Most BHA exfoliants are just that: exfoliants that get rid of dead cells in and out of your pores for clearer skin. Glowness 2% BHA Exfoliant promises to go one step further: it’s enriched with chamomile & co to reduce irritation and please even sensitive skin types that may not be able to tolerate it otherwise. The only question now is: does it deliver? I’ve put it to the test to find out. In this review, I’ll share what makes it so gentle, what results you can expect, and if it’s really suitable for sensitive skin too. Let’s dive in!
- Key Ingredients In Glowness 2% BHA Exfoliant: What Makes It Work?
- The Rest Of The Formula & Ingredients
- Texture
- Fragrance
- How To Use It
- Packaging
- Performance & Personal Opinion
- What I Like About Glowness 2% BHA Exfoliant
- What I DON’T Like About Glowness 2% BHA Exfoliant
- Who Should Use This?
- Does Glowness 2% BHA Exfoliant Live Up To Its Claims?
- Price & Availability
- The Verdict
Key Ingredients In Glowness 2% BHA Exfoliant: What Makes It Work?
SALICYLIC ACID
Salicylic acid is a BHA (beta-hydroxy acid) and the whole reason it works so well on congested, oily skin is that it’s oil-soluble. In other words, it means it can get inside your pores. AHAs can’t do that – they stay on the surface. Salicylic acid goes in, breaks down the gunky mix of dead skin and sebum that’s been sitting in there causing your blackheads, and gets rid of it.
It’s also keratolytic, which basically just means it dissolves the glue holding dead skin cells together so they actually fall off instead of piling up and blocking everything. A 2006 review in Dermatologic Surgery confirmed it normalises exactly the process that leads to clogged pores.
The downsides: it can dry your skin out, especially if you’re just getting started with acids. It also makes your skin more sensitive to the sun, so you really do need SPF – not negotiable.
Related: Everything You Need To Know About Salicylic Acid For Oily, Acne-Prone Skin
SOOTHING INGREDIENTS
Here’s the thing: exfoliation always has the potential to be a little irritating (especially if you overdo it). These ingredients are there to balance that out and calm skin:
- Niacinamide: It dials down inflammation and helps your skin produce more ceramides, which are basically the building blocks of a healthy skin barrier. A 2004 paper in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology found it actually improves barrier function and reduces redness with consistent use.
- Faex Extract (Yeast Extract): Contains beta-glucans, which have decent evidence behind them for soothing and supporting the skin barrier.
- Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice: Everyone knows aloe, and honestly the reputation is deserved. It has polysaccharides and glycoproteins that reduce inflammation and help skin heal.
- Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract: Has flavonoids and triterpenoids in it, both of which have demonstrated anti-inflammatory activity.
- Chamomilla Recutita (Chamomile): Contains two things worth knowing about – bisabolol and apigenin. Both have good evidence for calming irritated skin and speeding up recovery.
The Rest Of The Formula & Ingredients
NOTE: The colours indicate the effectiveness of an ingredient. It is ILLEGAL to put toxic and harmful ingredients in skincare products.
- Green: It’s effective, proven to work, and helps the product do the best possible job for your skin.
- Yellow: There’s not much proof it works (at least, yet).
- Red: What is this doing here?!
- Aqua: Everything else in here (the acid, the extracts, all of it) needs water to dissolve into so your skin can actually take it in.
- Pentylene Glycol: This one pulls moisture into your skin, like it literally grabs water and drags it into your skin cells which is great. But it’s also doing this sneaky second job of helping to preserve the formula and make it harder for bacteria to grow in there.
- Polysorbate 20: You know how oil and water don’t mix? This is an emulsifier that keeps everything blended together.
- Glycerin: It works by pulling water from the air around you and from deeper in your skin up into the top layer where it’s actually needed.
- Panthenol: This is provitamin B5. When you put it on your skin it converts into something your skin actually uses to repair its own barrier.
- Polyacrylate Crosspolymer-6: This is purely a texture thing. It’s what makes this feel like a nice smooth gel.
- Zinc Gluconate: It’s anti-inflammatory and it also helps control how much oil your skin produces.
- Phenoxyethanol: A preservative that stops bacterial growth.
- Sodium Citrate: Salicylic acid only does its job properly within a very specific pH range. Sodium citrate is keeping that pH stable.
- Xanthan Gum: A natural thickener that comes from fermentation. It gives the formula that nice body and smooth consistency and it also helps everything distribute evenly.
- Propylene Glycol: Another humectant that also helps certain ingredients dissolve properly into the formula.
- Tetrasodium EDTA: Water naturally contains metal ions like calcium and magnesium and those ions would mess with the preservatives and make the formula go off faster. This ingredient binds to those ions and basically neutralises them so the preservative system can do its job properly.
- Citric Acid: At this level in the formula it’s not exfoliating your skin, it’s just adjusting the pH.
- 1,2-Hexanediol: Part of the preservative system working alongside phenoxyethanol.
- Ammonium Glycyrrhizate: This comes from liquorice root and it’s a solid anti-inflammatory.
