Trader Joe’s Spa Face Wash With Tea Tree Oil Review

Trader Joe’s Spa Face Wash With Tea Tree Oil is a liquid castile soap face wash with tea tree, orange peel, and lavender oils, and other botanicals meant to give your skincare routine a more spa-like experience. It costs about $5 at your local Trader Joe’s. If you don’t have a Trader Joe’s near you, it can also be found on Amazon, though it will cost more.

This purchase was actually my fiancé’s idea. We’ve recently been trying to switch to a more natural lifestyle (food, toiletries, cleaning supplies, etc.) and this was one of those things that we decided to give a go. We have been using Neutragena Oil Free Acne Wash for several years and we really don’t have any problems with it but we just wanted to try something new. This product’s featured ingredient is the tea tree oil which is supposed to be good for skin conditions like acne. We read reviews and some people claimed that this face wash also helped them with oily skin and blackheads.

Performance/Experience

We have both been using this for a couple weeks now and so far we are liking it. For reference, I have acne-prone combination skin which has been quite a bit more oily during these hot summer months. My fiancé has very oily skin in general and sometimes gets some red, flakey patches around his eyes.

This face wash is different than your traditional gel-consistency face wash. It is made with castile soap which is made with plant fats rather than animal fats. It has a very liquidy, runny consistency. I don’t need a whole lot to wash my face – a whole pump is too much and is wasteful as the excess runs between my fingers and down the drain. It doesn’t really foam up very much but it does have a slippery soapy feel against the skin. Just a word of warning – do not get this in your eyes! I have been careful and lucky but I’ve heard of others getting castile soap in the eye and saying that it really burns.

When I wash my face and rinse it almost feels as if the soap leaves a film over my face but it does feel like it thoroughly cleans. Once I dry my face, I don’t feel like the film is there anymore. It does have a little bit of a tingly feel if you wash over breakouts with it. It doesn’t leave my skin feeling too tight or dry. My fiancé said that he found it less drying than the Neutragena face wash. It has the typical tea tree oil smell which you may or may not like. I don’t mind it.

It does seem like it has been helping both of us with our skin ailments. My fiancé’s flakey patches around his eyes have been considerably reduced. I had a few breakouts that were starting to pop out around my jawline and I immediately attacked them with this face wash and my favorite toner (which has glycolic acid and salicylic acid). My breakouts stopped in their tracks and started healing after that. That doesn’t mean it will do the same for everyone but if tea tree oil has worked for you in the past, then this might work for you as well.

I think the packaging is super cute and makes my shower experience a tiny bit more special.

Overall Opinion

[rating=5]

I think it’s a good, fairly-priced product and would likely work well for those with non-sensitive combination/oily and acne prone skin who are looking for a more natural skincare routine.