It’s no secret that we at Belmondo Skincare love using nature’s ingredients in our healthy skin regimen. Teaching our clients, customers, and readers about the benefits of using earth-grown ingredients in their skin care regimen is the heart and soul of what we do.

In Part 3 of this 10-part series on the benefits of natural skincare, we’re sharing why all-natural apple cider vinegar – yes, the very same kind you use on salads! – is a fabulous choice as a facial cleanser. We think you’ll be surprised and delighted by the skin benefits of this pantry staple.

P.S. Look for Belmondo’s Favorite Tips scattered throughout this series. There’s one in each article. We’re giving you the inside scoop on how we enjoy the things of earth, naturally, for beautiful skin and a greener planet – and how you can, too!

Foams. Washes. Gels. When it comes to cleansing the skin, which formula is best? Would you be surprised to hear us say, open the pantry and grab the apple cider vinegar?

If so, you’re not alone. The cosmetics industry loves to push chemical-laden skin cleansers, washes, gels, and foams on us, touting that we’ll have the clearest, cleanest, most balanced skin possible from using their products. We’re told to overlook the hard-to-pronounce ingredients on the back of the package whose benefits to us are unclear.

Fact is: scientifically and naturally speaking, the lab-manufactured ingredients in most over the counter skin cleansers – such as chemicals, alcohol, and sodium lauryl sulfate – are detrimental to the long term health of the skin. Cleansing products with all-natural ingredients, such as olive oil and apple cider, serve the skin best and promote overall skin health.

Cleansing is the most important part of your skincare regimen. It’s important to use a cleanser with all-natural ingredients that your earthly body recognizes and responds to positively.

The purpose of a cleanser is to mix with and dissolve excess sebum (naturally occurring oil) on the skin, to refine skin texture, and to provide a balanced condition for moisturizing. Cleansing carries away sweat and debris that have built up on the skin’s surface during the day. A build-up of sweat and debris can lead to skin congestion and acne breakouts.

A cleanser should never ‘strip’ the skin of all natural oils. Harsh, abrasive cleansers, like some marketed by cosmetics companies, do more harm than good to the skin. Too much astringent in a product causes the skin to overproduce oil to compensate, leading to even more acne and blackheads.

How to know if your cleanser is stripping your skin? If your skin feels tight and uncomfortable after cleansing, your product’s ingredients are too harsh and removing the naturally occurring goodness in your skin that make it healthy, supple, and youthful.

Cleansing the skin should restore, protect and strengthen the skin’s structure and leave your skin exquisitely clean. This is easy when using all-natural skincare products.

A great metaphor to keep in mind is the difference in quality between a plump peach and a dried up, shrivelled prune. Natural products leave your skin feeling plump and smooth (like a ripe, healthy peach), not dry and tight (like a prune). Okay, to be fair, we like prunes as food for their health benefits – we just don’t want to look like one!

A bit of science for you: it’s important to protect the skin’s acid mantle. Haven’t heard of an acid mantle? The acid mantle, created with the help of your body’s sweat glands and sebaceous glands, is a thin coating of lipids (oils) and perspiration (water) that lay on the outer layer of the skin. It serves as the body’s protective barrier against disease. Pretty cool,right?

When the delicate balance of acidity and alkalinity – the Ph balance – that makes up the acid mantle is disrupted, the skin is weakened. All natural products with ingredients like apple cider and olive oil allow the skin to maintain its Ph balance, promoting skin renewal day after day.

Let’s talk about the skin benefits of apple cider as a cleanser.

Apple cider contains an all-natural AHA (alpha hydroxy acid) that the skin loves. AHAs are a safe way for the skin to receive the benefits of fruit acids without being damaging. Apple cider vinegar is also antibacterial, alkalizing to the Ph, and soothing – three properties your skin loves!

The Rain Face Cleanser contains alpha cider vinegar, is Ph balanced, and is an effective choice for all skin types – from the most delicate to mature skin, to dry and dehydrated skin, to skin with oily imbalances. Unlike a milky or foamy cleanser like the ones many of us are used to buying over the counter, The Rain (as you might expect from the name) is a liquid cleanser.

An alternative to an all-natural liquid cleanser is an oil-based cleanser.

Oil dissolves oil, hence the benefits of using an all-natural oil-based cleanser to remove impurities and naturally occurring oils from the skin’s surface. We suggest The Dew Nourishing Face Oil, which is ideal for every skin type but especially those showing signs of irritation and redness.

Although it may seem counterintuitive to use an oil on already oily skin, natural oils in products like this one carry away debris and sweat and leave your skin looking and feeling clean and balanced, not parched or over-oily.

Belmondo’s Favorite Tip No. 3: After cleansing, you’ll want to use an all-natural toner. Our After the Rain face toner has a secret double purpose. Daniela discovered this almost by accident and is thrilled with her results. Read this blog post and you can start enjoying the benefits, too!

When it comes to cleansing, all-natural ingredients are best. Ditch the harsh astringents and chemically loaded washes and give your skin the relief it craves. Choose products that contain apple cider vinegar when possible. And pay attention to that balanced, smoothed, supple feeling your skin enjoys after cleansing the all-natural way. Your skin and the earth will thank you – naturally!

Follow our founder Daniela on Twitter for juicy all-natural living and skincare updates.

*We at Belmondo Organic Skincare are natural skincare professionals, not medical professionals. If you have a skin condition you feel needs medical attention, please consult a physician.