I do the same thing with Method brand hand soap and dish soap. I cut them 50-50 with distilled water. The consistency seems to work better than the concentrated off the shelf product. Distilled water is less likely to grow nasty things in the diluted product.

Um. Face wash is NOT an "unnecessary metrosexual cleansing product." It's FACE WASH. As in, to keep that skanky festering stubbly pizza-boulder you call a face CLEAN. And maybe as a bonus, NICE and SMOOTH and NOT HORRIBLE. If I have to gussy up with fifteen different kinds of beauty products just to pass day to day as an acceptable member of the female half of the human race, then YOU MEN CAN DAMN WELL WASH YOUR SCUZZY FACES.

*pant pant*

/rant

@bluewyvern: SOOOOOaaaap. It's really effin cheap and comes in these nifty bars. You add water to the bar and get suds!

It's what people used before companies made "washes," which are just soap with water already added.

And besides, real men with neck beards scrub face with Lava.

Is there any particular reason why anyone should believe such a product is any better than an ordinary bar of soap?

I used to use face wash until I realized that a $3 bar of Purpose soap:

A. Works just as well
B. Is much cheaper than liquid face wash
C. Lasts a REALLY LONG TIME

(This isn't a multiple choice game; all of the above are true. I swear.)

@bluewyvern: Or you can, you know, use soap and hot water and a towel and maybe a cheap generic lotion, like the rest of us do.

No one except the sexist male-gaze media collective is demanding you gussy up your face with beauty products, so you can stop any time you like.

That said, three cheers for making things last longer. I add water to my bottles of concentrated dish soap, add peanuts to my cashews to make them last longer, add raisin bran to more expensive cereals to make something that doesn't taste quite like cardboard, and sometimes, if I'm feeling daring, I add a song or two by Mozart on my Salieri playlist. It's fun and easy!

@bluewyvern: Yeah, soap. Any time I've tried any product labelled as a "wash," it leaves my skin feeling like I've bathed in a house that's got their water softener set to deliver way the heck too much salt. Slimey, nasty, disgusting, and unclean. Plus a bar of soap lasts a good, long time, and is dirt cheap compared to all of the body and face washes.

On the other hand, I do pay a premium for shampoo -- despite my short hair -- because I really can feel the difference. I do try the cheap stuff, but so far, I never buy a second bottle of the brands I've tried. So, Pantene it is.

@AnxiousDemographic: A good face wash with some sort of active ingredient in it does help with acne, and a liquid soap is probably more sensible to use on your face than a bar of soap... but it really depends on the kind of bottle you grab off the shelf.

For those saying soap, if you actually have bad skin, soap just dries it out and causes more problems. But, I'm a girl so I can buy all the face products that I want! Hooray!

Hmmm... I guess now it's ok for the moderators/Consumerist/Popken to bust on OPs? I mean really... could you sound more catty and judgemental? Now we can be treated to a bunch of posts busting on the OP for the *audacity* to use a different soap. I guess everyone else uses the *appropriate* and *correct* soap, right?

C'mon people... grow up. And c'mon Popken... save the righteous/judgemental tone for a real issue - not for someone who takes the time to try to make the site better. IMO you owe the OP an apology... or does *your* soap make you too manly to consider the impact of your words?

And no... I don't use a face wash... I use lye laundry soap FTW. Top that soap elitists!

For pete's sake......the man wrote in with a helpful tip. The unnecessary bashing by the author is not warranted or appreciate by this reader.

Can we move past being twelve years old now? Thanks.

I can say I buy that stuff all the time. It has 2% Salicylic acid and actually wrks quite well at clearing up unwanted acne... I know. I've had acne for the past 16 years.

Normal soap makes my face break out real bad.. so it's worth paying $7 for a bottle of this stuff... that and CVS often has it for buy 2, get one free.

Why buy soap from a multinational enterprise when you can make your own? Apply some of the "local pizza joint" logic here and you're all set.

Cute snark and all, but for anyone that's ever had skin issues it's very necessary. I'm proud of you for being so rugged you can use a bar of Zest.

I start making jokes and everyone flips their shit. Note to self: properly notate all jokes with necessary emoticons to indicate jocular tone.

For the record, I'm the submitter.

I live in the desert; it's winter. That means if I'm using the same cheap-o soap on my face that I use on my hair (no extraneous products for me, Popken) - then my face gets that white flaky sheen that looks like I washed it with sandpaper. Or that I sneezed into a pile of cocaine. Not a great look, trust me!

I'm glad that Ben has naturally acne-free skin, but that was uncalled for. If an employee at a chain pharmacy made a comment like that, I'd be writing in to you about it. Jerk.

Kudos to our face-washing friend for managing to extend the life of what can be a pricey product for some.

Kudos to Ben for having a sense of humor. As someone who's watched his fair share of Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic, this came off as no more than playful taunting.

