Round Lab 1025 Dokdo Cleanser review: a mild daily foam for oily to balanced skin
Updated October 22, 2026
Round Lab 1025 Dokdo Cleanser is gentle enough for everyday use on oily, combination and balanced skin: it's a cream-to-foam wash built on mild coconut-derived surfactants, with no sulfates and no exfoliating acids in the ingredient list. If your skin is dry or easily irritated and feels tight after any foam, the Dokdo Cleansing Milk is the better pick, and on sunscreen or makeup days the Dokdo Cleansing Oil should go first.
At $11.99 for 150 ml at Sleepy Hello (checked October 2026), it's also one of the cheapest ways into the Dokdo line, and it's the natural partner for the Dokdo Toner if you already use it.
This is a researched review of current US brand and retailer information, checked October 2026. We haven't used or tested the cleanser. Texture descriptions are Round Lab's, and the buying advice comes from comparing formulas, directions, sizes and prices.
What's in the 1025 Dokdo Cleanser
The Round Lab 1025 Dokdo Cleanser comes in a 150 ml tube and is a water-rinse facial cleanser. Round Lab says it starts as a cream and turns into a dense, creamy foam once you add water, and it describes the formula as slightly acidic and unscented.
The first ten ingredients do most of the work:
Water, then sodium cocoyl isethionate, a mild coconut-derived surfactant (the cleansing agent) often used in creamy washes and gentle bars.
Glycerin (listed as glycerine), a humectant that keeps the rinse from feeling squeaky.
Sodium methyl cocoyl taurate, coco-betaine and potassium cocoyl glycinate, three more mild surfactants. The last one is an amino-acid type.
Potassium benzoate (a preservative), sodium chloride (salt, used as a thickener), polyquaternium-67 (a conditioning polymer that softens the after-feel) and potassium cocoate, a soap made from coconut fatty acids.
Citric acid comes next to adjust acidity. Further down are allantoin, panthenol, Ulleungdo deep sea water, beta-glucan, ceramide NP, three forms of hyaluronic acid (hyaluronic acid, hydrolyzed hyaluronic acid and sodium hyaluronate) and a run of amino acids. In a product you rinse off within a minute, those late ingredients are there for comfort; they won't hydrate the way a serum does.
Two label details are worth knowing. There are no sulfates, such as sodium lauryl sulfate, anywhere in the list. And while Round Lab calls the cleanser unscented and the list has no added fragrance, it does include chamomilla recutita (German chamomile) flower oil, an essential oil. That only matters if you avoid essential oils, but it is on the label.
Neither our product page nor the readable text of Round Lab's Korean product page (where the detailed panels are images) gives a pH number; Round Lab describes the formula only as slightly acidic. One European reseller quotes a pH of about 5 to 6, which fits that description, but we couldn't confirm the figure against a brand source.
Is Round Lab Dokdo Cleanser good?
Yes, for what it is: a plain, mild, inexpensive daily foam. The surfactant mix is the kind formulators choose when they want a creamy lather that rinses clean without a stripped feel, and Round Lab positions it for every skin type, including sensitive skin.
Where it's ordinary: no ingredient here does anything special. It won't exfoliate, it has no oil-control ingredient such as salicylic acid or clay, and the hyaluronic acid and ceramide story is a small part of a rinse-off formula. You're paying for a comfortable, dependable wash, and at about $0.08 per ml that's a fair price.
Our take: it's a sensible default if your current cleanser leaves your face tight or squeaky, and an easy add if you already like the Round Lab 1025 Dokdo Toner, 200 ml. It isn't the pick if you want your cleanser to do extra work on clogged pores.
Does the Dokdo Cleanser contain exfoliants?
No. The ingredient list has no AHA such as glycolic or lactic acid, no BHA (salicylic acid), no PHA, no enzymes and no scrub particles. Citric acid is technically an alpha hydroxy acid, but here it sits eleventh, after the surfactants, preservative and soap, which is where formulators use it to set acidity rather than to exfoliate.
That's part of why it works as a twice-daily wash: nothing in it builds up the way a daily acid cleanser can. If you want a mild exfoliating touch from the same line, the Dokdo Toner is where Round Lab put it. Its short list includes protease, an enzyme, alongside glycerin, betaine, panthenol and allantoin, and our Dokdo Toner review covers how it fits.
If you already use an exfoliating toner, pad or serum, a non-exfoliating cleanser like this one is the better partner. Stacking acids across several steps is a common reason a routine starts to sting.
Is Round Lab Dokdo Cleanser good for oily skin?
It's a good everyday wash for oily and combination skin, as long as you don't expect it to control oil on its own. Round Lab lists excess oil as a target concern, and a foaming cleanser with five surfactants in its top ten lifts sebum and daily grime well enough for most oily faces.
What it lacks is an oil-control or pore-focused ingredient. Oily, breakout-prone skin that wants salicylic acid in the wash step should compare a BHA cleanser instead; our COSRX Salicylic Acid Daily Gentle Cleanser review covers that style. Oily skin that simply dislikes the tight feel of stronger foams is exactly who the Dokdo Cleanser suits.
