Weleda Wild Rose Cleansing Lotion Review

In the morning and on days where I don't wear makeup, I like to use a gentle creamy cleanser instead of the cleansing oil.
Lately, I have been using Weleda's Wild Rose Cleansing Lotion and the Wild Rose Night Cream. I initially was intrigued by this line when I saw it at Whole Foods because I'm a sucker for anything rose. Then, I spotted them at my local Winners for $8.99 each! It was such a good price point I had to get them, even though they were in the discontinued packaging.

Weleda is a natural brand from Germany. They claim that their products are 100% certified natural, and "free of synthetic fragrances, colours, preservatives, and raw materials derived from mineral oils." Like Jurlique, they get their ingredients from their own "biodynamic gardens" which are located all over Europe.

You can read more about them on their website (unfortunately the Canadian one doesn't work):

UPDATE: This cleanser has been discontinued and is now replaced by their Gentle Cleansing Milk, which has a much shorter list of ingredients. While do a review on it in the future.

Weleda Wild Rose Cleansing Lotion

 

This is a milky, creamy cleanser. Weleda packaged it in a heavy blue glass bottle, which seems quite expensive. I was a bit disappointed that it didn't smell like the traditional rose, but more of lavender. The consistency is a bit thin and may be easy to over pour.

I use this on DRY skin, massage it around, and rinse with lukewarm water. I like to use most creamy cleansers on dry or slightly damp skin. This is because creamy cleansers usually contain oil, therefore they work in the same way as oil cleansers. Using water won't allow the cleanser to effectively dissolve the excess sebum and products on your skin, and in some cases the cleanser will slide right off.

It leaves my skin soft, and does not dry my skin the least bit. This cleanser would be great for sensitive and drier skin types, but it is only good for light cleansing. It's better to use a makeup remover or oil cleanser first if you are wearing makeup, and use this product for a second cleanse, if needed.
Ingredients:

As you can see, the first couple ingredients are water and peach kernal oil -- those are the main ingredients of this product, since Health Canada requires manufacturers to list cosmetic ingredients in order of descending concentration.

Alcohol is fairly high on the ingredient list, but don't fret about this. This is not the same as rubbing alcohols, which are known as methyl or propyl alcohol. There are many different types of alcohol and I'm guessing this one is a grain alcohol derived from fermented plant sugars, which are commonly used as safe preservatives in natural products. Some alcohols, such as fatty alchohols, even have emollient properties.

The musk rose (rosa moschata) seed oil doesn't come up till later in the list, close to the fragrances (which are usually in very small concentrations). How much of the rose seed oil is in the formulation? I'm not sure, but I'm guessing probably not a lot.This is more of a peach kernal cleanser that features rose seed oil.

I wouldn't recommend this cleanser to acne prone skin, since it contains glyceral stearate SE, which may be comodegenic.

BTW, don't confuse rose (petal) oil or rose absolute with rose seed/hip oil - rose petal oil is what gives you that traditional rose smell and is VERY expensive to produce. Rose hip/seed oil, extracted from the fruit of the rose, is high in omega fatty acids.

I also find it funny that they went and put INCI on the label, since all cosmetic ingredients are required by Health Canada to be listed by their INCI name anyways...

In Canada, it looks like Weleda is distributed by the same company that makes my vitamins. Hmmm...interesting!