Review: Yes To Tomatoes Acne Control Gel Cleanser

I have more than one client who has come to me crying from a bout with Yes To Tomatoes or Yes to Carrots. Even I used to buy their products thinking they were sooooo cool. It can take a while to pull someone away from the idea that a company is all natural when they have green-washed your brain so totally.

Active Ingredient: 1. Salicylic Acid 1% Inactive Ingredients: 2. Water, 3. Lauryl Glucoside, 4. Cocamidopropyl Betaine, 5. Propanediol, 6. Glycerin, 7. Sodium Chloride,8. Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract*, 9. Solanum Lycopersicum (Tomato) Extract*, 10.Phenethyl Alcohol, 11. Glyceryl Caprylate, 12. Citric Acid, 13. Alcohol, 14. Fragrance.

1. aspirin derivative. There are also many other places to get salicylic acid from: “blackberries, blueberries, cantaloupes, dates, raisins, kiwi fruits, guavas, apricots, green pepper, olives, tomatoes” yes, that’s from Wikipedia and it’s correct. You can rub all those fruits on your face. Or crush an aspirin tablet up.

2. water

3. type of SLS. Lauryl Glucoside may come from coconuts, but that does not a natural ingredient make. It is still a chemically rendered surfactant that strips the skin of oil, tightens pores (locking in blackheads and tightening skin when it should be pliable), AND all forms of surfactants come with warnings about the need to completely rinse the skin of it or rashes can occur. This is what alarms me most. I don’t want something on my skin that has warnings that I should be using a power-hose to get EVERY bit of it off. If it’s not safe to be on my skin, then it shouldn’t be used. You can never know if you rinse it off completely.

4. *another* detergent or surfactant (SOAP) that, while it comes *from* coconut oil, does not classify it as natural. It is widely known to cause severe skin irritation including rashes, itching, and burning. Awesome. Why did they put a gentle chemical cleanser if they were going to follow it with one that is known to cause irritation?

5. Humectant: puls water not only from air, but also from skin. a really unclear (it’s still pretty new on the market) chemically created humectant and likely help with solvency between all the other ingredients.

6. yet another humectant. one that I am not fond of AT ALL. Glycerin is sold as natural, but this does NOT make it positive for skin care or safe for everyone. While it’s cool that it can be a byproduct of making bio-diesel, I have found a load of people who realized they, too, have a skin reaction to glycerin. I think it’s propensity to cause skin irritation is severely under-reported.

7. table salt. oh wow. the most unprocessed thing here aside from water.

8. Aloe vera, good job. However, I feel a bit scammed when I see water above aloe vera. Aloe vera gel can be a great way to increase flow of a product and still add a valuable healing agent. Beware when water comes before aloe. It often means the aloe is not at a comprehensive or effective level in the product.

9. Tomato extract. Again, I ask, how was it extracted? Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it’s not a chemical extraction? But let us note that this is the 9th ingredient and could be considered negligible at this point.

10. chemical fragrance often used to mask the scent of other ingredients. Smells faintly of rose.

11. penetration enhancer. comes from coconuts, but still chemically manufactured. I wouldn’t want a penetration enhancer along with my surfactants (see #3 and #4)

12. chemically made vitamin C

13. alcohol likely to preserve

14. chemical smellies

It is a folly to try to both chemically cleanse and chemically penetrate at the same time. Throw some aloe vera and tomatoes in it, though, and it seems natural?

What I see is Yes To Tomatoes and Yes to Carrots products is a company using all the same cheap chemicals to create skin care products and just adding *some* natural extracts to it. If you are really in search of a gentle cleanser with herbs and vitamins,

there are a lot more choices out there…

Hell, including rubbing tomato, aspirin, and aloe vera on your face every night. Which would do a lot more for you… let me know!