Also, I haven't bought shaving cream in years. Hot water and a razor that you blow on to dry off after you use it (a dry razor rusts less on the microlevel, and lasts weeks longer) works far better than anything I ever bought at Lush back when I had money.

Also? Off-brand No-Doz caffeine pills instead of four-dollar lattes saves a bundle. The buzz is slightly different, but you get used to it.

So I'm pretty secure that I know how to save money, and spend it where it matters. So save your frou-frou comments for someone who deserves them, O a-hole peanut gallery.

You can always use a small amount of an exfoliant (like baking soda) to scrub all that dry skin off. Add a little lotion and viola :D

"Metrosexual"? Is it 2002 already? Shit, I need to find my trucker hat.

I think they were making a joke, not "bashing" the comment. the fact is most soaps are the same, and a little cheap lotion could probably replicate the effect.

@FreshFocus: It's the Consumerist; we're trying to save him money.

@FreshFocus: Agreed. This crossed a line, even from a blog that uses judgement pretty liberally. The guy had a reasonable, all-purpose suggestion on how to extend the life of something he bought and Consumerist insulted him with a back-handed judgement.

nice work.

Seriously, did no one else see that as a joke? Anyone? Man. Tough crowd. Sucks for you, Ben. I got a chuckle.

I wash my face with an innovative product called GILLETTE RAZOR. I add water to it, and it extends it's life. I don't use shaving cream, and it seems to get the grit off. I also dont grow much facial hair at all, and if you take your time it doesn't hurt. Also leads to a cleaner shave.

Sometimes I wonder if these products put stuff in them to make you break out so that you keep buying it. I used to use several acne washes and nothing happened, so I dropped the obligatory "f it" (censoring mine) and started not obsessively washing my face. In a matter of weeks it cleared up.

@AnxiousDemographic:

I'm allergic to soap, many liquid face washes or cleansers often have different ingredients that allow me to wash myself without destroying my skin :)

What is wrong with face wash? I use it all the time as regular soap isn't that great, especially for acne-prone skin. I would NEVER buy a specific brand though unless it was the cheapest. Equate brand face wash is good enough for me.

Wasn't there a long comment thread about watering down hand soap? That it caused all kinds of nasty bacteria to grow? And that bar soap harbors the same bacteria? The consensus seemed to be that the contamination risk maybe wasn't worth the savings.

Here is a moneysaving tip, though: Harmon Discount Baby Body/Hair Wash has basically the same ingredients as Purpose Liquid Face Cleanser for a fraction of the price. It's very gentle on dry winter skin. As we say over at Gawker: Not afraid to be servicey.

uh... this is new?

Folks, let's keep the comments constructive. Bashing anyone (including the editor of the article) isn't necessary. A politely-phrased contrary opinion is fine, but let's keep it civil.

@HYPEractive: That's what I was thinking, I thought people were doing things like this for a long time now. We add a little water to the paint bottles when we do Christmas decorations.

I love the smell of barely repressed homosexual panic in the morning. It smells like -- cucumber melon.

Seriously, bashing the OP in the post was out of line. Different people need to use different things on their skin.

@qcgallus: Oddly enough I found that exercising more (meaning my face gets all icky and sweaty) actually cleared up my acne more effectively than any cleanser.

My problem with acne cleansers is that I'll use it for a month and it will stop working. I'll switch, and the same thing will happen.

It sucks, and I've had super bad acne for about 10 years now. I'm sick of it.

@picardia: I have a hilarious barely repressed homosexual story my brother recounted recently.

Phoenix AZ has this Russian-barber phenomenon. They are everywhere, swarthy and accented, cutting hair at moderately high prices, offering little customer service and less chit-chat, since most of them don't speak English. They usually open shop with a buddy or two--I never see them working alone. At one place, they cut my hair with Flowbees, which is kinda fun, if noisy.

Anyway, they're also always pushing these extra services onto you, including facials. One time my brother explains, they offered him a facial treatment for only $10, and they offered him a choice of cucumber or apricot facial goo. His response to the offer was, "If I'm gonna do anything that gay, there better be dick involved."

@Transuranic: You use soap on your hair?

@undefined: @Superawesomerad: ... I'll admit it. I laughed. Kudos to you!

@Transuranic: On behalf of discriminating women everywhere (and, I suppose, discriminating men who love men): thank you for taking care of your skin. I hope you're also using a good sunscreen, which is the only thing that can prevent wrinkles and skin damage in the long run.

I thought it was pretty tacky and clueless of Popken to post your tip just so he could mock you.

@bluewyvern: Why on earth do you put that much crap on your face? Nobody is pushing it on you but you. I get plenty of compliments and am generally considered "an acceptable member of the female half of the human race," despite the fact that I almost never wear a smidge of make-up. It's a great tool to enhance your best features, but when it becomes a rant-inspiring burden, maybe it's time for an intervention?

