Life Clear Action Derma Jel vs. Spectro Jel Cleanser for Blemish Prone Skin

For almost two months now I’ve been battling a bit of acne, mostly on my forehead. It’s nothing major but it is annoying, especially since I generally just get one-off pimples. But for some reason, the past few weeks have seen a steady crop of bumps popping up regardless of what I do.

So this weekend, I took a careful look at how I am treating this problem and I came to the conclusion that the problem isn’t the treatment, it’s the prevention. I think the reason that I’m getting these pimples is that I'm not using a face wash that has the necessary strength to stop them.


Usually, my face wash of choice is Spectro  Jel Cleanser for Blemish Prone Skin. But back in November I ran out of it. To mix things up, I switched to Olay’s Foaming Face Wash but then I started to notice pimples (that product isn’t explicitly an acne fighter) so I decided to go back to what I know works.

Except I didn’t completely do that. Instead of picking up Spectro  Jel Cleanser for Blemish Prone Skin, I picked up its Life brand knockoff,  Clear Action Derma Jel.

I'm not sure why I chose that over the brand name, maybe it was on sale or offering bonus Optimum points, but I did. Product claim-wise, both cleansers are almost identical, boasting about how they deep clean pores and purify skin, removing dirt and oil while “…protecting the skin’s moisture barrier” (this line is used by both products).

They also both emphasis that they are gentle and non-irritating and free of fragrance, paraben, lanolin, sodium lauryl sulfate and dyes.  Really, if you look at just the packaging, you would think that the bottles contain the exact same, scentless, colourless, gel cleanser.

And that’s basically what I thought until this weekend. While I can get rid of the pimples using a range of products (we’ll look at those in future posts), I can’t seem to stop them from popping up and that I think is at least partially my cleanser’s fault (I realize that I should also be tackling the problem with some kind of anti-acne moisturiser but I’ve yet to find one that I can wear outside the house).

Clear Action ingredients 

While I don’t think the Life brand cleaner is causing the pimples (they were popping up prior to me switching to it), I think it must be missing something that the Spectro Jel brand has that keeps things under control.

While I purchased the Life product for free using Optimum points, it still feels wrong to toss it because it’s less than half empty. But I think I’m going to have to say good-bye to it and switch to back to the name brand stuff if I want my skin to improve.

Would I Buy This Again: No.
Should You Buy It: No, pay the few extra dollars (usually $4-$5) and get the real stuff.