I'm going to say I don't subscribe to the notion that a cleanser - whether it's soap or detergent - can moisturize while it simultaneously cleans. This, so far as I'm concerned, is a marketing ploy. If something feels less drying, it's less cleansing. So you need to strive for balance. Now one of my favorite soaps, True Yardley's of London, is relatively drying - when juxtaposed against the US variety. But I moisturize after all my showers so it's no issue. II. Ever since my GF and I switched to bar soap exclusively our skin has been absolutely blemish free. III. Soap is just so nice and easy to use.
PS - I'll have to double check but I do believe I have a fairly high-priced facial cleanser whose cleansing agent is sodium cocoyl isethionate. It has a very herbal scent to it, and I never liked it. If you're interested, it's yours - shoot me a PM.
I actually clean my face with a home made oil cleanser. Oil cleansing sounds like the most insane thing ever, but it actually works. The thinking is that your body produces the oils to protect your skin, so when you strip them off your body just produces them even faster. The idea with oil cleansing is that the oil dissolves the gunk as well as soap (the reason soap works is that one end of the molecule is oil soluble). The castor oil can actually be drying (weird, but cool stuff) and the other oils are chosen from a small list of oils that make great moisturizers. It is pretty gross the first week as your pores are purged of all the gunk that's been trapped in them. If you're constantly on the prowl for the ladies, I wouldn't recommend starting with an oil cleanser. There are moisturizers that don't involve oils (like glycerin), which is how you moisturize without sacrificing the cleansing. Also, keep in mind that the moisturizers in lotions are just oils (and a few fatty alcohols and cationic surfactants) and the point is to swap them for the dirty oils you're removing. Trying to do too many things in one product does tend to produce a product that is mediocre at many things and good at none though. I just don't like my soaps to be too drying because it makes me itch like mad in the dry weather.
Yeh, I've experimented with OCM. Not a fan. In fact, I took it to another level - doing as the Ancients did. For about a week I'd oil my whole body then remove the oil manually via a towel. Mineral oil for this - not the Castor/EVOO combo that's recommended for the face. Did it remove dirt and debris? Absolutely. But it was entirely disgusting. II. The notion that the more one strips one's skin of its natural oils the more sebum one's body pumps out is false. And it's easy to prove its being so: wash yourself 20 times a day and see if your skin compensates for it.
