Clean and Clear

“Teach your blackheads a lesson.” Clean and Clear Advantage says that skincare is not just cleansing alone, which is true. Cleansing alone, even with the right exfoliator, will not actually address all the main causes of acne and blackheads, at least not in the case of most scrubs. As such, the best solution for blackheads out of the name and description alone would probably be the deep action cream cleanser. But they propose the Clean and Clear Advantage Kit to be the best solution, probably because it makes them more money. It includes a Clean and Clear Advantage cleanser, oil free acne moisturizer, acne clearing astringent, and spot treatment.

To target blackheads, there are 3 key steps. First you must exfoliate away dead skin cells, because they are one of the major elements blocking pores and building up on the skin. There are actually no exfoliators in Clean and Clear Advantage. The second step would be to allow oxygen into the pores, again no ingredients that would do this. And finally, you would want to shrink the pores. Generally speaking, the astringent would be the one to do this. But all of their products are based on benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid, even the astringent. It has no ingredients, active or inactive, that would actually shrink the pores such as witch hazel would.

The Clean and Clear Advantage Kit Ingredients

CLEAN & CLEAR® ADVANTAGE® Acne Control Cleanser:
Benzoyl Peroxide, Salicylic Acid
Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Carbomer, Fragrance, Glycerin, Menthol, Mineral Oil, Petrolatum, Potassium Polyphosphate, Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate, Sodium Cocoyl Isethione, Titanium Dioxide, Water, Zinc Lactate

Clean and Clear Advantage Oil Free Acne Moisturizer:

Inactive Ingredients:Benzalkonium Chloride, Butylene Glycol, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, C12-15 Alkyl Lactate, C13-14 Isoparaffin, Capryloyl Glycine, Cedrus Atlantica Bark Extract, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Glucoside, Cetyl Lactate, Cinnamomum Zeylanicum Bark Extract, Cocamidopropyl PG-Dimonium Chloride Phosphate, Dimethicone, Disodium EDTA, Ethylene/Acrylic Acid Copolymer, Fragrance, Glycerin, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Seed Extract, Isoceteth-20, Laureth-7, Methyl Gluceth 20, PPG-10 Cetyl Ether, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-di-t-butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, Phenoxyethanol, Phenyl Trimethicone, Polyacrylamide, Polysorbate 60, Portulaca Oleracea Extract, Propylene Glycol, Sarcosine, Steareth-21, Water

Clean and Clear Acne Clearing Astringent:

Alcohol (38%), Benzalkonium Chloride, Butylene Glycol, C12-15 Alkyl Lactate, Capryloyl Glycine, Cedrus Atlantica Bark Extract, Cetyl Lactate, Cinnamomum Zeylanicum Bark Extract, Cocamidopropyl PG-Dimonium Chloride Phosphate, Denatonium Benzoate, Dimethicone Propyl PG-Betaine, Fragrance, Isoceteth-20, PEG-32, PPG-5-Ceteth-20

Clean and Clear Advantage Spot Treatment:

Alcohol (14%), Ammonium Hydroxide, Benzalkonium Chloride, Butylene Glycol, C12-15 Alkyl Lactate, C13-14 Isoparaffin, Capryloyl Glycine, Cedrus Atlantica Bark Extract, Cetyl Lactate, Cinnamomum Zeylanicum Bark Extract, Cocamidopropyl PG-Dimonium Chloride Phosphate, Cyclopentasiloxane, Dehydroxanthan Gum, Fragrance, Glycerin, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) Extract, Laureth-7, PPG-2 Isoceteth-20 Acetate, Phenethyl Dimethicone , Phenoxyethanol, Polyacrylamide, Polysorbate 20, Portulaca Oleracea Extract, Propylene Glycol, SD Alcohol 40-B, Sarcosine, Tetrasodium EDTA, Water

With most of the products active ingredients, there will be no side effects, however with benzoyl peroxide there will be such as redness, itchiness, dryness, sun sensitivity, etc. But with no components to protect from the sun or truly moisturize, there’s no protection element. It also uses industrial chemicals such as titanium dioxide that will seriously damage the skin as preservatives.

Clean and Clear Advantage focuses on quite a few cheap ingredients and produces formulas that are basically the same formula over and over with slight variations. They don’t actually provide ingredients that would adhere to the names, nor ingredients that would clear blackheads in any way, shape, or form. Tea tree oil on the other hand as well as ingredients found in our other top products would.