I use face wash because it feels less drying. Yes, I moisturize, too. Super-dry skin is a good reason to go shopping for the least drying product you can find. The flip side is for those with acne problems -- I don't think you want to wash your sensitive parts with the salicylic acid some people feel they need to slather onto their faces to keep the pizza-face at bay.

@missdona: My ex did that. It was kind of weird. Same soap he'd use on the rest of him, which was kind of.... ew, since he didn't use a wash cloth.

Note for all and sundry: Soap is not magically a clean substance that can't get gross.

I use this cleanser. It's really good. I got like 5 tubes of it for free at CVS a couple of months ago after the sale price + coupons + CVS ExtraBucks. But, I wouldn't ever pay 'full price' for it. HEHEHE.

@AnxiousDemographic: Different skin reacts differently to different products. It sounds like an asinine statement, but it's true. The last bar soap I tried to use to wash my face made me flake so badly that it looked like I had four-day-old stage makeup peeling off.

I've got a face wash and a moisturizer that work perfectly for me, but when my boyfriend tried my moisturizer (he's been on a medication that really dries you out) it gave him a bad skin reaction. So yeah, the differences from brand-to-brand can be meaningful, particularly if you have notably oily, dry, or sensitive skin.

I use an exfoliating face wash. Cuz, I'm a manly man. And manly men get dirty. We need that extra exfoliating grit and moisturizing ingredients to help remove all the sweat, oil, dirt, and dead skin cells at the end of the day.

I'm currently using Every Man Jack Pre-Shave face wash. It does the job just fine, and it doesn't have any stinky fragrances. And it doesn't cost a lot.

@Oranges w/ Cheese:

I finally went to see a dermatologist after sucking it up for years and years and she has helped me a ton.

It's not gone yet, but I know now how to take care of my skin and unfortunately spend quite a bit of money on it too. Clean only twice a day and most importantly moisturize after. I never did that last step because it feels counter-productive to slather stuff on your skin, but it really helped me.

Look into Clinique's products if you can afford it, it pays off for me and it seems more expensive then it is, but their products last a very long time.

Disclaimer, it's all my experience of dealing with my acne for 13 years and everyone's skin is different, so what worked for me might not work for you!

@ThatShortGuy:

Agreed. I thought it was meant to be funny, not mean.

I do this with this exact product... Neutrogena cleansing wash is pretty expensive, about $7/bottle, but the stuff works... and it's one of the only acne products that I've had consistent success with, so I've been using it for about 10 years. There's a chance that I haven't needed it since my late teens, but when I go on vacation without it, I usually get a small breakout a few days later.. and so they've got me as a customer for life. Make a product that works and sell it at what is mostly a reasonable price... and you've got me.

But yeah, the price is rough, and I definitely milk a bottle for about 7 extra days after the solution mostly runs dry.

I do this with everyone from handsoap to shampoo. It doesn't work with Rogaine though...it seems to form crystals when you add water to it.

@Nunya B: Sounds like someone's been paid a visit by the Marketing Department.

@randomangela47: I don't actually put crap on my face. I don't wear makeup or anything. My whole beauty regime is about keeping my skin/hair/etc. properly clean/moisturized/cared for, not slathering on stuff. But it does require strategic application of certain products in certain ways. Just scrubbing with water and a one-bar-fits-all soap will leave you dirt-free, but probably a little rough around the edges. For men, this is considered enough in most cases. For women, the result would probably be considered unflattering.

Bar soap is dirt cheap for a reason. I use Neutrogena face wash, and I know I would not get the same results if I just swabbed my face with a bar of Lava. I realize I could switch at any time. I'm positing that the difference in the quality of my skin if I did would hardly be remarked upon if I were a man, but as a woman, I'm held to higher standards of beauty. I'm actually pro grooming. I use these products because I actually like having nicer skin. I don't mind being "gussied up" -- by which, I reiterate, I mean clean and neat and moisturized, not painted like the Whore of Babylon -- I like people clean and attractive, and, let's face it, a person can be pretty icky in their natural state. I just wish men could be held to the same standard.

Here's the real point of this rant -- if I had submitted this story about watering down my Neutrogena face wash, I highly doubt there would be any comment about how unnecessary it was. "Woman stretches her woman-soap!" would be the entire story. But since a man submitted it, suddenly the same product in a shiny black bottle becomes froofy, frivolous, and a little bit gay. Way to scare off any other men who might dare to wonder if spending a few extra bucks on Neutrogena could do something for their patchy, acne-prone skin that the 99¢ Dove bar isn't doing. Nope, doing that would make them one of them met-row-sexhuals.

@Ben Popken: It's your rules...you blamed the OP...what do you expect? ;-)