A face wash sets pace for the rest of your skincare regimen. Get one that does the job, matches your skin type and budget, and won’t dry you out.
Cleansing is one of the absolute bare necessities in skincare. It “resets” the canvas by flushing away sweat, grime, and sebum buildup, and then allows you to add any other products (a moisturizer, at the very least) to fresh skin. Because of the cleanser, these additional products absorb better and work to maximum effect.
Wash your face twice a day: First thing in the morning, and as the first step in your pre-bedtime skincare regimen. Of course, you should also cleanse after a workout or intense sweat. Just be sure to always moisturize after you wash your face.
As much as I’d love to tell you to just use the same bar of soap on your face that you use across your chest, pits, and ass—and hey, I love Dove soap as much as anyone—I still think the more important thing is to find a facial cleanser that suits your skin type, the season, or certain habits. This doesn’t have to be overly complicated, either. Besides, most body cleansers are too harsh on the face, since the skin above your neck is much thinner and more sensitive.
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The Best Men’s Face Wash Picks
- The Best Men’s Facial Cleanser Overall: Cardon Purifying Clay Cleanser
- The Best Face Wash for Dry Skin: CeraVe Hydrating Foaming Oil Cleanser
- The Best Face Wash for Oily Skin: Skin1004 Madagascar Centella Tea-Trica BHA Foam Facial Wash
- The Best Face Wash for Acne-Prone Skin: Medicube Zero Pore SA Clear Capsule Cleansing Foam
- The Best Face Wash for Sensitive Skin: Aesop Gentle Facial Cleansing Milk
- The Best Face Wash for the Gym + Travel: Jaxon Lane Shake and Wake Exfoliating Enzyme Powder Face Wash for Men
- The Best Men’s Cleanser for Normal/Combination Skin: Huron Daily Face Wash
- The Best Cleanser/Exfoliator Combo: Atwater Skin Armor Exfoliating Face Scrub
How to Pick a Face Wash, Based on Skin Type
As for some prescriptive cleansing advice, here are my recommendations based on the most common needs. For what it’s worth… my best overall pick satisfies just about everything on this roster, unless you have extremely dry skin.
Oil and Sweat: If you’re oily skinned, or are supremely sweaty, then you want something that does some deep-pore cleaning without leaving your skin parched and red in the process. Gels and clays are especially common.
Dryness: If your skin is dry (year round or seasonally) you want a face wash that overcompensates for its cleansing actions with added moisture.
Acne: Pimple-prone skin needs something with salicylic acid, and severe cases of acne should seek out benzoyl peroxide cleansers.
Sensitive Skin: If your skin is on the finicky side, then typically you’ll choose a milky cleanser or foaming face wash; those are always the gentlest picks and satisfy most folks with sensitive skin.
Normal: “Normal” means not too oily, not too dry, kinda perfectly balanced, without much seasonal flux. Congrats on that! Just make sure to preserve the balance. Something that gently exfoliates can be nice, but doesn’t overdo it on purifying, and something that isn’t too light, either. You can likely shop the “combination” category too.
Combination: This means you have some parts that are more dry (likely your cheeks, while your T-zone (brow, nose, chin) is more oily. So you need something balanced and purifying too, or should even consider washing the T-zone with something more purifying while you gently flush the cheeks with water. Still, I think most guys with combo skin will be fine using a cleanser targeting “normal” skin.
The Best Cleansers for Men, Across All Skin Types
The Best Men’s Facial Cleanser Overall: Cardon Purifying Clay Cleanser
Why I Picked It:
Cardon’s cleanser is one that I think satisfies everyone (which is why it was the very first product I gave a Blue Ribbon award to).
It has this cushiony, almost marshmallowy texture, and manages to absorb all the excess grime from my face while also nourishing the skin. Due to product testing and exercising, I wash my face like 3 or 4 times a day (way more than the average person), and using a cleanser like Cardon’s allows me to keep balanced skin despite the excessive cleansing. I’m also oily by nature and it always refreshes… and that pillowy texture is something special.
I think only acne-prone individuals should consider a cleanser with active acne-fighting ingredients (see below), but Cardon’s would also help purify skin, and then you could use an anti-acne serum in its wake to manage the blemishes.
Anyway, I don’t foresee a cleanser de-throning this one from my top spot any time soon. It is number one with a bullet. Also, for what it’s worth, I throw Cardon a major hat tip in my best moisturizers article too, where I laud two of their great hydrators. In other words: They can give you an awesome foundational regimen, even if you want to keep things simple.
The Best Face Wash for Dry Skin: CeraVe Hydrating Foaming Oil Cleanser
BUY IT FROM: AMAZON
Why I Picked It:
It may seem weird to use an oil-based cleanser to wash your face, but here’s the thinking: Those oil-based surfactants pull away any sweat, grime, and impurities that you’ve accumulated throughout the day or overnight. And they do their job while also nourishing your dry skin.
I take very seriously the claims that CeraVe’s cleanser is for “Dry to Very Dry” skin, too: It is one of the single best to deliver on this promise.
Look, there are very few face washes I would say actually deplete your skin’s moisture levels in the year 2026—at least none from reputable brands; instead, I think it’s more about how hot the water is that you’re washing your face with, or how frequently you may be washing, too. So consider those variables, scale it back, and when you do wash your face, go with this hydrating oil-based cleanser… you should feel some suppleness and softness thereafter. It’ll do no harm to your skin, so long as you make sure you aren’t boiling your pelt otherwise with a hot, long shower.
