There is a particular kind of pleasure in squeezing jet-black gel out of a tube and watching it foam pure white. It is not a skincare result, it is a magic trick, and Formula 10.0.6 knows exactly why it works: a body wash that looks like nothing else on the shelf gets used every day, and a body acid that gets used every day is the only kind that does anything. Look So Clear is a charcoal-and-spirulina body wash with a dose of alpha hydroxy acid, launched in the summer of 2021 as the brand's first shower product, and the trick is the delivery mechanism for something modestly worthwhile.
The brand's story is a 1933 acne formula revived in the 2010s as a wall of cheap, pun-named face masks, and its body line takes the same ideas out of the bathroom sink and into the shower. This tube is the opening step of that routine: wash, then scrub, then butter or oil, all from the same shelf. At eight dollars for 300 millilitres it is priced against grocery-store body wash rather than against the body-acid serums that cost three times as much for a third of the volume.
The ingredient list is short and, once the marketing is subtracted, fairly smart. Water, then a sulfate-free surfactant trio: cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine, sodium cocoamphoacetate and disodium laureth sulfosuccinate, a mild sulfosultaine, an amphoteric and a sulfosuccinate that together lather properly without the lipid-stripping of a lauryl sulfate base. Then a thickener, glycerin as the sole humectant, and glycolic acid in seventh place with citric acid behind it. Sodium hydroxide at the end of the list is the tell that the acid has been partly neutralised to a skin-tolerable pH. The brand does not disclose a percentage, and the position says low; this is a daily wash, not a peel. Charcoal and spirulina follow, then fragrance and a food-grade preservative pair.
What that adds up to is a formula that makes a good decision and two decorative ones. The good decision is pairing an exfoliating acid with a mild cleanser instead of a harsh one. A body wash that both strips lipids with sulfates and loosens the surface with an acid is how people end up with tight, itchy shins; keeping the surfactants gentle means the acid is the only thing pulling in the exfoliating direction, and the glycerin pulls back a little. The decorative decisions are the charcoal and the spirulina. Charcoal adsorbs things in sustained contact; in a wash rinsed away in a minute it adsorbs nothing worth mentioning, and the skin does not hold toxins for it to remove. Spirulina is a real antioxidant in a lab and a label ingredient in a rinse-off. They are there for the black-to-white foam and the words on the tube, and it is fair to enjoy the first while ignoring the second.
In the shower it is nice. The gel is medium-thick and lathers into a creamy white foam that feels richer than most sulfate-free washes manage. The scent is cool and minty with a faint green note behind it, present while you wash and gone after towelling. There is a mild tingle on freshly shaved legs or the backs of the arms, which is the acid announcing itself and is nothing to worry about on intact skin. Rinsed, the skin feels clean and slightly tightened rather than squeaky, though it wants a lotion afterward, and the tube says as much. The one practical complaint that recurs in the scattered reviews is the residue: leave the black lather sitting on a white tub and it leaves a grey tint until the water hits it, which is a minute of annoyance rather than a stain.
The results are the results of a low-dose rinse-off AHA, no more and no less. Rough texture on the upper arms and thighs softens over two to four weeks of daily use, more so if the foam is left on those areas for a minute before rinsing. Chest and back breakouts are a little less frequent, because a mild acid wash keeps the surface from packing down over the follicles. Keratosis pilaris bumps improve at the margins. None of that is a substitute for a leave-on urea or lactic acid lotion, which is where the real keratosis pilaris and body-acne work happens, but a wash that gently supports the leave-on every single morning is a sensible foundation, and cheaper than adding a second treatment.
The caveats are the usual ones for an acid plus a fragrance. Sensitive, eczema-prone or barrier-damaged skin will find the combination too much for daily use and should either alternate days or choose a fragrance-free wash. It should not go on freshly waxed skin, a sunburn or anything recently treated, and it should not be stacked on the same day as a leave-on body acid or retinoid. Even a rinse-off AHA nudges sun sensitivity a little, so arms and legs that see the sun want sunscreen anyway. Four years on the market with only a thin trail of retailer reviews means these are formulation judgements rather than a chorus of user reports; the reviews that exist mostly like the scent and the smoother skin and grumble about the tub.
On value it is straightforwardly reasonable. Eight dollars for 300 millilitres is what a decent drugstore body wash costs, and this one carries a functional acid in a mild base, which most of them do not. The only size is the one tube, so there is no bulk saving to chase, but at this price it hardly matters. You are paying for the surfactant choice and the acid; the charcoal and spirulina are free theatre.
Buy it if you want an inexpensive daily body wash that does a little more than clean, if your skin is oily, combination or normal, and if you find that black-gel, white-foam moment as satisfying as most people do. Skip it if your skin is reactive or eczema-prone, if you already use a leave-on body acid every day, or if you were expecting charcoal to do something. It will not; the glycolic acid will, quietly, and that is enough for the money.