For combination skin, focus the foam on the oily T-zone and keep contact short on drier cheeks. Rinse well either way, including along the jaw and hairline.
How do you use Round Lab 1025 Dokdo Cleanser?
Round Lab's directions are three steps:
Dispense a small amount into wet hands and work it into a creamy foam.
Gently massage the foam over damp skin.
Rinse thoroughly with lukewarm water.
The brand doesn't give an amount beyond "a small amount", and it doesn't set a frequency. Because there are no acids or scrubs, morning and evening use is reasonable for most oily, combination and balanced skin. If your face feels tight after two washes a day, keep the cleanser for the evening and rinse with plain water in the morning.
At night, use this as a second cleanse rather than a makeup remover. Round Lab says it lifts makeup residue, which isn't the same as dissolving water-resistant sunscreen or long-wear foundation. On those days, start with the Dokdo Cleansing Oil on a dry face, then follow with the foam. On light-makeup days, dry or easily irritated skin can use the Dokdo Cleansing Milk on its own instead. Our double cleansing guide walks through the order.
After rinsing, pat dry and go straight to toner. The Dokdo Toner is the obvious partner if you like a matched line, at $12.99 for 200 ml.
Dokdo Cleanser vs Dokdo Cleansing Milk: which should you use?
Choose the foaming Dokdo Cleanser if your skin is oily, combination or balanced and you like a rinse-clean finish. Choose the Round Lab 1025 Dokdo Cleansing Milk, 200 ml if your skin is dry or easily irritated, or if you want one gentle step that also lifts light makeup and sunscreen.
They're built differently. The milk goes onto dry skin with dry hands; you massage it in, add a little water to emulsify, then rinse. Its list starts with water, ethylhexyl palmitate (an emollient ester), glycerin and decyl glucoside, a gentle plant-derived surfactant, followed by more emollients and arachidyl alcohol, a fatty alcohol. It carries five ceramides (NP, NS, AP, AS and EOP) with cholesterol and phytosphingosine, three forms of hyaluronic acid, panthenol and allantoin. Round Lab describes it as light, soft and creamy, low in acidity, and designed to leave skin feeling moisturized rather than tight.
The milk's list also includes rosemary leaf oil, bergamot fruit oil, lavandin oil (a lavender hybrid) and Virginia cedarwood (Juniperus virginiana) oil. If you avoid essential oils, that tips the choice toward the foam, which has only chamomile flower oil.
Price per ml is close. The foam is $11.99 for 150 ml (about $0.08 per ml) and the milk is $17.99 for 200 ml (about $0.09 per ml) at Sleepy Hello, checked October 2026. Our Korean cleansing milk guide compares the milk format more broadly.
What about the Round Lab 1025 Dokdo Cleansing Oil, 200 ml? It's a first cleanser, not a replacement for the foam. Round Lab's directions are two or three pumps onto a dry face, massaged over sunscreen and makeup, then a little water until it turns milky, then a thorough rinse. Its base is emollient esters plus evening primrose, meadowfoam, avocado, grape seed, canola and macadamia oils, and it lists bergamot and sage oils with limonene and linalool. At $18.99 for 200 ml (about $0.09 per ml), oil then foam is the full Dokdo double cleanse.
A simple way to choose:
Oily or combination skin, little or no makeup: the foam cleanser on its own.
Sunscreen or makeup days: the cleansing oil first, then the foam.
Dry or easily irritated skin, light makeup: the cleansing milk on its own.
Quick answers
Is Round Lab Dokdo Cleanser fungal acne safe?
Round Lab makes no fungal acne claim, so there's no brand-backed "safe" label. People who avoid certain ingredients for fungal acne (yeast-related bumps that a dermatologist can confirm) usually screen for plant oils, some esters and some fatty-acid derivatives. This list contains chamomile flower oil, caprylic/capric triglyceride and several coconut-derived surfactants, including potassium cocoate, and online ingredient checkers disagree about several of these. It's rinsed off quickly, but if you follow a strict avoidance list, compare it ingredient by ingredient, and see a dermatologist if you aren't sure what the bumps are.
Can you use the Dokdo Cleanser twice a day?
For most oily, combination and balanced skin, yes. It has no exfoliants and uses mild surfactants. If your skin feels tight by midday, drop the morning wash before you drop the product.
Is the Dokdo Cleanser unscented?
Round Lab calls it unscented, and the list includes no fragrance or parfum. It does include chamomile flower oil, which is worth knowing if you avoid essential oils.
Does it remove sunscreen and makeup?
It lifts light makeup residue and daily grime. For water-resistant sunscreen or full or long-wear makeup, use the Dokdo Cleansing Oil first, which Round Lab positions as a first cleanser for sunscreen and makeup. The Dokdo Cleansing Milk is for light makeup and sunscreen only.
Is it good for sensitive skin?
Round Lab positions it for every skin type, including sensitive skin, and the mild surfactants and lack of acids support that. Because skin reactions are individual, try any new cleanser on a small area for a few days before using it all over.
Compare three Korean face washes by their verified ingredients, cleansing role, and formula tradeoffs. Choose a comfortable fit for your everyday routine.
