Body soap
Dove Sensitive Skin Beauty Bar
A synthetic bar based on sodium lauroyl isethionate, the mildest common bar cleanser in soap-chamber irritation tests. Fragrance-free, no sulfate cleansers, and pH balanced. Sold in every US drugstore and supermarket.
Worth knowing
- 14 ingredients and no fragrance. Most are the cleanser and fatty acids; two are chelators that keep the bar stable, and titanium dioxide makes it white.
Ingredients
Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate, Stearic Acid, Lauric Acid, Sodium Oleate, Water (Aqua), Sodium Isethionate, Sodium Stearate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Glycerin, Sodium Laurate, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Tetrasodium EDTA, Sodium Chloride, Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891).
What we ruled out
Perfumed shower gels with a long ingredient list. Sodium laureth sulfate plus parfum and listed fragrance allergens, with the rest being thickeners, pearlisers, and colour.
Antibacterial body or hand wash. No evidence it prevents illness better than plain soap, and the FDA removed 19 antibacterial actives (e.g. triclosan) from US consumer washes in 2016.
Amazon Basics 'sensitive skin' body wash. Sold as unscented and hypoallergenic, but a proposed US class action says it contains fragrance chemicals.
Also good
Sebamed Cleansing Bar. Soap-free and buffered to pH 5.5, and sold on Amazon US. It contains added fragrance and colorants, so Vanicream is the fragrance-free step-up here.
Dr. Bronner's Pure-Castile Bar, Baby Unscented. The simplest label of any good bar, but it's true soap, so it's alkaline (around pH 9 to 10) and strips skin oils. Good for hands and cleaning; too drying for many people as an everyday body soap.
Sources
- The soap chamber test: a new method for assessing the irritancy of soaps, Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 1(1):35-41 (1979)
- Cleansing without compromise: the impact of cleansers on the skin barrier and the technology of mild cleansing, Dermatologic Therapy 17 Suppl 1:16-25 (2004)
- The water barrier function of the skin in relation to the water content of stratum corneum, pH and skin lipids. The effect of alkaline soap and syndet on dry skin in elderly, non-atopic patients, Acta Dermato-Venereologica 68(4) (1988)
- Palmolive Milk & Honey Shower Gel, ingredients, Skinsort
- Antibacterial Soap? You Can Skip It, Use Plain Soap and Water, US Food and Drug Administration (2016)
- Sebamed Cleansing Bar 150g, ingredients and pH, Sebamed USA
- Dr. Bronner's Pure-Castile Bar Soap Baby (Unscented), ingredients, Skinsort
- Amazon 'Sensitive Skin' body wash targeted in class action, Law360