BUY IT FROM: AMAZON
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The Best Face Wash for Oily Skin: Skin1004 Madagascar Centella Tea-Trica BHA Foam Facial Wash
Why I Picked It:
One thing that Korean skincare brands do extremely well? They have a bunch of cleansing foams that you can build into an insanely fun, fluffy lather with a loofah, or even your chest hair. Better yet, they have so many of these cleansers that they can also add objectives to each one. And this green-tubed option from Skin1004 provides you with oil-balancing tea tree oil, pore-clearing beta hydroxy acids, as well as the brand’s signature skin-soothing Madagascan centella extract.
Together, that pore-clearing, grime-toning, skin-soothing combination makes this face wash a force to be reckoned with. Add to that the fact that it builds an insanely fun whipped lather, and it’s a 5-star pick for oily skinned guys. (As for that lather: Again, you’ll need more than just your hands to build the froth; a whipping net, loofah, or some serious chest hair—but simply using your hands still allows you to use it like a regular, cream-like cleanser, too.)
The Best Face Wash for Acne-Prone Skin: Medicube Zero Pore SA Clear Capsule Cleansing Foam
Why I Picked It:
Yeah, it’s the second cleansing foam on this list, and similar to the one above (from Skin1004), Medicube’s triple exfoliating-acid-packed cleansing foam ensures that your pores stay unclogged (of both dead skin cells and oil). It has cleansing capsules with active ingredients that get to work as they melt into your skin: salicylic acid to purge the pores and balance oil levels, as well as a blend of alpha- and poly hydroxy acids to manage surface-level smoothness.
This one doesn’t build quite as great a foamy lather as other cleansing foams (still use is with a loofah or whipping net to build some cushiony lather). I’ve enjoyed it far more for its actual skin-clearing functions, and my tube is nearly squeezed to completion, too. Also, Medicube put a cake-frosting style opening on its tube—there’s always some fun, nuanced touch that they have for each product—maybe that’s neither here nor there for you, but I do appreciate that it exits the tube slowly (and all fancy-like) rather than wasting any excess product.
The Best Face Wash for Sensitive Skin: Aesop Gentle Facial Cleansing Milk
Why I Picked It:
Aesop’s ultra gentle cleanser is another all-time favorite face wash of mine, among a handful on this list. It is so gentle, so soothing. A true go-to after I am a bit red in the face post sun-spell, or even after I shave and need a very soothing come-down. If you have sensitive skin and need a face wash that can flush away grime multiple times a day without ever stripping or irritating skin… well, then here ya go.
I also consider it a great “second cleanser” to have on hand for those moments you do need something gentle (again, post shave being a prime example). Maybe you can use another cleanser on a regular basis, then deploy this milky, cooling option when you truly need it most.
The Best Face Wash for the Gym + Travel: Jaxon Lane Shake and Wake Exfoliating Enzyme Powder Face Wash for Men
BUY IT FROM AMAZON // JAXON LANE
Why I Picked It:
This is the cleansing powder that converted me to cleansing powders. It is the one I travel with now, the one on my sink ledge that I use in the morning (when I am not otherwise rinsing my face in the shower), and it has extremely soothing, gentle properties (from panthenol and aloe) despite also having the exfoliating benefits of multiple fruit enzymes.
So, yes, this one also gently exfoliates your mug, which I consider a benefit to the fact that it is TSA friendly, spill proof (well, sure you can spill powder, but it’s not liquid, I mean). And a little goes a long way” I am midway through the same bottle I started probably 7 months ago, and I use it nearly daily. You just need a tiny bit of powder in your palm, then weta couple fingers and mix it all together. It instantly dissolves into a cleansing agent.
Also, do not take this into the shower itself. A little water inside that tube and you have yourself a paste—and a rock soon thereafter. This is for sink ledges, gym bags (for gym sink ledges), and dopp kits (for hotel sink ledges).
Once you finally convert to cleansing powders for that non-shower rinse, you’ll ask yourself the same question: What took me so long? Jaxon Lane’s finally did that for me.
BUY IT FROM AMAZON // JAXON LANE
The Best Men’s Cleanser for Normal/Combination Skin: Huron Daily Face Wash
Why I Picked It:
Huron’s face wash should work wonders on most skin types—so on this roster, I’m casting it square in the middle of the matrix, for people with normal “balanced” or combination (half dry/half oily) since it targets anyone and everyone with is smart ingredients roster.
Inside that creamy lather are gentle bamboo powders and exfoliating fruit enzymes to ensure your skin stays smooth and pores remain unclogged; it hydrates and cools with cactus and aloe extracts, while its coconut-derived cleansers give you a nourishing rinse without any compromise to your skin’s barrier functions (meaning, no irritation, no moisture lost!).
Again, I think every guy would love this face wash since it aims squarely for the bullseye of needs, and hits the mark, too.
The Best Cleanser/Exfoliator Combo: Atwater Skin Armor Exfoliating Face Scrub
Why I Picked It:
This exfoliating cleanser also won a Blue Ribbon, and for a familiar reason: It is functional yes, but also fun. That slime green is so weird and smile inducing, but it lathers into a terrific multi-action exfoliant and face wash too: Biodegradable jojoba beads gently buff skin without damage, while salicylic acid clears oil and congestion to help prevent blackheads.
Then come the nourishing, calming properties, too: A chlorophyllin copper complex reduces inflammation and redness, so this one is much unlike harsher scrubs out there; secondly, the inclusion of betaine helps maintain moisture to protect the skin barrier. It’s much gentler of an exfoliant as far as multi-action cleansers go, but I’d still suggest using this one once a day max, maybe even once every other day, then deploying your usual daily cleanser all the ties between.
See Also: The Best Moisturizers for Men
