3 Overrated Skincare Products an Esthetician Skips and What to Use Instead

The three most overrated skincare products, according to licensed esthetician Nikol Johnson, are makeup wipes, the St. Ives apricot scrub, and Cetaphil cleanser. In their place she reaches for a double cleanse with an oil or balm cleanser followed by a gentle gel cleanser, a mild chemical exfoliant used two to three times a week instead of a physical scrub, and a low-irritation milky cleanser instead of a formula she considers overhyped and poorly formulated. These are her professional opinions from decades in the treatment room, not rules — skincare is personal, and what matters is understanding why a product works or does not work so you can make informed choices for your own skin.

Key Takeaways

1. Makeup wipes rely on alcohol and preservatives to stay shelf-stable, create friction that irritates skin, and leave behind residue rather than truly cleaning — a double cleanse with an oil or balm cleanser followed by a gel cleanser removes everything without dragging or stripping.
2. The St. Ives apricot scrub uses ground walnut shell that can create micro-tears and abrasions on the skin surface — gentle chemical exfoliants like a BHA liquid, lactic acid serum, or soft exfoliating pads achieve better results without the physical damage.
3. Cetaphil cleanser is what Nikol considers the most overhyped product in skincare — she finds it does not clean effectively and objects to ingredients including propylene glycol, sulfates, alcohols, and parabens in a product marketed as gentle.
4. The common thread across all three products is that they promise convenience or gentleness but deliver irritation, incomplete cleansing, or both — and better alternatives exist at every price point from drugstore to prestige.
5. Exfoliation should never hurt, and two to three times a week is enough for most skin types — over-exfoliating is one of the most common causes of the sensitivity women blame on their skin type when it is actually their routine.
6. These are one esthetician's informed professional opinions, not universal rules — your skin may respond differently, and the goal is to be educated about what you are putting on your face rather than following any single authority blindly.

Why does a licensed esthetician call these three products overrated?

The word Nikol uses is not "bad" — it is "overrated," and the distinction matters. These are products that have outsized reputations relative to what they actually deliver. Makeup wipes are marketed as the easy, lazy-girl shortcut. The St. Ives scrub was a bathroom staple for decades. Cetaphil is recommended by dermatologists so routinely that questioning it feels like questioning a prescription. Nikol's position, built from her experience as a licensed esthetician since 2000, is that all three have gentler, more effective alternatives that cost the same or less — and that the reputation each one carries is doing more work than the product itself.

The broader point she makes in the video above is worth hearing before the specific breakdowns: most women are not choosing bad products because they do not care about their skin. They are choosing bad products because the marketing is excellent and nobody has explained the alternatives. Once you understand why a product is problematic — not just that someone told you to skip it — you can evaluate everything else in your routine with the same lens. That is the difference between following advice and understanding your own skincare, and it is the same philosophy behind her pro-aging skincare approach: informed choices, not blind obedience.

Why are makeup wipes worse for your skin than they seem?

Makeup wipes feel like the quickest possible shortcut — one swipe and you are done. Nikol's objection is that you are not done. You are not even close to done.

Because wipes have to stay damp on the shelf for months, they rely on alcohol and preservatives that can irritate skin on contact. The physical act of dragging a textured cloth across your face creates friction, and that friction adds up over time — especially on mature skin that is already losing elasticity. And the residue they leave behind is the real problem: wipes spread makeup and sunscreen around rather than removing them, so you go to bed with a thin film of the day still sitting on your skin, clogging pores and preventing any nighttime actives from penetrating.

Nikol also makes the environmental point: most makeup wipes are not biodegradable. They go from your face to a landfill, and if you are using one every night, that is 365 wipes a year from one person.

The alternative is not harder — it is different. A double cleanse takes about ninety seconds: an oil or balm cleanser melts away makeup, SPF, and daily grime in thirty seconds of gentle massage, and a gel cleanser in the second step finishes the job. Among the oil and balm cleansers she mentions using personally are Clinique Take the Day Off, Augustinus Bader's cleansing balm, Elemis Pro-Collagen (she loves the rose scent), the budget-friendly Anua heartleaf and vitamin E cleansing oil, and Sulwhasoo cleansing oil. For the second step she reaches for Dr. Dennis Gross AHA/BHA gel cleanser. These are third-party products she uses — not Nikol Beauty items — and any gentle formulation in the same category works.

Short on time? Micellar water on a cotton pad — she mentions Embryolisse micellar lotion specifically — is a quick pre-cleanse that is far kinder than dragging a wipe across your face. It is not a full replacement for the double cleanse, but it is leagues ahead of wipes for the nights when you genuinely cannot stand at the sink.

