Neutrogena Pore Refining Exfoliating Cleanser Review

The Neutrogena pore refining exfoliating cleanser certainly did surprise me. The first surprise was the size. When it arrived on my doorstep I noticed that it was a much more generous size than my previous cleansers. This makes it great value for money. The second surprise was the similarity between the exfoliating properties in the Neutrogena cleanser and my Clarins One Step exfoliating cleanser ($59). With a drastic price difference, that is a pretty awesome aspect for a drug store cleanser to pull off. I typically use my Clarins One Step 3 times a week as an exfoliator so the Neutrogena cleanser is a little too harsh for twice daily use. For a St Ives Apricot scrub lover, this would be a gentle option. My final surprise was when I used it in place of my Clarins foaming cleanser in conjunction with my Olay Regenerist. The cleanser was immediately flicked into my eye, and oh my, it hurt. I haven't encountered this with my foaming cleanser. It is great to grab in the shower, but I won't be using it at night as it just doesn't work with the regenerist.

The Neutrogena pore refining exfoliating cleanser has an easy to open cap and typical Neutrogena soap smell. It's not fresh, but not unpleasant.

And lastly, the pore refining claim. I haven't noticed any reduction in the size of my pores BUT my pores are not overly large, they were already clear and exfoliated prior to using this cleanser, and I have only been using it for a week.

I have come to the conclusion that this isn't my match made in heaven, perfect cleanser. However I will continue to use it in the mornings, every second or third day. I see it as a cheap alternative that doesn't break me out and gently exfoliates, but it doesn't do anything amazing.

I had a dilemma with this product. I love the scent, the fact that it doesn't lather a lot (so therefore seems to be less soapy/drying) and the superfine, softer exfoliating beads that don't feel like they are 'scrubbing' as much as polishing your skin. I feel that (if it works for you) it's fantastic value as you get a huge bottle for your money, and perhaps people with calmer skin than mine would love it.

So where was the dilemma? What didn't I like? My face doesn't feel clean. My pores seem (after 5 days use) to be a bit smaller, but my skin seems oilier and I have had a couple of jaw/cheek/nose breakouts, which I usually only get when I'm being lazy with skincare (or super stressed, which isn't possible when I've been on holiday for the last two weeks!).

So a neutral review. I can see this being a great product. I can see it working for people. It just doesn't seem to like my oilier, slightly fussy skin too much and as such, it's not for me.

I liked using this product, and made it the last thing I used in the shower before I got out. It put back a lot of moisture my soap took away. I liked that it doesn't have an overpowering scent, and felt it was quite easy for my sensitive skin. I don't know whether it actually reduced my pores (should have done a before and after), but it certainly makes my skin feel cleaner and more moisturised. My fiancé has even tried it a few times, so its a goodie!

The product states that my pores can look up to half their size in just one week but its been about a week and I've noticed no change to the size of my pores. I think it may have to do with the size of the beads. They were small but gentle. This product made my face clean and removed makeup well but I'm not too sure about pore refining

Now while I really hadn't expected great things from neutrogena, I had heard rave reviews so figured I'd give it a shot after seeing it in the beauty vault. After using it, I now see the rave reviews were most likely from people who had never used ahas or bhas, and were used to using really harsh physical exfoliants. This isn't a bad product, but it certainly doesn't live up to the hype. While I like that this isn't scratchy, the aha and bha percentage is too low for this to really be a well exfoliating product, also, from a beauty therapy point of view, I don't see how a cleanser containing salicylic acid in a non encapsulated state can refine your pores (some more high end products encapsulate the acid so it stays on the skin), but if the product is rinsed straight off, it's not going to achieve all that much, clearly I didn't see a reduction of my pore size. If you really want to reduce your pores and decongest your skin, you need a leave on salicylic acid gel. I was happy though, that this was sls free, as well as not heavily fragranced or coloured. This didn't sensitise my skin or irritate, so I was happy in that respect. My skin felt fine afterwards, smoother, but nothing to write home about. Also, I don't like that it says for daily use. As a b.t I learnt it's never good to use an exfoliating wash every day, regardless of how gentle. If it's a serum, that's different as they're designed that way, but you can irritate or dry your skin by overuse of exfoliating cleansers. Lastly, as much as this is a generous size, I think $15 for this is a bit steep. Spend your money on a decent aha/bha gel if you really want to refine your pores.

Brought this when it first came out with high expectations. It does feel like it exfoliates well but didn't notice any change in my skin. The bottle is huge and will definitely last for ages. I have since started using a more expensive exfoliater which I feel leaves your skin feeling softer but will keep hold of this one for when my other one runs out.

My skin type: SENSITIVE combination skin – but heavily leaning to dry Days tested: 8 - once a day in morning Result: Less red and more even toned but no visible reduction in pore size. My skin happened to be particularly bad with dry redness, spots pores the week that I started. Change in weather and damned airco at work playing havoc, drying out my skin like crazy. The first couple of days of cleansing with Neutrogena Pore Refining Exfoliating Cleanser were tough I woke up every morning VERY dry and during the day I could feel my skin drying out by the second (airco I hate you) even with my 2+ litres a day of water and morning and night moisturizing. I changed my skin routine up by day 3 or 4, kept the morning ritual the same but started using a heavy cream at night. Day 7 and 8 are showing improvement in terms of drying out, slightly, and still see no reduction in pore size (I took before and after pics) I do believe that Neutrogena Cleanser has aided in reduction of redness and spots and creating a more even toned skin but definitely. I would struggle to recommend unless I see drastic improvement. Will continue to use for another couple of weeks to give it a month but sadly this is currently not a HG cleanser for me!

I used product once a day for over a week, I found it made my skin very dry and uncomfortable, I didn't notice much change in the appearance of my skin, however this also may have been due to the reaction I was experiencing, good product but I just didn't feel it really worked for me

This product is really just like any other cleanser you would buy from the supermarket, it cleans your skin but doesn't do anything special. Not even reduce the size of pores like it claims to. I used this over a week and did not notice anything different about my pore size, in fact over the week I had a terrible pimple break out (this may not have been related to the cleanser as a week is not enough time to tell). It has a pleasant smell and a thick slightly gritty texture, after use it left my skin feeling clean. Perhaps used with other pore refining products there would be a better outcome? So I will continue to use this and would consider buying it again as it does clean my face, however it really didn't live up to its pore shrinking claims.

I picked this product up on a whim after seeing it reviewed on you tube. I don't find that it dries my skin out too much but I am very oily. The packaging is good, the product is easy to use and the scrub isn't overly scratchy. I don't think it has made a huge difference in my pores though. It isn't a bad cleanser/exfoliator but I don't know that it lives up to all the claims.