The Ordinary's first cleanser arrived with a quiet challenge baked into its existence. Here was a brand that had built its entire identity on stripped-down formulas — single actives in clinical packaging, no frills, no luxury textures, no sensory pleasure beyond the satisfaction of knowing exactly what you were putting on your face. A cleansing balm, by its nature, asks for something different. It needs to feel good. It needs to melt. It needs that moment where makeup dissolves beneath your fingertips and you think, briefly, that skincare might actually be enjoyable.
The Squalane Cleanser manages this trick with surprising grace. The formula starts as a thick, white, almost putty-like balm that resists the first touch. Then you press it between your palms, and body heat does its work — within fifteen seconds, the balm softens into a clear, silky oil that glides across skin. This transformation is powered by a clever system of sucrose ester emulsifiers rather than traditional surfactants, which is worth noting because it means the product can emulsify and rinse away without relying on the detergent-like ingredients that make so many cleansers feel stripping.
The squalane itself is the star, and its casting makes biological sense. Squalane is a stabilized version of squalene, a lipid that human sebaceous glands naturally produce. When you massage it into your skin, it does not register as a foreign substance — it integrates with the skin's existing lipid layer while simultaneously dissolving the oil-based impurities sitting on top: sunscreen, foundation, mascara, the accumulated sebum and environmental grime of a full day. This is the 'like dissolves like' principle at work, and it is more effective at removing oil-based products than most surfactant cleansers.
The rinse-off is where the sucrose esters earn their keep. Add a splash of water and the clear oil transforms again, this time into a light, milky emulsion that carries the dissolved impurities away. In theory, this three-phase transformation — balm to oil to milk — should leave skin perfectly clean and perfectly hydrated. In practice, it mostly delivers. Most users find their skin feels softer and more comfortable post-cleanse than with any foaming alternative. The tight, squeaky-clean feeling that many people associate with a proper cleanse is entirely absent, which is actually the point — that tightness is your barrier protesting.
The complaints that do surface tend to center on consistency. Not every squeeze from the tube melts with equal willingness. Sometimes the balm stays thick and sticky, refusing its oil phase like a stubborn guest at a party. The fix is simple — warm it longer between your palms, apply to bone-dry skin, and massage with more pressure — but it is a fix you should not have to apply to a product designed around a specific textural experience.
As a first cleanser in a double-cleansing routine, the Squalane Cleanser is excellent. It strips away makeup and SPF with genuine efficiency, leaving a clean canvas for a second water-based cleanser or for toners and serums if you prefer a single-cleanse approach. For dry and sensitive skin types, using this alone — no second cleanser — is often enough, and the skin benefits from not being washed twice.
The formula's gentleness is not just marketing. The National Eczema Association has accepted this product, which requires meeting specific criteria around ingredient safety and irritation potential. The ingredient list is clean in the way that actually matters: no fragrance, no sulfates, no harsh surfactants, no drying alcohols. The preservative system is minimal — ethylhexylglycerin and chlorphenesin at concentrations low enough to preserve without irritating.
The Ordinary has been making this cleanser since 2019, which gives it nearly seven years of market feedback. The brand's established reputation for transparency means you know exactly what you are getting: a squalane-based cleansing vehicle with sugar emulsifiers and glycerin for hydration. There are no proprietary complexes, no trademarked ingredient blends, no mystery.
Value is where opinions split. At around $20 for 150ml, this is objectively affordable for a cleansing balm — comparable products from prestige brands run $35-65. But cleansers get used quickly. You need a generous amount for each application, and daily use burns through a tube in six to eight weeks. The 50ml travel size is particularly punishing in this regard, lasting barely a month. If you are accustomed to drugstore gel cleansers that last three months for $8, the per-use math may give you pause.
For oily skin types, this cleanser works best as a first step followed by a gel or foam cleanser that can address residual oiliness. Used alone, it may leave oily skin feeling under-cleansed — not because the product hasn't worked, but because the hydrating finish reads as residue to skin accustomed to that stripped-clean feeling.
The Squalane Cleanser is ultimately a well-designed product that accomplishes something genuinely difficult: it makes a cleanser from The Ordinary feel like a small luxury. Not the overwrought luxury of a $60 cleansing balm that comes in a glass jar and smells like a spa — something quieter and more practical. The luxury of washing your face and having it feel better afterward, not worse. For a brand that made its name on function over form, that is a meaningful achievement.
