Aside from added fragrance and stabilizing and binding agents, the ingredients in Noxzema's Deep Cleansing Cream include water, soybean oil, linseed oil, camphor, eucalyptus, and menthol, per SkinCarisma. Each of these ingredients has a purpose that dermatologists say can and do help heal and improve skin (via Byrdie). Linseed oil is fatty and improves hydration, while strengthening the skin barrier. Soybean oil is high in fatty acids and antioxidants. Camphor decreases inflammation and reduces pain. And menthol, the ingredient responsible for that cool tingle, improves blood flow and is used in after-sun creams to ease burning. Eucalyptus also contributes to that cool tingle and the strong smell, plus it cleanses pores while acting as a natural antiseptic and anti-inflammatory.
So if you're not sensitive to the ingredients, is good old super-cheap Noxzema as effective as some of those pricey serums we've all been using? Very possibly. HuffPost writer Dana Oliver swears her grandmother, who not only used the cold cream every night of her adult life but slept with it on and rinsed in the morning (not what the directions suggest), has the most beautiful and supple skin a woman in her 90s could hope for. In fact, Oliver tried her grandmother's routine for a week and reports that aside from having to wash her pillowcases a lot, her skin displayed a new dewiness and reduced dark spots and discolorations. Sounds like our grandmothers may have been onto something.
