Pregame: The Pre-Cleanse Melting Balm That Changes How You Wash Your Face
Kasey Bennett, FNP-BCLet's talk about the most skipped step in skincare: the first cleanse. Most people wash their face once, at night, with whatever face wash is closest to the sink, and call it a day. But if you're wearing makeup, SPF, or you live in a city with the humidity and pollution levels of Nashville, one cleanse isn't doing the job you think it's doing.
That's where Pregame comes in. It's our new pre-cleanse melting balm, built to be the first step in a proper double cleanse, and it's genuinely one of the more satisfying products we've put our name on. It starts as a solid balm, melts into a silky oil the second it hits your palms, and dissolves makeup, SPF, and the day's grime without stripping your skin barrier in the process. Here's what it is, how it works, and why we built it the way we did.
What Double Cleansing Actually Does (and Why Most People Skip It)
Double cleansing means exactly what it sounds like: an oil-based cleanse first, followed by a water-based cleanser second. The logic is simple chemistry. Makeup, SPF, sebum, and pollution particles are largely oil-soluble, meaning a water-based cleanser alone has to work overtime to break them down. Oil, on the other hand, binds to oil. A proper pre-cleanse dissolves those oil-soluble impurities on contact, so your second cleanser, like our Fresh AF daily gentle papaya enzyme cleanser, isn't fighting an uphill battle just to get your skin clean, and it doesn't need to be as aggressive or stripping to do so.
This matters more than most people realize. When you skip the oil step, your regular cleanser has to pick up the slack, which often means more surfactants, more scrubbing, and more stripping of the very lipids your skin barrier needs to stay hydrated and calm. We see this play out constantly with Nashville patients who come in with tight, reactive, or flaky skin and swear they're "cleansing enough." Often they're cleansing too hard, not too little.
Meet Pregame: A Melting Balm, Not Just Another Oil Cleanser
Pregame is formulated as a solid balm rather than a liquid or gel oil cleanser, and that's intentional. In balm form, the product stays put on dry hands and warms into a lightweight, silky oil the moment it makes contact with your skin. That texture shift is what makes it feel more like a small ritual than a chore, and it's also what makes it so effective at melting through makeup, sunscreen, and the invisible layer of pollution and oil that builds up over a day.
We designed Pregame to be gentle enough for all skin types, including sensitive, dry, and reactive skin. It's non-irritating by design, which means it's doing the work of a deep, thorough cleanse without the tightness, redness, or that squeaky-clean-but-secretly-damaged feeling a lot of "clean-feeling" cleansers leave behind. If your skin barrier is already compromised, whether from retinoids, in-office treatments, Nashville summer humidity swings, or just a rough patch, Pregame is formulated to condition and support it rather than fight against it.
The Science Behind Pregame's Ingredients
We don't add ingredients to a formula because they sound nice on a label. Every ingredient in Pregame is there for a specific job.
A Nourishing Oil Blend: Safflower Seed, Sunflower, Rosehip, and Camellia Seed Oil
Pregame's oil blend is built around safflower seed oil, sunflower oil, rosehip oil, and camellia seed oil, all of which are naturally rich in linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid your skin barrier relies on. Linoleic acid is a key structural component of the lipids that hold your skin barrier together, and research on topical plant oils has shown that linoleic acid-rich oils can help support barrier repair and reduce inflammation, which is part of why this blend is particularly beneficial for dry, dehydrated, or compromised skin.¹ In practice, that means this oil blend isn't just melting away the day's buildup, it's actively leaving your barrier better supported than a standard makeup remover would.
Shea and Cocoa Butter
Shea and cocoa butter are the skin-conditioning lipids doing double duty in Pregame. They help dissolve makeup and excess sebum on contact, while also coating the skin in a moisturizing, comfort-supporting layer that keeps the cleanse from feeling drying, even on skin that's already sensitized. This is the difference between a balm that removes your makeup and a balm that removes your makeup and leaves your skin feeling smoother than when you started.
Vitamins C and E
Pregame also includes a blend of vitamin C and vitamin E, two fat-soluble antioxidants that work well together topically. Vitamin C plays a well-documented role in skin health, supporting collagen synthesis and offering antioxidant protection against environmental stress, while vitamin E is one of the most studied lipid-soluble antioxidants in dermatology, helping neutralize free radicals before they can contribute to visible skin damage.²³ Because Pregame is oil-based, these fat-soluble vitamins are delivered directly into the lipid layer of your skin rather than sitting on the surface, which is part of why oil-based antioxidant delivery tends to be more effective than water-based formulas for this particular job.
