Clean Skincare Defined by Dermatologist Dr. Heather D. Rogers, MD
By Dr. Heather D. Rogers
Founder, Modern Dermatology & Doctor Rogers Skin Care
What is Clean Skincare?
“Clean” is everywhere in skincare. It’s a buzzword often used in marketing because data shows that Clean sells; the consumer wants products that are considered safe, healthy or “better for you.” But the true meaning of Clean remains elusive. Sephora, Ulta, Credo, Goop, EWG, and Yuka all have their own definitions of Clean, further adding to the confusion. And yet, even with this baggage, Clean remains my guiding light for the products I recommend, use, and develop as a dermatologist, and I want you to understand why.
Why Do We Use Skincare?
Our skin reflects a lifetime of intrinsic aging (from gravity, loss of muscle/bone) and environmental exposure that speeds the aging process (from sun, pollution, stress, smoking, and tanning beds). The goal with skincare is to slow this aging process by protecting and supporting the skin. Unfortunately, the beauty industry’s goal is less about skin care, and more about making money through a constant stream of new products, many of which are not needed (at best) or may be irritating to skin (at worst). Many of these products are made as cheaply as possible, using ingredients which may not be beneficial to our skin, body, or world.
We now live in a world where 70% of people self-report having sensitive skin. I would argue that our skin is not sensitive but that we have sensitized it. Many of the products and ingredients we use are not helping our skin or slowing the aging process. Instead, many contribute to the aging process while increasing our chemical exposures and waste accumulation. As a medical doctor with 20 years of practice in skin health, I believe that Clean skincare done right isn’t marketing hype, but a better choice to reduce the accumulation of non-biodegradable chemicals in the body.
What is the Difference between Traditional, Natural, and Clean Skincare?
Traditional Skincare
Traditional skincare is designed for visible performance, silky texture, long shelf life, and manufacturing efficiency. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but these formulas often rely heavily on synthetic and petro-derived ingredients—silicones, petroleum, non-biodegradable polymers, parabens, PEGs—that may feel nice in the moment but don’t necessarily support long-term skin or environmental health. Brands in this category include CeraVe, SkinCeuticals, SkinBetter Science, and La Mer.
Natural Skincare
Natural skincare focuses on the source of ingredients—plant, mineral, or animal—rather than their safety profile. Examples of Natural lines include Dr. Bronner’s, Eminence, Tata Harper, and True Botanicals.
The Natural skincare movement grew rapidly in the 1990s as consumers sought alternatives to parabens, phthalates, BPA, and other industrial chemicals. Much like Clean today, the Natural label was compelling and became a fast-growing sector of personal care products. People felt like they were doing the right thing when buying Natural, but these products often caused irritation due to the increased inclusion of common allergens like fragrance, essential oils or growth of bacteria from the lack of stabilizing preservatives. Rates of allergic contact dermatitis to personal care products increased nearly 300% as the Natural category exploded. A 2022 review of 1,651 natural personal care products found that 94.2% contained at least one skin allergen, 89.5% contained at least one of the top 100 common allergens, and the average product contained 4.5 allergens. (Young; Gui; Bae. JAMA Dermatology. 2022).
Clean Skincare
Because of the significant downsides of both traditional and natural skincare we need a new, better category. And despite the confusion around its name, I believe it is Clean skincare. For me, clean is simply skincare that works without the risks. We can make skincare that is exactly what it is supposed to be: Effective, safe, and enjoyable to use but we must prioritize using ingredients that are safe and effective, that biodegrade rather than persist in the environment or our bodies, that include modern advancements in preservation and texture refinements despite these ingredients' added cost.
For years, I struggled to find truly Clean products, ones that I wanted to use or recommend to my patients. After a decade as a practicing dermatologist with access to every product line and not finding them, I decided, as absurd as this sounds, it would just be easier to make them. And I did.
Skincare is not a fashion or trend cycle. It’s daily care for your body’s largest organ and vital to our overall health. Just like we need to eat quality food to get optimal results for our body, we need to use quality products for optimal results for our skin. This is the origin of Doctor Rogers Skin Care, a dermatologist-formulated collection of results-driven products with an uncompromising Clean standard.
Doctor Rogers Clean: Dermatologist-Developed Skincare with Ingredient Integrity™
Bioactive Ingredients
We use ingredients our skin recognizes and can use to restore and maintain skin health which is why they work so well, they are nutrients for our skin.
Scientifically Proven, High Quality Ingredients
Active ingredients are included at the percentage of optimal effectiveness and tolerability for outstanding results and minimal complications.
No Common Irritants
Free of fragrance, essential oils, gluten, sulfates, drying alcohols, silicones.
No Hormone Disruptors, Carcinogens or Otherwise Questionable Ingredients
Free of BPA, Phthalates, Parabens, BHA, Triclosan, Phenoxyethanol, Oxybenzone, Avobenzone, Benzophenone,Octinoxate, Octocrylene, Octisalate, Butyloctyl Salicylate (nearly identical to octisalate), Ethyl Ferulate (similar to octocrylene), Diethylhexyl Syringylidenemalonate (similar to octinoxate) and Tridecyl Salicylate (similar to octisalate).
Made with Biodegradable Ingredients
We use ingredients that don’t accumulate in our bodies or world with a few, necessary exceptions with well studied, safe ingredients included for optimal product efficacy.
Approved:
Sorrette Approved for Motherhood
Yuka App – highly rated
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