Boscia Purifying Cleansing Gel

I have a 50mL/1.7fl oz. travel sized as well as a full size 150mL/5fl oz. bottles of Boscia Purifying Cleansing Gel. The travel size came from the Boscia's Best set I bought last year and the full size is a freebie that came with the Surprise Beauty Bag event that ran just this past July. This is a sulfate-free deep cleansing gel that's unscented and is without any colorant.

The Boscia's Best set includes travel sizes of this Purifying Cleansing Gel 50mL/1.7fl oz., Oil-free Daily Hydration SPF15 and Night Recharging Moisture 15mL/0.5fl oz. each, Enlivening Amino-AG Eye Treatment 7mL/0.2fl oz., and Green Tea Blotting Linen 25 sheets.

The Surprise Beauty Bag event is pretty much identical to the Surprise Beauty Box event that ran over the holiday season of 2012. This time, I bought another bottle of Makeup-Breakup Cool Cleansing Oil since I very much enjoyed it, Tsubaki Beauty Oil 50mL/1.7fl oz. which I've been curious about since it came out, and some more of the Blotting Linen that I appreciate. For the Beauty Bag itself I got the full sizes of this Purifying Cleansing Gel which I ended up giving to my friend A. who was game to try it, another Smoothing Facial Polish which went to my sister, Clear Complexion Treatment which went to my brother, Restorative Night Moisture Cream which went to my mum, and I ended up only keeping the Intensifying Moisture Pack, which I'm looking forward to try ^.^

I finished the travel size of this cleanser and didn't like it at all (I hope A. won't hate it too much either :X). So, the sulfate-free bit. Sulfate is a common surfactant and foaming agent used in many many commercial toiletry products. So when I think of sulfate-free products (cleansers, shampoos, etc.), I think little to no foam (Anthony Logistics Glycolic Facial Cleanser doesn't foam at all!) and a milder "squeaky clean" feeling because they aren't supposed to be stripping. I did read the instructions on the back of the bottle as well as online that I am to create a lather with this cleanser during washing, but I didn't expect the mad foaming action that left my skin squeaking like a rubber duckie after rinsing! What bothered me most was that my skin immediately felt taut and dry even in the shower! As you can guess, stepping out of the shower meant flaking like a croissant!

I understand this is a "deep cleansing" gel. However, I don't believe deep cleansing is synonymous with deep frying my skin, though unfortunately this is exactly what I've experienced with every deep cleanser so far. So when I found a deep cleansing gel that's sulfate free, my hopes were that it wouldn't be as harsh and drying. But nope, not the case with this Boscia cleanser and I am thoroughly disappointed to find there's not much difference between this sulfate-free cleanser and every other sulfate-ful cleansers out there, all equally harsh and drying. Do not recommend unless you can try a sample first.