Sodium lauryl sulfate. The AAD's list of ingredients for people with rosacea to avoid includes alcohol, camphor, fragrance, glycolic acid, lactic acid, menthol, sodium lauryl sulfate and urea. That list is a useful filter for any reactive face. For more on milder sulfates, see sulfates in face wash.
• True soap bars on the face, because of their alkaline pH.
• Scrubbing beads, brushes and washcloths. The AAD says anything other than your fingertips can irritate your skin.
• Acid or retinoid cleansers unless you've built tolerance; glycolic and lactic acid are on the AAD's rosacea avoid list too.

Which cleanser is best for sensitive, acne-prone skin?

Start with Neutrogena Ultra Gentle or Bioderma Sensibio Foaming Gel. Both are fragrance-free, sulfate-free and labeled non-comedogenic, and both foam, which many oily-skinned people prefer. If your skin is sensitive but your acne needs treatment, a dermatologist may suggest a medicated wash for some nights and one of these on the others, so the routine as a whole stays tolerable.

When should you see a dermatologist?

See a dermatologist if every cleanser stings, if redness lasts for hours after washing, or if you notice scaling, swelling, bumps around the mouth or nose, or patches that itch. Those can point to eczema, rosacea, perioral dermatitis or a contact allergy. A dermatologist can patch test you to find the exact ingredient, which saves a lot of trial and error with bottles.