- Caffeine: Same stuff as in your coffee, yes. On your skin it acts as an anti-inflammatory and it constricts blood vessels slightly which helps reduce redness and puffiness.
- Alcohol: So this is ethanol and it helps certain ingredients dissolve and keeps the texture lightweight.
- Biotin: Vitamin B7. Amazing as a supplement for hair and nails, but topically? The evidence for what it actually does on your skin is pretty thin. Probably has some conditioning effect.
- Caprylyl Glycol: A preservative booster and humectant combo. It’s part of the system keeping bacteria out of this formula and it also contributes to that smooth feeling when you apply it.
- Sodium Hydroxide: This sounds scary but it’s just a pH adjuster
- Aesculus Hippocastanum Seed Extract: Horse chestnut, it has anti-inflammatory properties.
- Bidens Tripartita Flower/Leaf/Stem Extract: A plant extract with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity.
Texture
This exfoliant has a lovely gel consistency that feels silky on the skin and absorbs quickly without leaving any tackiness behind. It’s not thick, it’s not thin. It just has the right consistency to do the job without compromising the sensory experience.
Fragrance
This exfoliant is fragrance-free – and that’s just how I like my exfoliants. Fragrance is the most irritating ingredient in skincare, so it has no place in something formulated for soothing skin (or anywhere else, for that matter).
How To Use It
Like all exfoliants, you apply straight after cleansing. I recommend you start with a couple of nights a week and slowly build your way to every other day. Do not use it on the same nights you use retinol. Also, avoid using it at the same time as other powerful actives, like benzoyl peroxide.
Related: Mix And Match: Which Skincare Ingredients Should You NOT Use Together?
Packaging
This exfoliant comes in a sleek green tube with a pump applicator. It’s sturdy, easy to travel with, and the pump just releases the perfect amount of product you need. Plus, it kinda looks good on your vanity too (the eye wants its share too, as we say in Italy).
Performance & Personal Opinion
I’ve tried many salicylic acid exfoliants and Glowness 2% BHA Exfoliant strikes the perfect balance between effectiveness and gentleness. I have combination skin with a nose that tends to attract a cluster of blackheads on a regular basis *sighs*. This exfoliant does a good job of keeping that in check. Granted, if your blackheads are really old, any salicylic acid exfoliant will take its sweet time to melt them away, so don’t be frustrated if you don’t see results the next day. As I exfoliate regularly, mine are easier to dissolve.
This exfoliant also does a good job at exfoliating the surface of my skin. After every use, my skin is softer to the touch and looks a little smoother. It also helps prevent pimples and, when one rears its ugly head anytime (usually during that time of the month for me), it goes away a little bit faster. I also didn’t experience any side effects: no stinging, no redness, no dryness. This is very gentle. Said that, if you make the mistake of thinking that, just because it’s gentle, you can pile it on every day with no consequences, you’ll be mistaken. Even the gentlest exfoliant can have side effects if abused.
What I Like About Glowness 2% BHA Exfoliant
- Lightweight, fast-absorbing, gel-like texture
- Fragrance-free
- Exfoliates skin gently
- Helps treat and prevent acne, including blackheads
- Leaves skin softer and smoother
- Practical packaging
- Packed with soothing ingredients for gentler exfoliation
What I DON’T Like About Glowness 2% BHA Exfoliant
- Only available in the UK and USA for now
- Can still irritate skin if abused
Who Should Use This?
- Anyone with blackheads, whiteheads, and acne looking for a gentle exfoliant that won’t irritate skin.
- If you have sensitive skin that can’t tolerate other BHA exfoliants, this is worth a try. Just patch test first. Sensitive skin is a wild card and you won’t know how you react to it until you try it.
- If you don’t have any form of acne (including blackheads), you don’t need a salicylic acid exfoliant.
Does Glowness 2% BHA Exfoliant Live Up To Its Claims?
| CLAIM | TRUE |
|---|---|
| Refines pores, smooths texture & boosts glow. | True. |
| Advanced Plant-derived Salicylic acid 2% helps clear built-up oil and dead cells for visibly tighter-looking pores. | True. Visibly is the key word here. Clogs inside pores stretch them, making them look bigger. When you unclog them, they go back to their original size and so look smaller. Keep in mind, no ingredient can make pores smaller than their genetically-determined size. |
Price & Availability
The Verdict
If you’re looking for a gentle salicylic acid exfoliant that unclogs pores and helps with acne without inflaming your skin, this is a great one to try.
Ingredients
Aqua, Pentylene Glycol, Polysorbate 20, Glycerin, Salicylic Acid, Panthenol, Polyacrylate Crosspolymer-6, Zinc Gluconate, Phenoxyethanol, Niacinamide, Sodium Citrate, Xanthan Gum, Propylene Glycol, Tetrasodium Edta, Citric Acid, 1,2-Hexanediol, Ammonium Glycyrrhizate, Caffeine, Alcohol, Biotin, Caprylyl Glycol, Sodium Hydroxide, Faex Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract, Chamomilla Recutita Extract, Aesculus Hippocastanum Seed Extract, Bidens Tripartita Flower/Leaf/Stem Extract