What makes physical scrubs like the St. Ives apricot scrub damaging?

The St. Ives apricot scrub was everywhere in the 1980s and 1990s — a bathroom staple for an entire generation. Nikol calls it one of the most damaging things you can put on your face, and she is specific about why: it is built around ground walnut shell, and the irregular, sharp edges of those particles create micro-tears and abrasions on the skin surface. The brand faced a class-action lawsuit over the product in 2016, which Nikol references in the video.

The deeper problem is not one product — it is the belief system behind it. The idea that exfoliation has to hurt, that you need to feel it "digging in" to know it is working, is what Nikol calls completely wrong. Physical scrubs with harsh, irregular particles damage the skin barrier, create inflammation, and produce the exact sensitivity and redness they are supposed to be preventing. This is the same pattern she identifies in the worst skincare trends conversation — aggressive treatments marketed as effective when gentler alternatives produce better results without the damage.

Her gentler alternatives fall into three categories. Soft exfoliating pads — she names options from YSE Beauty (Molly Sims's line), Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta peel pads, and Elemis. Liquid chemical exfoliants — a 2% BHA like Paula's Choice for oily or acne-prone skin, or The Ordinary's 5% lactic acid with hyaluronic acid for a gentler entry point. A rice-based powder exfoliant for anyone who prefers a physical texture without the damage — mixed with a few drops of water into a gentle paste, it dissolves away rather than tearing skin.

Her rule on exfoliation frequency is firm: two to three times a week, not daily. Over-exfoliating is one of the most common reasons women develop the sensitivity they then blame on their skin type. If your nighttime routine already includes a retinol, adding daily exfoliation on top of that is too much — the retinol is already increasing cell turnover, and layering aggressive exfoliation doubles the irritation without doubling the benefit.

Why does an esthetician skip Cetaphil cleanser?

Cetaphil is the product Nikol has found perplexing since she became an esthetician in 2000. It is recommended by dermatologists with such consistency that questioning it feels almost heretical — but her experience, both in the treatment room and on her own skin, is that it does not clean effectively. In her words, it "slips around" without actually removing what needs to come off the skin.

Her objection goes beyond performance to formulation. She lists ingredients she personally prefers to avoid in a cleanser: propylene glycol, sulfates, alcohols, and parabens. Her position is that a product marketed as gentle should not contain ingredients that a growing body of formulation science questions. This is her professional opinion, not a medical claim — if Cetaphil works well for your skin, there is no reason to panic, and checking with your own dermatologist before making changes is always the right call.

The alternatives she reaches for instead are gentler formulations from brands with ingredient lists she trusts. Avène's Tolerance Extremely Gentle Milky Cleanser is her primary swap — a French-pharmacy formulation designed for hypersensitive skin. The Tatcha Rice Wash is another option she names, and for a soft pre-cleanse step, Embryolisse micellar lotion on high-quality cotton (she specifies Shiseido cotton as her favorite). The drugstore skincare guide covers more affordable cleansing options for women who want effective, gentle products without the prestige price point.

How do overrated products compare to their gentler alternatives?

The pattern across all three swaps is the same: the overrated product promises speed or simplicity, the alternative delivers better results with less irritation, and the cost difference is smaller than the marketing suggests. This comparison breaks down each swap across the factors that actually matter for mature skin:

The cost column is worth noticing: in every case, the better alternative costs roughly the same per month of use. Makeup wipes seem cheap per pack but you replace them constantly, while an oil cleanser and gel cleanser last months. The St. Ives scrub is the cheapest option on the chart, but a bottle of The Ordinary's 5% lactic acid is under ten dollars and lasts longer because you use it less frequently. The perception that gentle alternatives are expensive is one of the myths that keeps overrated products in bathroom cabinets.

What is the correct double-cleanse method step by step?

The double cleanse is the single most important swap in this article — it replaces the worst offender (wipes) with a method that actually cleans your skin thoroughly without friction or irritation. This is the evening sequence Nikol follows, and it takes about ninety seconds:

