Review: St. Ives Naturally Clear Green Tea Scrub

I always get a thrill when I find an inexpensive product that does the job as well as an expensive one.  It’s ten kinds of awesome when an inexpensive product does the job even better.  Meet St. Ives Naturally Clear Green Tea Scrub, the wiser, savvy sister to the St. Ives Apricot Scrub we all tried at some point or another.

I came across this product while looking for an inexpensive exfoliator when I made the switch from cream cleansers to a bar soap (OHWTO Black Magic).  Previously, I would add a small bit of baking soda to the cream cleanser to make it slightly abrasive and that did the job just fine.  Without a creamy cleanser to use with the baking soda, I poked around Walgreens until the Green Tea Scrub caught my eye.  I almost didn’t get it, because St. Ives. Apricot Scrub was the worst thing on earth for my skin and the scrubby bits were big and sharp, but Walgreens’ generous return policy and the sale price of around $5 lured me in.

The scrub is is a manual exfoliator.  It’s thick like a paste, with scrubby beads, but not so thick that it’s unworkable.  The beads are tiny with no sharp edges.  They really do a great job!  One thing I dislike about a lot of exfoliators is the lack of beads.  This product is packed with them, so every last area of the face gets some scrubby action.  You don’t need a lot of the product to do a thorough job.  On the front of the package they show a picture of the scrub, and that’s actually the amount it takes for my face.  The tube has lasted me several months already, and I’ve still got 3/4 of it left.

The scrub has a very light green tea scent.  I personally like it, but it’s unobtrusive enough that even those who dislike green tea wouldn’t be overly bothered.  The scent does not linger once the product has been rinsed off.  The scrub does contain 1% salicylic acid.  I am sometimes sensitive to it, but I have no problems using this scrub.  That said, the amount is so low and it’s on for such a short amount of time that there’s very little beneficial acne fighting going on.  If this is keeping skin clear, it’s probably from the exfoliation and not the salicylic acid.

I usually use this about once or twice a week, but the beads are so gentle that it probably could be used every day.  That said, this scrub does such a great job, I don’t think it would be necessary.  I am very impressed with how well it works, considering it feels very gentle on the skin and doesn’t leave me beet red once it is rinsed.  Is that due to the green tea?  Hell if I know.  I only know that it works amazingly well, doesn’t irritate my skin, and it’s only about $6 at Walgreens when not on sale, but frequently less expensive than that.

I really recommend this product for anyone with sensitive skin who is usually bothered by exfoliators.  I can’t use chemical exfoliators at all, and most manual ones irritate my skin for several days after use, but this one has done the job and left me with clear, undamaged skin.  That, regardless of price, has earned it HG status in my stash.  The fact that it does it for less than $6?  Nothing short of miraculous.