Olay Cleansing Melts Are the Space-Age Skin Care We Saw in Movies

Loren Savini
·11 min read

Design by Bella Geraci

Think of any movie or TV show set in the future: The Jetsons, Star Trek, Zenon. While they didn't get everything right (why can't we teleport yet?), there are a few things that did come true. AI is very real. Video calling is now considered mundane. And if you were hoping for a robot assistant, Alexa or Siri could help you out.

Skin care also seems to be taking cues from space-age technology. Olay's latest innovation—the Cleansing Melts—are like itty-bitty freeze-dried astronaut squares. They look like little communion wafers, but when soaked in water, they dissolve into the perfect dose of buttery cleanser, eliminating the need for bottles and squeeze tubes.

Olay Cleansing Melts

$20.00, Amazon

The technology is like the futuristic bathroom routine from those movies we grew up watching, so we asked the experts to break down exactly what they are, how they are, and why they are, and gave it a test run ourselves.

Meet the experts:

  • Kseniya Kobets, MD, is a board-certified dermatologist and director of cosmetic dermatology at Montefiore Einstein Advanced Care-Westchester.

  • Shuting Hu, PhD, is a cosmetic chemist and founder and CEO of Acaderma.

  • Rolanda Wilkerson, PhD, is the lead chemist in research and development at Olay.

  • Ginger King is a cosmetic chemist based in Parsippany, New Jersey.

  • Nazanin Saedi, MD, is a board-certified dermatologist and clinical associate professor at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.

Olay Cleansing Melts are teeny, tiny fabric squares that dissolve into a palmful of face wash when soaked in warm water. Since we all need something a little different from our cleanser (I have rosacea and dry skin, but you may be battling breakouts or hyperpigmentation), they come in three formulations: hyaluronic acid, vitamin C, and retinol.

Once the square has fully melted (in just one second), you cleanse as you normally would, rinse, and follow with the rest of your skin-care routine. "They're an efficient way to clean the skin as they allow you to measure how much soap ingredients are used each time instead of relying on a whole pump or squeezing out of the bottle and getting too much in the process," says board-certified dermatologist Kseniya Kobets, MD, who is not affiliated with Olay. It should also be gentle enough for anyone to use: "Anything that you wash off the face tends to be on the milder side, so it could be a great add-on therapy to retinols, vitamin C, and hyaluronic acid products that you may already use in your regimen."

Not only do cleaners land in the milder category of skin-care products, Olay says this is entirely intentional in its formulation. "Our formulation and product goals for Olay Cleansing Melts are to ensure the final skin benefits are delivered in a form that can drive compliance without trade-offs for people of diverse skin tones, with the needs of those with a higher concentration of melanin in mind," Rolanda Wilkerson, PhD, an R&D chemist at Olay, tells Allure. That includes oil production and hyperpigmentation issues, which Olay says its multicultural audience over-indexes in. In other words, they formulated these cleansing melts to, yes, cleanse the skin, but also work for oily skin types or those struggling with hyperpigmentation.

Cosmetic chemist Shuting Hu, PhD, who is also not affiliated with the brand, noted that while the hyaluronic acid formulation would be her choice because she believes the benefits would be most effective, the other two formulations (vitamin C and retinol), while safe to use, may not yield dramatic results. "Hyaluronic acid is a great ingredient for a gentle cleanser because it soothes irritation and prevents dryness," she says. "However, I don't think vitamin C and retinol are suitable for cleansers. These active ingredients would need to remain on the skin for a prolonged period, such as 28 days, to show visible improvements, which is not feasible during the cleansing process." (The brand claims its proprietary technology allows the actives to be left behind after rinsing, but does not claim any benefits tied to a specific ingredient).

Ingredients and formulation

But how does it work, you may be asking? Well, good news and bad news. Olay is keeping the proprietary "fabric" technology (as in how it's actually woven together) under wraps, but Dr. Wilkerson says the ingredients are bare bones. "[The cleansing melts] have only eight, noncomedogenic, sulfate-free ingredients," she says, noting that some traditional cleansers on the market have anywhere from 20 to 68 ingredients. "We wanted it to be very purposeful, effective, and beneficial—without anything unnecessary."

The ingredients include two mild cleansing agents (disodium cocoyl glutamate and sodium cocoyl glutamate), water, citric acid, polyvinyl alcohol (which cosmetic chemist Ginger King says allows a surfactant film to be formed that can encapsulate the rest of the ingredients in one square), citric acid, and one of the three hero ingredients—hyaluronic acid, vitamin C, or retinol—depending upon which formulation you choose.

"Those ingredients are dried down and concentrated," says Dr. Wilkerson, and turned into the threads that are woven into that tiny fabric-like square. Once warm water is added (though any temperature would work) to those hyperconcentrated ingredients, the polyvinyl film dissolves and the ingredients are activated and ready to be massaged onto your face.

Okay, but why, you may now be asking? "In consumer studies, we found that 70% of respondents were completely dissatisfied with the cleansing experience," says Dr. Wilkerson. "They said it felt like a chore, that it was drying their skin out, that their skin didn't feel clean enough, or that they were spending too much money looking for the right one and coming up empty." If it seems a bit hyperbolic that a study sponsored by Olay reported that 70% of those surveyed were fully dissatisfied with cleansing, we can definitely identify with skin feeling dry or depleted after cleansing.

