COSRX

COSRX Salicylic Acid Daily Gentle Cleanser

Name: COSRX Salicylic Acid Daily Gentle Cleanser
Brand: COSRX

Ingredient analysis and how the ad lines read

Read on 2026-09-05

Official page (Korean)

What is this product?

COSRX Salicylic Acid Daily Gentle Cleanser is a 150ml wash whose real character is not the acid in its name but the soap under it: positions 3 to 6 of the 24-ingredient list are 미리스틱애씨드, 스테아릭애씨드, 포타슘하이드록사이드 and 라우릭애씨드, a fatty acid trio plus alkali that makes potassium soap inside the tube and cannot sit below neutral pH, a figure COSRX never publishes anyway, along with any ingredient concentration. 살리실릭애씨드 is genuinely there, 14th with no amount given, but an alkaline wash pushes it toward its water-soluble salt and it only touches skin for tens of seconds, so expect surface smoothing during the wash rather than pore work; 흰버드나무껍질수 at 10 is willow bark water, not a second BHA, and 리모넨 is printed on its own line beside 티트리잎오일 and 레몬껍질오일 and flagged as a fragrance allergen, so this declares allergens even though it lists no 향료. Good for oily and combination skin that likes a soap wash, and one to skip if you are dry, sensitive, barrier-damaged or reactive to essential oils.

What makes it different?

Two things separate it, and one is a warning. First, it is a saponified soap base wearing the word 젠틀, on a shelf where rivals either build an amino-acid or betaine system and advertise 약산성, or build a soap and say so in the name; here the fatty acid and hydroxide pair are printed among the top six entries, so nothing has to be inferred. Second, it names salicylic acid on the front and really carries it, which makes it a clean lesson that a BHA's environment matters as much as its presence: an acid that needs to stay undissociated and oil-loving is placed in the one base that guarantees it will not.

What is in it?

The full ingredient list as the brand publishes it, in the printed order. Each name links to what we know about that ingredient.

This brand publishes its ingredient list in Korean only. Names below are the matching INCI names from the Korean Cosmetic Association ingredient dictionary.

Key ingredientWorth a closer look

Ingredients with no mark are ones we found nothing notable about, and when marks overlap on one ingredient we show the caution first.

We could not place these in the list above: Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) Leaf Oil, Citrus Limon (Lemon) Peel Oil, Polysorbate 80, PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Glycol Distearate, Myristic Acid, Salicylic Acid

Did the ad claims hold up?

We checked 4 lines this product advertises against the ingredient list and public documents. One of them holds up. The rest are only partly right or have nothing behind them.

Claims translated from Korean, originals preserved.