Centella asiatica (Gotu kola)

Centella asiatica grows in the damp regions of southern and south-eastern Asia. Skincare knows it by three names, which is the first source of confusion: cica is the shorthand Korean skincare brought with it, gotu kola comes from Ayurvedic and Chinese tradition, and Indian pennywort is the common English name. It is one and the same plant.

Korean skincare is what made it widely known, where it became almost a synonym for caring for skin that is easily provoked. The leaf extract is what is used; a label will show Centella asiatica leaf extract, or the names of individual compounds isolated from the plant.

The difference between a whole extract and an isolate is worth noting. An extract carries the whole mixture the plant offers and tends to be gentler; an isolate is more concentrated and behaves more predictably. Neither is automatically better — it depends on what the product is meant to do.

In a cleanser, the extract makes more sense. Cleansing is the step that should take as little as possible from the skin, and botanical ingredients round out the conditioning character of the formula so that no tightness is left behind. That, incidentally, is the quickest test of any cleanser: if skin feels tight afterwards, it is not a good one, whatever the label says.

In the No1. Two Phase Cleanser, centella joins the botanical composition alongside soapwort and ginkgo; with them work rice and coconut cleansing amino acids, AHA and PHA acids, and chlorophyll. A konjac sponge comes with the product, completing the cleansing mechanically — gently, and without grit.