Who Pregame Is For
Short answer: everyone. Pregame is formulated for all skin types, but it's especially well suited to patients who deal with dryness, dehydration, sensitivity, or a skin barrier that's currently compromised, whether from over-exfoliation, retinoid use, dry winter air, or Nashville's swing from humid summers to dry, heated winters indoors. If you wear makeup or SPF daily (and you should be wearing SPF daily), Pregame gives you a legitimate first step instead of relying on your regular cleanser to do a job it wasn't built for.
Why Pharmaceutical-Grade Actually Matters
You'll hear us say "pharmaceutical grade" a lot, and we want to be specific about what that means, because it's not just marketing language.
Pharmaceutical-grade skincare refers to products formulated and manufactured to a higher standard of purity, potency, and quality control than typical over-the-counter or "medical-grade" retail products. In practice, that means a few concrete things: ingredients are sourced and tested for purity, active concentrations are formulated to be therapeutically meaningful rather than just listed on a label, formulas are manufactured in facilities held to stricter quality and consistency standards, and there's tighter oversight of stability and contamination control from batch to batch. Cosmetic-grade products sold at a drugstore or big-box retailer aren't held to those same manufacturing or purity standards, which is a big part of why two products can list a similar-sounding ingredient and perform completely differently on your skin.
Every product we carry at Hi, Finch, including Pregame, is held to this pharmaceutical-grade standard. That's a deliberate choice we make as a Nashville medical practice, not just a retail shop that happens to sell skincare. We want the products sitting on your bathroom counter to be formulated with the same rigor as the treatments we provide in-office, because your at-home routine is doing a huge amount of the work between your visits with us.
How to Use Pregame in Your Routine
Using Pregame is simple. Take a small amount of the solid balm between dry hands and let it warm and melt into an oil. Massage it over dry skin, focusing on areas with makeup, SPF, or visible buildup, and let it dissolve everything for 30 to 60 seconds. Rinse with warm water, or remove with a warm, damp washcloth, then follow immediately with Fresh AF, our daily gentle papaya enzyme cleanser, for step two of your double cleanse. The papaya enzymes in Fresh AF gently help clear away any last trace of residue and buildup without over-scrubbing, which is exactly the kind of second step a well-prepped, pre-cleansed face needs. Use Pregame once a day, at night, before the rest of your routine.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Pregame safe for sensitive or acne-prone skin?
Yes. Pregame is formulated to be non-irritating and non-disruptive to the skin barrier, and its oil blend is chosen specifically to support compromised or reactive skin. Many patients with acne-prone skin also do well with oil cleansing, since balanced, barrier-supportive oils can help regulate sebum rather than triggering more of it, though your provider can help you tailor your full routine at your next visit.
Will an oil-based balm clog my pores?
Not with this formula. Pregame's oil blend is selected to be lightweight and quickly rinseable, and it's designed to lift and remove pore-clogging debris, like makeup, SPF, and sebum, rather than leave a heavy residue behind.
Do I still need my regular cleanser if I use Pregame?
Yes. Pregame is a pre-cleanse, meaning it's step one of a double cleanse, not a replacement for your regular cleanser. Follow it with Fresh AF, our daily gentle papaya enzyme cleanser, to fully rinse away any remaining residue and finish the job.
Can I use Pregame if I wear SPF every day?
Absolutely, and we'd encourage it. SPF, especially mineral or water-resistant formulas, can be difficult to fully remove with a water-based cleanser alone. Pregame is built to dissolve SPF completely so it's not sitting on your skin overnight.
How often should I use Pregame?
Once daily, in the evening, is generally the right rhythm for most patients, since that's when you're removing the full day's buildup of makeup, SPF, and environmental exposure. If you don't wear makeup or SPF on a given day, you can still use it, though some patients choose to save it for days they need a more thorough first cleanse.
Ready to make Pregame part of your routine? Book a consultation at hifinch.com and we'll help you build a full regimen around it, or DM us @hi_finch with any questions before you dive in.
