It’s officially summertime, and if your skin hasn’t been behaving well lately—acne, redness or heat boils surfacing at breakneck speed—it’s about time to take a deeper look at your skincare kit. For basic hustlers, the CTM (cleaning-toning-moisturizing) routine, followed by a good sunscreen should do the trick. However, it all boils down to making the right kind of investments: picking up products that work for your skin type.
The Ordinary, one of the leading skincare brands under DECIEM, has launched its latest addition to its facial cleanser line—The Glucoside Foaming Cleanser. As a brand that prides itself on being affordable, accessible, and backed by science, The Ordinary’s Foaming Cleanser is both affordable and accessible, making it a great addition to one’s daily skincare routine.
As the second cleanser ever to be launched by The Ordinary, the product aims to offer Indian consumers a new solution to their skincare needs.
In a candid chat, Nicola Kilner, CEO & Co-Founder at DECIEM, shares the inside track with us.
- What makes the Glucoside Foaming Cleanser a cut above the rest?
We decided to expand our cleanser category so our audience could customise their regimens to match their skin types. The Glucoside Foaming Cleanser offers a gentle but effective cleanse with a texture that suits oily skin types. When formulating this cleanser our team focused on creating an effective foaming cleanser that remained gentle, even gentle enough for it to be used on babies. This helps to fight the misconception that foaming cleansers are inherently stripping to the skin. Our formulation effectively removes surface-level impurities while also maintaining the skin’s moisture barrier.
When formulating the cleansers from The Ordinary, we decided to focus on the main purpose of the product: gentle and effective cleansing. The Ordinary cleansers do not include active ingredients, for example, Vitamin C or Acids, as we believe these need prolonged contact with the skin and should be applied during the ‘treat’ stage of a regimen.
- How does one pick the right cleanser? Is there a fail-safe hack to get it right?
Cleansing is personal, so there’s not a one size fits all approach. Those who wear SPF will want a cleanser that removes the product effectively in the evening, so might opt for a double cleanse regimen vs someone who doesn’t. There’s also a difference in texture preference, depending on skin type. If you find your skin gets very tight after cleansing, you may want to look into a more hydrating cleansing option, such as Squalane Cleanser, which is more of an oily balmy texture. If your skin produces more oil, we may recommend The Ordinary Glucoside Foaming Cleanser for a squeaky clean, but not stripping, cleanse.
- What should our daily skincare routine entail, keeping in mind the tropical climate and pollution in Indian metropolitan cities?
When cleansing in hot and humid climates, it is advised to stay away from any products that will feel heavy on the skin to avoid discomfort. We recommend prepping the skin with Glucoside Foaming Cleanser to rinse off any environmental impurities and help improve the look of skin clarity and skin texture with continued use, followed by 1-2 treatment serums of your choice, such as Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 for hydration, and Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% to help reduce sebum production and brighten the skin. Seal up the regimen with a lightweight moisturizer, such as Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA. And of course, always top off your regimen with sun protection.
- Your thoughts on the latest skincare trends and the direction of the grooming industry in the next few years?
Part of the magic of The Ordinary is that it belongs to everyone. We do not have a specific target consumer in mind for the line as it was truly made for all people, regardless of gender identity, age, and economic status. At the end of the day, we just want to bring high-quality, science-focused formulations, through an educational lens, to all humans.
I think people are realizing that we are all more alike than different when it comes to gender, and a side effect of this is the ability for men to open up about their desires to care for their skin and be more vulnerable in terms of their relationship with their appearance. This shift and the creation of The Ordinary has always felt like a serendipitous moment, and we are proud to fit nicely into the new generation of beauty! Skin is skin, and everyone deserves to feel comfortable in theirs.
- Take us through your journey so far with The Ordinary. What’s next on the cards?
We actually launched The Ordinary to highlight the pricing disparity in the beauty industry. We were watching brands, big and small, continue to disguise commodity innovation for ingenuity through the creative use of packaging, communication, and pricing. In the world of health care, nobody can charge $150 for Aspirin but in the world of beauty, you could easily find virtually the same formulations ranging from $5 to $500+.
The Ordinary is pioneering, not in the technologies but through its commitment to honesty and integrity and our customer base bought into these brand values. We want our consumers to have a better understanding of which ingredients they may be overpaying for and to empower them to make educated skin care choices. Although the price may have been the most attractive element to disrupt initially, it has been the power of word-of-mouth sharing that brought the real disruption. There’s a fan-run Facebook Group of over 200,000 members that are passionate about skincare and help each other build regimens or offer product recommendations from The Ordinary. It’s moving to see the response from our audience who value our commitment to creating quality, science-driven skin care at sensible prices.
Going forward we aim to continue our trajectory of bringing efficacious and affordable skincare to those who want it. This means many exciting new products in the pipeline, and continuing to expand into new markets around the world.
