When I was a teenager, I had acne and was self-conscience about the way I looked. I remember trying different types of cleansers, lotions, buff puff cleaning pads that exfoliated my skin, drugs perscribed by the dermatologist, and other things. Nothing much helped me back then and I’m so glad I finally grew out of it. In those days I would have loved to try the TAO Clean Aura Clean System Orbital Facial Brush & Cleaning Station and now that I’m an adult I was just as anxious to try it. Will the TAO Clean become part of my daily face cleaning regimen? Keep reading to find out.
What is the TAO Clean Aura Clean System Orbital Facial Brush & Cleaning Station?
The TAO Clean Aura Clean System Orbital Facial Brush & Cleaning Station is a two-piece face cleaning device that includes a charging base station that uses a dryer with a UV light to clean and sanitize the handheld orbital brush.
What’s in the box?
Aura Clean Orbital Facial brush handle
2 Aura Clean brush heads (Daily Care & Exfoliator)
Aura Clean Base Station
Charger
Instruction manual
Design and features
Is it just me, or does the TAO Clean Aura Clean System remind you of R2D2 or BB8? The TAO Clean is available in white or black and features a base that charges the wireless orbital face cleaning brush that rests on top.
The base has a power connection on the back and comes with a proprietary USB cable and an AC adapter.
The brush handle has a grippy rubber covering and two buttons on the top. The larger button is the power button which starts the spinning action and the other smaller button changes the mode from super clean mode to sensitive clean mode which is really just a slower and faster spin.
The brush handle also has a white LED on the top that pulses when the brush handle’s battery is low.
The TAO Clean comes with two brush heads which include a daily care head and an exfoliator head. Both brushes have soft short bristles, but the exfoliator head’s bristles are slightly stiffer. It’s recommended that you only use the exfoliator head once a week and the other head every day.
Attaching and removing the heads is easy. They just snap into the bottom of the brush handle.
Time to scrubba dub dub
The brush handle is completely waterproof, so you can run it under warm water to wet the bristles before you start washing your face. The face cleanser goes in the hole/depression in the center of the brush.
Once the brush has the cleanser, you just press it lightly against your face and press the power button to start the spinning action. You can glide the brush back and forth over a section of your face as the brush lifts dirt, oils and dead cells from your cheeks.
The TAO Clean has a built-in timer that provides a one-minute cleaning cycle that will vibrate the handle every 20 seconds to remind you to move to a different part of your face. So you would clean the left side of your face, the right side and then your forehead. After one minute has passed, the brush will automatically stop spinning.
When you are finished cleaning your face, you can run the brush under the water to clean the soap from the bristles.
Then you just place the handle and brush into the base. The LED on the front will begin pulsing in blue to let you know that it’s started the cleaning cycle which uses UV light and a dryer to sanitize and dry the brush so that it’s ready for the next time you wash your face. The LED on the front will turn white when the cleaning cycle has ended.
The base doesn’t have a bottom, which allows any drips to evaporate and air to circulate.
What I didn’t like
- The first time I tested the TAO Clean, the spinning brush splattered droplets of water and soap all over the mirror above my bathroom sink. Since the TAO is waterproof, I think it’s best to use it in the shower instead of at the sink. But of course, you would not place the base station in your shower since it has to be plugged into an outlet. That means you would need to remember to take it into the shower with you.
- I also didn’t like that it doesn’t lather as well as using a wash cloth.
- You have to find a place for it in your bathroom with an available electrical outlet for the base.
What I liked
- I could feel a difference after using the exfoliating brush head. My face felt smoother.
- Easy to use charging and cleaning base.
- Built-in timer.
Final thoughts
The TAO Clean Aura Clean System Orbital Facial Brush & Cleaning Station works as advertised. I have no complaints with the look, feel, and performance of the product. I can see how the spinning action of the brush head may clean better than a wash cloth. But I just don’t know if it’s worth $129 (at Amazon) when I can buy some exfoliating facial cleanser to use with a regular wash cloth.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by TAO Clean. Please visit their site for more info. If you order through the TAO Clean store, you can save 50% bringing the price down to $99 by using this link:
http://promo.taoclean.com/tao-clean-promotion-gadgeteer
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I take it this is like one of those Clarisonic brushes. My sister swears by hers, and my mother has one as well. I definitely noticed the smooth feeling on my skin, but unless it’s under 50 dollars.. I can just use a wash cloth. One day I hope to find a good sale on a Clarisonic one though. The Olay and cheaper brands, my sister said, don’t make your face feel as good.
I’m not familiar with Clarisonic. But I’m the same way as you. I don’t see a huge advantage over using a wash cloth when it comes to the price.
Just some tips for you. I have a Clarisonic myself and figured this out over time.
1. Be sure to wet the brush head first before putting any soap on the brush.
2. let the brush head drip excess water off before starting it. It should not be dripping water when you put it up to your face.
3. use foam type soap. I use a foaming soap from Clinque myself, but any type will work and just use a little bit.
4. Do not start the brush until it is sitting against your face. This will solve a lot of the spraying soap and water all over the place issues.
I like the fact that this brush has a nice holder with the charger built in. I have to keep the charger under my sink for the Clarisonic. I think this looks a bit neater to me. I also like the fact it cleans the head for you. I was one of the lucky ones and never had the teenage skin issues like a lot of folks. However, I do feel that the brush does a much better job that just using a washcloth (which I have to wash!) and leaves my skin much softer and ready to accept lotions afterwards. Plus the timer on the brush forces me to spend time in all areas of my face that I would probably neglect.
I was doing all your steps except for #3. I use a cleanser that doesn’t foam.
I can see how some people might like using this type of facial brush but I just didn’t like it all that much. It wasn’t any more convenient for me than using a wash cloth that I already have in the shower.
The LED light did not work on the one I bought