It took 10 years to formulate and about 50 patents, but Dr. Wilkerson says the Cleansing Melts are everything they set out to create: a simple cleanser that gives a deep clean but is still gentle enough to work for all skin types (and honestly, kind of fun to use, but more on that later).

My honest thoughts

I'm generally hesitant to try new skin care since I have finicky, sensitive skin and rosacea that ranges from small red splotches on my cheeks to red and breaking out (on a bad day). I also tend to skew on the dry side. The choice between the three formulas seemed simple, but I asked a dermatologist, just to be safe. "Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant that will help against free-radical damage," says board-certified dermatologist Nazanin Saedi, MD. "Retinol is excellent for increasing cell turnover, and hyaluronic acid is great for trapping moisture in the skin." Hyaluronic acid seemed like the safest move, and Dr. Wilkerson agreed, so that’s what I went with.

I like to cleanse at night and just do a thorough rinse in the morning, so I saved my little square for the evening. I took off my makeup with Bioderma micellar water before cleansing (which is what I would do on any regular day, as well). Then I simply followed the instructions on the box: "Hold the pad in the palm of your hand and run it under gentle warm water, lather in your hands to activate, then wash your face for about 30 seconds, and rinse as usual."

The square dissolved from a white wafer into clear jelly (it actually looked a bit like a small jellyfish) in less than two seconds. Once I used the other hand to agitate it a little bit, it transformed from clear goo to a really rich, creamy lather in my hands. It felt super slippery on my skin (sometimes I can literally feel a foaming cleanser stripping my skin of moisture—not the case here), and was more than enough to cover my whole face and feel like I was getting a solid clean.

After rinsing it off, I was left with incredibly soft skin that didn't feel tight or itchy and had that fresh, "I can finally breathe" feeling you get after a deep cleanse. I waited to follow with moisturizer to see how long the feeling would last, which was about five minutes before my skin said, "Okay, but where's the moisturizer?" With my skin starting to beg for a drink, I followed with my usual moisturizer (Skinfix Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Peptide cream).

The soft, clean feeling lasted through the night and I was still impressed with how light and polished my skin felt the next morning (and I'm wondering now if my current cleanser isn't doing the trick…). Most importantly, my skin didn't feel beat up or reactive.

My experience fully aligned with the brand's clinical studies (no independent studies have been performed yet), where 91% of participants reported that the cleanser felt gentle on the skin while still providing a long-lasting clean feeling. Not to mention, it's just a cool little science project you get to do in your bathroom every day, and I'm down with anything that makes a long bathroom routine a little bit more enjoyable.

More Allure editor reviews

Jessica Cruel, editor in chief

I've had the inside scoop on Olay Melts for over a year (call it EIC privilege). When I first saw it in the lab, I was impressed by the idea that all the cleansing power you need is in this little, tiny square. Once you add water the lather is silky and voluminous. I was worried the minuscule pad wouldn’t produce enough foam for a thorough wash, but that wasn’t an issue at all.

The scientist I spoke to explained that the Vitamin C Melts were created with multicultural skin in mind. I'm always dealing with post-acne hyperpigmentation, which vitamin C helps to brighten over time. Also brown skin tends to produce more oil (hello, forehead shine!), so I like to use this cleanser after a long day of wearing sunscreen. After just one wash, every trace of product is erased—no double cleanse needed.

Jesa Marie Calaor, senior editor

The Olay Cleansing Melts saved me the trouble of pouring my daily gel cleanser into a TSA-friendly bottle for a recent international trip. The tiny squares traveled with me in my carry-on, and I used one during my extra-long, uncomfortable, somewhat smelly flight. (It was particularly convenient as I rinsed my face in the tiny airplane bathroom.) In warm water, the square quickly dissolved into a rich gel that lathered into a silky foam and swept away all the sweat, dirt, and skin care on my face.

Pricing and value

The verdict? I don't have much room on my mirror shelf for a box of cleanser versus a bottle (and the clunky box that's far bigger than the supply of pads seems wasteful, though I do appreciate how easy it is to recycle, and the plastic film that helps prevent any splashes from ruining the rest of the supply), but I would absolutely snag a box before a vacation and rest assured that not only would I not discover a leak in my cosmetics case, my skin would feel clean and nourished after any harsh beach time or heavy makeup days.

I am still left wondering if this makes sense for daily use. I am 35 and hyperaware of my 401K, so let's do the math: Each $10 package has 32 dissolving pads. If you cleanse religiously twice a day, that's 16 days of cleanser (you can also buy a 64-pack for $20 to get you through the entire month). A 12-ounce bottle of drugstore cleanser costs about $15, give or take, and will likely last about two months (according to absolutely no scientific body, just, you know, personal experience, Reddit, and Google AI).

Olay Cleansing Melts

$20.00, Amazon

Granted, this is obviously not an exact science. Who's to say how much you're pumping from a bottle into your palm? And again, I cleanse only once a day. But it does still seem like the cleansing melts are the pricier option in the long run. That said, you are paying for the simplicity—both in the process and ingredient list—and that can be hard to find elsewhere. It's also totally TSA-friendly, pre-dosed so you don't over or under-cleanse, and great for certain spouses who are simply tickled enough by the magic disappearing act that they'll actually use it more (a huge win).

More skin-care newness to check out:

Now, watch Sydney Sweeeney's routine for sensitive skin:

Originally Appeared on Allure

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