1. Apply your oil or balm cleanser to dry skin. Scoop or pump your cleanser onto dry fingertips and massage it directly onto dry skin — not wet. Oil dissolves oil, and the makeup, SPF, and sebum on your face are oil-based, so applying to dry skin allows the cleanser to grip and dissolve everything on contact. Massage gently for about thirty seconds.
2. Emulsify with a small amount of warm water. Wet your fingertips and continue massaging. The cleanser will turn milky as it emulsifies, which is how you know it is lifting everything off the skin surface. This is the step most people skip — they go straight from dry application to rinsing, which means the cleanser has not fully emulsified and residue remains.
3. Rinse thoroughly with lukewarm water. Not hot — hot water strips moisture and can trigger redness on sensitive skin. Lukewarm water rinses the emulsified cleanser cleanly. Pat gently, do not rub.
4. Apply your gel cleanser to damp skin. A small amount of gentle gel cleanser on wet skin removes anything the first cleanse left behind and cleans the skin itself rather than just removing what was sitting on top of it. This is where pores get cleaned, not just the surface.
5. Rinse again and pat dry. Lukewarm water, gentle patting with a clean towel — not dragging. Your skin should feel clean but not tight or stripped. If it feels tight, your gel cleanser is too harsh.
6. Proceed immediately to your treatment products. Apply your actives — retinol, peptides, vitamin C, or whatever your nighttime routine calls for — while skin is still slightly damp. Clean skin absorbs actives more effectively than skin with a film of leftover wipe residue sitting on it, which is the entire reason proper cleansing matters.

What are the biggest cleansing and exfoliation mistakes women over 40 make?

These errors are the ones Nikol encounters most frequently in her treatment room and in the comments on her videos. Each one either creates the skin problems women are trying to solve or prevents the products they are investing in from working:

1. Using makeup wipes as their entire cleansing routine. Wipes spread product around rather than removing it. Going to bed with residue on your skin means your retinol, peptides, and moisturizer are sitting on top of a barrier of old makeup and oxidized sunscreen rather than penetrating clean skin.
2. Over-exfoliating with harsh physical scrubs. Daily scrubbing with abrasive particles damages the skin barrier, creates micro-tears, and triggers the inflammation and sensitivity that makes women think they have reactive skin when they actually have an overaggressive routine. Two to three times a week with a gentle chemical exfoliant is enough.
3. Believing that exfoliation should feel rough or painful. If it hurts, it is damaging. The burn or sting that some women interpret as the product working is actually the product injuring. Effective exfoliation feels like nothing at all — the chemical dissolves dead-cell bonds below the surface without you feeling it happen.
4. Choosing products based on brand reputation instead of ingredient lists. Cetaphil's dermatologist recommendation carries it further than its formulation justifies, according to Nikol. Reading ingredient lists rather than trusting marketing claims is the single most useful habit you can build in skincare — and it applies to expensive products as much as cheap ones.
5. Not extending the double cleanse past the jawline. Everything that sits on your face — makeup, SPF, pollution — also sits on your neck and décolleté. If your neck care routine starts with active serums applied on top of uncleansed skin, those serums are working against residue rather than into clean skin.
6. Using hot water to rinse. Hot water strips the lipid barrier, triggers redness, and dehydrates skin that is already losing moisture with age. Lukewarm water rinses cleanser just as effectively without the irritation. This is especially important for women with rosacea-prone or sensitized skin.
7. Skipping the double cleanse because they did not wear makeup that day. Sunscreen is harder to remove than most makeup, and environmental pollutants, sebum, and sweat accumulate even on bare-faced days. The double cleanse is not a makeup-removal tool — it is a skin-cleaning method, and skin needs cleaning every evening whether or not you wore a full face.

How does proper cleansing affect everything else in your skincare routine?

This is the point Nikol makes that ties the entire conversation together: cleansing is not glamorous, nobody posts about it, and it is the step that determines whether everything else you buy works or does not work.

A retinol serum applied to skin with makeup residue, oxidized sunscreen, and the preservatives from a wipe sitting on it will not penetrate effectively. The active ingredient has to fight through a film before it reaches the skin, and by the time it does, the concentration at the cellular level is a fraction of what it would be on properly cleansed skin. The same is true for peptides, vitamin C, hyaluronic acid — every active in your nighttime routine performs better on a clean surface.

The morning side matters too. Properly cleansed skin in the evening means your overnight repair products work at full strength, and when you wake up and apply sunscreen in the morning, it adheres to a clean, hydrated surface rather than sitting on top of leftover night cream and dead cells. BB cream and foundation look fundamentally different on skin that was properly double-cleansed the night before — smoother, more even, and with less of the pilling and patchiness that women blame on the makeup when the real problem is what is underneath it.

The women who get the best results from their dark spot correctors, their retinol, their peptide serums — they are almost always the women who take cleansing seriously. Not expensively, not with a twelve-step Korean routine, but with a proper double cleanse that takes ninety seconds and costs less per month than the wipes it replaces.

