This Cleansing Tool Tells You How Old Your Skin Really Is

It’s all very well thinking your skin looks and feels good, but how can you really tell what’s going on inside and if it’s as healthy as you think it is? Previously, you’d have to see your dermatologist to find out, but advanced skincare specialists, Foreo, have taken that hassle away with their latest piece of tech.

While we’ve always been fans of Foreo’s cleansing devices – their silicon cleansing brushes use T-sonic pulsations to clean deep into pores – their newest addition to the family is on a whole new level of clever. The Foreo Fofo, $89 (we’re not sure where the name came from), is the smartest cleansing device around, with two tiny ‘smart skin sensors’ on the back of the device that measure your skin’s moisture levels and skin age. It then scores your skin (out of 100) and personalizes a cleansing routine for your skin type. Bonus points because it comes in six colors!

How it works: All you need to do is download the FOREO For You app, then fill in a few questions about your skin, before syncing the device (in 5 seconds via Bluetooth) with your app. Now for the fun bit… You’re ready to measure your skin using the sensors. Hold it to your cheeks, forehead, and nose, and it will ‘read’ your skin and give you a rating, plus your personalized cleansing routine. The cleansing routine syncs automatically to your device, and the programme indicates to move to a new area of your face with a pause in T-Sonic pulsations.

First steps:

Next steps and skin testing:

Results:

The results above: The left results show someone with ‘normal skin,’ age 22, who exercises regularly, while the results on the right show someone with ‘oily skin,’ age 27, and a non-exerciser who drinks a lot of water.

Depending on your results, your cleansing routine could be anything from 10 seconds on each area (left cheek, right cheek, nose, forehead) to maybe just 10 seconds on your cheeks and chin, and 20 seconds on your nose. The app also gives you an animated graphic showing you exactly how to move the Fofo around these different areas – using it is foolproof!

Does it really work: We tested two devices by using the skin sensor measuring tool on different skin types around the office, and we all got different results! So far, so good. Of course, the point of the tool isn’t just to find out the hydration levels of your skin, it’s to provide you with a tailored cleansing routine that helps improve your skin – the dream, of course, is to get 100/100 and 100% moisture levels (which btw, no one did!).

We used the Fofo for a month (we can’t say we did it twice a day religiously, but we did use it nearly every day for a month) and we did see a considerable difference. Each week, we checked in with our skin using the sensor test, and while in the first week there was no change, our skin ‘score’ gradually increased, and we were given different cleansing routines to match.

What we thought: The Fofo definitely cleanses the skin on a deeper level! The personalized routine means you’ll concentrate on cleansing the areas that need it most, while the areas that perhaps lack hydration are given less cleansing, to not dry out the skin further. We were also happy to note that after one month of use, not only was our skin incredibly soft and less congested, the 2+ years the Fofo gave one of us as the initial skin reading, decreased to +0 years – now those are results we can get on board with. We also love the cute, compact size, which makes it easy to use and take traveling.

Our tips: Start your cleansing routine by massaging an oil cleanser onto your face for two minutes, using your fingers, then rinse away. Next, add a dollop of gel cleanser onto your Fofo, then follow your bespoke Fofo routine. When we can be bothered, after using the Fofo on our face, we turn it on again and use it on our neck as well (in gentle upwards motions, obvs).

The verdict: At $89, this is half the price of the Foreo Luna, but we find the Fofo much more useful, and the size of the cleansing pads are a very similar size. If you’re in need of a new cleansing device, then this is a great option at a mid-range price. We did, however, read some reviews online that said the batteries went quickly, but we’re still yet to have a problem, and you can also replace the batteries (two AAA batteries). For us, it’s our new fave Foreo cleansing device, and we’re not going to stop using it anytime soon.

Shop it here.