Dr. Hauschka Skin Care Daily Kit for Oily/Impure Skin

This is my first experience with Dr. Hauschka products, whose holistic/natural products and treatment methods are formulated to work with the skin to support its own natural processes of renewal.  Dr. Rudolf Hauschka, a chemist, was the creator of this line, which was introduced in 1967.  Products were available in the US starting in 2007.  According to their web site:

• products are certified natural, containing the highest-quality plant and mineral ingredients
• every ingredient is carefully chosen based on its individual effects on the skin, as well as the way it interacts with other ingredients
• every plant’s origin is carefully researched, making sure it comes from an ecologically and ethically sound source
• packaging is carefully designed and manufactured to enure products free of artificial preservatives

The whole philosophy behind Dr. Hauschka products is covered in detail at About Dr. Hauschka Skincare. 

The Dr. Hauschka Skin Care Daily Kit contains trial sizes of cleansing cream, clarifying toner, normalizing day oil, facial steam bath, cleansing clay mask and rejuvenating mask. Enriched with plant extracts, this kit says it can transform blemished skin into a healthier one.  I'm game!

My initial impressions are that this is not skin care for the lazy and/or those not wanting to follow instructions to the letter.  I may fall into one of those categories.  The cleanser contains almond meal, amongst other interesting things, and you are supposed to roll or press it into your skin.  Not rub or scrub, which I found myself doing as this kneading my skin wasn't making sense to me.  The texture is quite different - kind of like washing your face with cooked oatmeal.  You also need to remove your makeup prior to using the cleanser, as this cleanser will not do that.  My skin definitely felt soft afterwards.

My favorite from the set has been the toner, which has a strong herbal smell that I associate with the few other German skincare products I've tried.  I'm also intrigued by the normalizing day oil.  which is supposed to balance oil production while protecting skin.  It can be counter intuitive to use oils on oily skin, but I am becoming a convert to this philosophy.  Only a drop or two is needed - when I used more than that it did stay on top of my skin and felt oily.  I haven't used it long enough to see if it really does make a difference, but I think the small container will last quite a while given how little has to be used.  I'll report back once I'm done if it made a difference.

The steam bath definitely helped my sinuses and opened my pores, but just steaming with plain water will do that as well.  The clay mask, which you mix with water and a bit of the toner, is very runny in texture and was a bit messy because of that.  Each of these has enough for 2 applications.

I'm intrigued by this skincare line and do think it has some unique products with quality ingredients.  At this point, the two I'd consider purchasing are the toner and normalizing oil, as I'm just not sure the others perform better than other cleansers or masks I've tried.  I got my set from beauty.com for $24.95.

Have you used any Dr. Hauschka products?  What were your impressions?

Disclosure:  I bought this.