Best Body Wash
Body wash should be one of the first things you switch out when you first start your clean beauty journey. Why? Because you use it almost every day, and your skin is your largest organ. Let’s take care of your skin by treating it right with the best natural body wash with nourishing ingredients.
Pin this image for later!
This post contains affiliate links. You can learn more here.
What is The Best Natural Body Wash?
Ideally, the best natural body wash will be free of toxic or questionable substances. In their place, you’ll find ingredients that are recognizable or easy to pronounce. But I know that it’s not that easy for everyone to see.
There are several ingredients you’ll want to avoid when buying a new, natural body wash. The most popular ones are:
- Parabens—You can find them on ingredient labels with a big word in front of it, like propylparaben. They are a preservative you can find in almost any beauty product, and mimic estrogen when absorbed into your skin, thus throwing off your hormones.
- Phthalates—Used primarily to soften plastics to make them more malleable. They are especially dangerous for small children because they are an endocrine disruptor, which can affect the body as it’s developing.
- Fragrance—A sneaky loophole used by companies to keep their fragrance ingredients a trade secret. This one word can be a cover-up for hundreds of toxic ingredients!
- Triclosan—An extremely tough cleaning agent that has been proven to cause skin irritation, and even create stronger strains of bacteria. It has been banned in every country except the U.S.
- Sulfates—Another abrasive substance that gives a product its lathering quality. It’s not as dangerous as triclosan, but it is known to cause skin irritation and sensitivity. It’s also a known endocrine disruptor.
Which Body Wash is Paraben-Free?
I know it seems simple enough to keep an eye out for parabens on ingredients lists. But shouldn’t you be able to trust a label when it says “paraben-free?” Unfortunately, the answer is no, and the reason why is so infuriating!
Remember that fragrance loophole I spoke about in the last section of this article? It’s possible that companies can put parabens (or any other toxic ingredient, for that matter) in the fragrance ingredient list and still claim that it’s free of that substance!
You see, companies are only required to disclose ingredients that are not a part of what makes up a product’s fragrance. So it’s perfectly legal for a company to say that a product is “paraben-free” and still have it in the fragrance.
The bottom line: If you see a product that say it’s free of any toxic ingredients but see fragrance on the label, they’re probably lying to you! That’s why I automatically turn down trying a product if I see “fragrance” on the ingredient list. We deserve to know what we’re putting on our bodies!
What is the Safest Body Wash to Use?
The good news is there’s no one “super safe” body wash one the market. There are several! And I’m going to take you through the pros and cons of some of my favorites for each skin type. I don’t have particularly sensitive skin, so I’ve seen a lot of natural body wash over the years and I can tell you with certainty which ones are worth buying.
Best Natural Body Wash for Dry Skin| Beauty by Earth Lavender Citrus Body Wash
If you suffer from dry skin, chances are pretty high that you also suffer from sensitive skin. All those sulfates and other nasty ingredients have made your skin overly sensitive to your body wash!
Let’s get things back into balance with the Lavender Citrus Body Wash from Beauty by Earth. It’s designed for all skin types, with the sensitive especially in mind. Beauty by Earth is a fantastic company for skin care products that I love to recommend to people.
The lavender in this body wash will help soothe irritated skin while giving some much-needed moisture. And you won’t find anything nasty on this ingredient label! This natural body wash is meant to restore the delicate microbiome of your skin so it can live its best life. You might be surprised just how thirsty your skin was after trying this body wash!
Best Natural Body Wash for Eczema | Aleavia Orchid Body Cleanse
Eczema can be a tough skin condition to deal with, mostly because it’s so annoying to feel like your need to scratch at that dead skin all day. I always had red bumps on my forearms as a kid, which I was told was a form of eczema. But this body wash helped me a ton.
Fast forward to now, and the bumps are virtually gone! What did I do to fix it? I switched to nontoxic beauty products and chose a healing body wash to rebuild my skin’s delicate microbiome.
Aleavia Skin Care is a unique brand of body wash because their advertising is geared toward creating a healthy microbiome and healing skin that’s undergone chemical exposure for who knows how long! I think this is amazing because not many people understand the importance of their skin’s microbiome.
Your skin’s microbiome is all of its good bacteria that work in harmony to give you glowing, healthy, clear skin. Toxic chemicals like sulfates can throw off your microbiome, which creates dry skin, eczema, you name it.
Aleavia’s Orchid body wash is perfect for those who have dry, sensitive, angry skin that need nourishment and healing. You might be surprised at how messed up your skin was when you make the switch!
The Best Natural Moisturizing Body Wash | Plant Apothecary Be Well Body Wash
Another brand that I love to recommend to people is Plant Apothecary. They make fun body washes that are completely natural with whole ingredients. They’re more on the aromatherapy side of things with their benefits, but their Be Well body wash is all about skin wellness.
There are plenty of citrus essential oils in this body wash that will help wake you up and build up your immunity, both inside and out! Seriously, it will help to strengthen your skin’s barrier to prevent microbes from entering and causing irritation or infection.
I put this recommendation for the best natural body wash in the moisturizing category because it’s got a honey-like texture without all those harsh chemicals, which is pretty rare. This body wash will lather up nicely and leave your skin feeling clean and moisturized.
Best Natural Body Wash for Men | Dr. Squatch Bar Soap
This was a hard one to find! When I wrote my post all about the best natural shampoo for men, I was so disappointed to find next to nothing. Not to mention the fact that greenwashing within men’s products was even worse than women’s!
But I did find this diamond in the rough that gets us to a T! Dr. Squatch is a brand dedicated to bringing actually natural men’s products that still have a “manly” scent. And their body wash doesn’t disappoint!
Okay, okay, so they only sell bar soap, but I can’t not mention this brand for men’s shower products! They have a bar soap for just about every scent and skin type. But their most popular soap has to be their Pine Tar bar soap. It’s known for its manly scent that won’t cause skin irritation.
And if you’re curious, the smell isn’t obnoxious at all! It’s like a tone-down, tolerable manly scent. I still can’t stand most man scents because they give me a headache. But Dr. Squatch is definitely a company made for both men and women’s preferences.
Final Thoughts on the Best Natural Body Wash
Whatever skin type you have, switching to literally any of these natural body washes will be huge for your skin’s health. It’s been suffering long enough with all the toxic stuff from the shower, it’s time to give it a break!
I personally have been using bar soap for a while because it’s zero-waste and lasts me forever, but I can confidently say that I’ve tried and loved all of these recommendations. With the exception of the men’s products, but they get my husband’s seal of approval so we’re all good.
Finding a natural body wash can be tricky, but all it takes is some research and basic understanding of reading ingredient labels. I’ve already done the research for you, so all that’s left on your end is to pick out a body wash and learn about some of its ingredients! You’ll be doing a great thing for your health long-term.
Which natural body wash is your favorite? Let me know in the comments below!