The Bottom Line

The three products Nikol considers most overrated — makeup wipes, the St. Ives apricot scrub, and Cetaphil cleanser — share a common problem: their reputations outperform their results. Wipes leave residue and create friction. The apricot scrub causes physical damage that gentler exfoliants avoid entirely. Cetaphil's ingredient list does not match its marketing as a gentle option. In every case, a better alternative exists at the same price point or less — a double cleanse for wipes, a chemical exfoliant for the scrub, a milky cleanser for Cetaphil. These are Nikol's professional opinions from decades of treating real skin in her treatment room, and they are worth hearing, but they are not commandments. Skincare is personal. The goal is not to follow anyone blindly but to understand what your products are doing and why, so you can make choices that serve your skin rather than a brand's marketing department.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the three overrated skincare products an esthetician would skip?

Licensed esthetician Nikol Johnson names makeup wipes, the St. Ives apricot scrub, and Cetaphil cleanser. She considers wipes too irritating and ineffective at cleaning, the apricot scrub too abrasive for facial skin, and Cetaphil overhyped relative to what its formulation delivers. She recommends gentler alternatives for each — a double cleanse, a chemical exfoliant, and a milky cleanser — at comparable price points.

Why are makeup wipes bad for mature skin specifically?

Mature skin is thinner, produces less oil, and heals more slowly. The friction from dragging a wipe across that skin creates cumulative irritation, the alcohol and preservatives in the wipes dehydrate skin that is already moisture-depleted, and the residue left behind prevents nighttime actives like retinol and peptides from penetrating. A double cleanse removes everything without friction and leaves skin ready to absorb treatment products.

What should I use instead of a physical scrub?

A gentle chemical exfoliant — either a liquid like Paula's Choice 2% BHA or The Ordinary's 5% lactic acid, or soft exfoliating pads like Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta peels or Elemis pads. Chemical exfoliants dissolve the bonds between dead cells without physical abrasion, making them safer for mature and sensitive skin. Use them two to three times a week, not daily, and always patch test first.

Is Cetaphil really that bad?

Nikol's position is that Cetaphil is overhyped, not that it is universally harmful. She finds it does not clean skin effectively and objects to ingredients including propylene glycol, sulfates, alcohols, and parabens in a product marketed as gentle. These are her professional opinions — if Cetaphil works well for your skin, consult your dermatologist before changing rather than abandoning it based on one opinion.

How often should I exfoliate my skin?

Two to three times a week is Nikol's recommendation for most skin types. Daily exfoliation — especially with physical scrubs — damages the skin barrier and creates the sensitivity many women incorrectly attribute to their skin type. If your routine already includes a retinol, which increases cell turnover on its own, reducing exfoliation frequency even further may be appropriate to avoid compounding the irritation.

What is the correct order for a double cleanse?

First step: an oil or balm cleanser massaged onto dry skin to dissolve makeup, SPF, and sebum. Add a small amount of water to emulsify, then rinse with lukewarm water. Second step: a gentle gel cleanser on damp skin to clean the skin itself. Rinse again with lukewarm water and pat dry. The full process takes about ninety seconds and replaces wipes entirely.

Can micellar water replace the double cleanse?

Micellar water on a cotton pad is a better option than makeup wipes for nights when you genuinely cannot do a full double cleanse — it is gentler on the skin and does not require the friction of a wipe. But it is a compromise, not a replacement. The double cleanse removes more thoroughly and leaves skin better prepared for treatment products. Use micellar water for emergencies and the double cleanse for your regular routine.

Are expensive cleansers always better than drugstore options?

No. Nikol names products across a wide price range because the active mechanism — oil dissolving oil, gentle surfactants lifting impurities — works the same regardless of price point. The Ordinary's lactic acid under ten dollars and Dr. Dennis Gross pads over forty dollars are both delivering chemical exfoliation through the same principles. What matters is the ingredients and the formulation, not the price tag.

How do I know if my cleanser is too harsh?

If your skin feels tight, dry, or stripped after cleansing, the cleanser is too harsh. Properly cleansed skin should feel clean and comfortable — not squeaky, not taut, and not immediately in need of heavy moisturizer to stop the tightness. Redness, stinging, or a visible reaction after cleansing are all signs to switch to a gentler formula.

Does proper cleansing really make that much difference for anti-aging products?

Yes. Every active in your routine — retinol, vitamin C, peptides, hyaluronic acid — performs better on properly cleansed skin because it can penetrate directly rather than fighting through a film of residue. Women who invest in quality serums but skip proper cleansing are getting a fraction of what those products can deliver, which is why cleansing is the unglamorous step that determines whether the rest of your routine works.