Best Korean face cleansers for oily skin in Australia

By The Bare Seoul Desk · Published July 2026

Oily skin's most common cleansing mistake is over-washing. A tight, squeaky-clean face feels like the goal, but stripping the skin of its oils tends to backfire: skin reads the dryness as a shortage and makes more oil to compensate, and a harsh, alkaline wash can rough up the skin's protective barrier on the way through. What oily skin wants is a wash that lifts off sunscreen, sweat and the day's sebum without leaving it tight — done gently, morning and night. We read the ingredient lists and picked three Korean cleansers that do that job: a low-pH gel for the daily wash, an oil cleanser that dissolves the sebum and sunscreen that plain water can't shift, and a salicylic-acid wash for the days clogged pores need more.

Best overall

COSRX

Low pH Good Morning Gel Cleanser

4.4

A low-pH gel that cleans oily skin without stripping it, so it won't set off the rebound oil a harsh foam can. The gentle daily default.

What we like

Low pH — no tight, squeaky finish
Light gel, rinses clean, no film

Keep in mind

BHA + tea tree too low to treat breakouts
A gel can feel light if skin is also dry

Around $12–$16 AUD · 150ml Check current price →

Best for breakouts

Some By Mi

AHA-BHA-PHA 30 Days Miracle Acne Clear Foam

4.0

A foaming wash with salicylic acid and lower-strength AHA/PHA, aimed at clogged pores and blackheads. Use it a few times a week.

What we like

Salicylic acid works inside oil-filled pores
Centella and calamine calm as it cleans

Keep in mind

Carries peppermint oil, which can irritate
Overused, it can leave even oily skin dry

Around $20–$25 AUD · 100ml Check current price →

Best cleansing oil

Anua

Heartleaf Pore Control Cleansing Oil

4.3

A light oil that melts sunscreen and the day's sebum, then rinses clean without a film. The oil-cleanse half of a nightly double cleanse.

What we like

Dissolves sebum and SPF, then rinses clean
Light — no heavy, greasy after-feel

Keep in mind

First cleanse only; needs a water wash
Isn't fragrance-free, despite the gentle pitch

Around $22–$27 AUD · 200ml Check current price →

Where it fits in the routine

At a glance

Feature	COSRX Low pH Good Morning Gel Cleanser	Some By Mi AHA-BHA-PHA 30 Days Miracle Acne Clear Foam	Anua Heartleaf Pore Control Cleansing Oil
Type	Low-pH gel cleanser	Salicylic-acid foaming cleanser	Cleansing oil (first cleanse)
Where it fits	Second cleanse — the daily morning and night wash	Second cleanse — a few times a week	First cleanse — to melt off sunscreen, makeup and sebum
Hero ingredient	Low-pH formula (with BHA + tea tree oil)	Salicylic acid, with AHA + PHA	Light plant oils (heartleaf-led pitch)
Size	150ml	100ml	200ml
Skin types	Oily and combination; suits most	Oily, congested, acne-prone	Oily, combination, acne-prone
Fragrance	Contains tea tree oil	Contains peppermint oil	Yes — contains added fragrance

What to look for in a cleanser for oily skin

Oily doesn’t mean dirty, and it doesn’t call for the harshest wash on the shelf. Two ideas do most of the work.

First, gentleness. A cleanser near skin’s own slightly acidic pH cleans without the tight, stripped finish a high-pH foam leaves — and that matters more for oily skin than it sounds, because a face that’s been scrubbed dry often answers by making more oil to make up the difference. A low-pH gel is the sensible daily default.

Second, oil dissolves oil. Sunscreen and the sebum an oily face makes through the day are both oil-based, and a water-based wash pushes them around more than it lifts them off. An oil cleanser melts both, then rinses away — which is why oily skin, of all types, gets the most out of a first cleanse at night. Those two steps together are the double cleanse an oily-skin routine is built on.

Past the daily wash, one active earns a place: salicylic acid, oil-soluble and able to work inside a clogged pore. Save it for an occasional wash — it’s too much for every day — more on that below.

Best overall: COSRX Low pH Good Morning Gel Cleanser

Best for the daily wash — a gentle, low-pH gel that cleans oily skin without stripping it.

This is the wash that taught a lot of people why a cleanser’s pH matters. It’s a clear gel that foams a little, pitched at roughly the pH of skin itself, so it lifts a day’s oil without the squeaky finish that sets off the rebound oil. For everyday use on oily and combination skin, that’s most of what you want from a cleanser.

The label is worth a read, too. It names a BHA — salicylic acid, the same active that does the heavy lifting in the Some By Mi below — and a little tea tree oil, but both sit at levels too low to exfoliate or clear a breakout. Treat it as a mild daily wash, which is what it’s good at, and leave the pore-clearing to that salicylic option. It’s the least expensive of the three by a clear margin, too, so trying it costs you next to nothing. There’s a full COSRX Low pH Good Morning review if you want the long version.

Best for breakouts: Some By Mi AHA-BHA-PHA 30 Days Miracle Acne Clear Foam

Best for oily skin that’s also congested — blackheads, clogged pores and the odd deeper spot.

When oily tips into congested, a plain gentle wash won’t keep up on its own, and this is the one to add. It’s a foaming cleanser dosed with salicylic acid alongside lower-strength AHA and PHA. Salicylic acid is oil-soluble, which lets it get down into a sebum-filled pore instead of only working on the surface; DermNet’s page on salicylic acid describes how it loosens the dead cells inside the follicle and helps break down blackheads. Centella and calamine round the formula out to calm skin as it cleans.

Two caveats keep it out of the daily slot. The acids in a rinse-off wash only get seconds on the skin, so this is a few-times-a-week job that sits alongside your everyday cleanser; it doesn’t replace it. Used too often, it can leave even oily skin dry and tight. It also carries peppermint oil, an essential oil that can sting or irritate, so patch-test if your skin is at all reactive.

Best cleansing oil: Anua Heartleaf Pore Control Cleansing Oil

Best for taking sunscreen and a day’s sebum off at night, before your water cleanse.

Oil cleansing has a reputation with oily skin that it doesn’t deserve. The idea is to use oil to dissolve oil: sunscreen and the sebum an oily face makes are both oil-based, and this light cleansing oil melts them off, then emulsifies with a splash of water and rinses clean without the greasy film cheaper oils leave behind.

Used as the first step of a nightly double cleanse — oil first, then one of the water washes above — it’s the step that shifts the day off oily skin, so your gel cleanser isn’t left smearing sunscreen around. Two things to know: it’s a first cleanse, so it doesn’t replace a water wash, and despite the gentle, heartleaf-led pitch it isn’t fragrance-free. The heartleaf itself barely registers in something you rinse straight off. There’s a full Anua Heartleaf Cleansing Oil review if you want the detail.

Which one’s right for you?

For most oily skin, the COSRX Low pH gel is the whole answer for the morning wash and the water step at night — gentle, cheap, and hard to overdo. If you wear sunscreen or makeup, put the Anua oil in front of it at night, so the day is dissolved off before the gel step. And keep the Some By Mi for the stretches when your skin is congested: a couple of washes a week to clear the pores, then back to the gentle stuff.

Our verdict

The thread running through all three is restraint. Oily skin does better with gentle, well-chosen cleansing than with the strongest wash it can stand. The COSRX gel covers the daily job for the least money and is the one to start with; pair it with the Anua oil at night if you wear sunscreen, and bring in the Some By Mi only when your pores need clearing. Clean the day off that way and you give your skin no reason to make more oil to replace what a harsher wash would have scrubbed away.