The 3 Best Natural Body Washes You Should Try
Natural is for everybody. Whether you have sensitive skin, dry skin, oily skin, or balanced skin, a natural body wash will always agree. Anybody washes that are sourced from organic, all-natural ingredients are created without all the chemical additives. Some examples of additives are fragrance, artificial dyes, sulfates, parabens, and microplastics that can potentially be the source for irritation, allergic reactions, dryness, and a damaged skin barrier causing dullness and premature aging.
The best all-natural body washes are products with a non-toxic element as the baseline -- the foundation of the product, and plant-based ingredients are then utilized for the active results.
Check out this list of the best baseline ingredients that are natural, non-toxic, not harmful to the environment, and can work some wonders for your skin.
Natural Body Washes
When you use all-natural, you can rest assured that there are no harsh chemicals you’ll be subjecting your body to. No artificial colorings or top-secret chemical fragrances, and nothing that’s going to mess with your pH balance or natural skin barrier.
Here are the top three when shopping all-natural:
#1 BAWDY Beauty
BAWDY Beauty cares about your skin and the environment so much they have introduced a body wash that lasts as long as five bottles of the average body wash would. The key? No water. It is a powder body wash that is water-activated, meaning everything inside the bottle is no filler, just active, clean beauty ingredients.
It is made nutrient-rich with seaweed and kaolin for a hydrating, nourishing, toning, and smoothing wash. With scents of summer florals to invigorate you and non-toxic ingredients safe for our marine friends, too.
Benefits of using BAWDY products:
- Sustainable
- Cruelty-free
- Non-toxic
- ISO certified fragrance
- Vegan
#2 Puracy
Puracy’s coconut vanilla body wash was formulated by Ph.D. chemists and is 99.4% natural, meaning plant-derived. Its pH-balanced formulas are gentle enough for even baby’s skin, strong enough for athletes, and even versatile enough to use on your pet! The brand also claims there are up to 60 uses per bottle. Its foundational baseline ingredient is coconut-oil cleanser and vegetable glycerin -- a plant-based skin softener.
Puracy is also taking strides to reduce its impact on the environment by rolling our refillable pouches, reusable glass bottles, and biodegradable formulas. They also tout not using any sulfates, which is the lathering agent that makes a body wash all sudsy. If you have sensitive or dry skin, sulfates can be harmful because they strip the skin’s surface of its natural oils that work to keep your skin hydrated.
- Cruelty-free
- Non-toxic
- Hypoallergenic
- Vegan
- Gluten-free
#3 Burt’s Bees
Burt’s Bees citrus ginger body wash is energizing; the perfect start to your day is to awaken and invigorate your senses with the bright aroma of citrus and ginger. It is plant-based, and responsibly sourced, has no parabens, and is packaged in a recyclable bottle.
Burt’s Bees boasts their ingredients transparently and explains exactly how their ingredients are sourced. This body wash claims 97% natural, their way of defining their standards and expressing what to expect when you use their products. Some of their claims include: All their products are at least of 95% natural origin, any non-natural ingredients are used at low levels for preservation and performance purposes, and they source their ingredients based on transparency and sustainability.
If you’re worried about Burt’s bees, rest assured they take measures to support the bee colonies, including donating $2 million in grants to organizations working for change in honeybee health. They also disseminate millions of wildflower seeds to help increase bees’ pollen source, and focus their resources on bee-health education and conservation.
- Organic
- Cruelty-free
- Vegan
- Gluten-free
Clean Beauty
We’ve heard this phrase before, and now it is more popular than ever. With all the products on the market that utilize harsh chemicals that can cause negative reactions, more brands are maximizing and flaunting their clean, aka all-natural beauty ingredients.
For Body and Planet
Clean beauty products don’t only consider the effects the product has on your body but also the planet. When the products are in production, both human and environmental health are taken into account.
When you use any product, the ingredients end up down the drain and into the water system, which, thanks to the terror of exfoliating microbeads (aka microplastics) and preservatives, are causing a serious crisis to marine life and our waterways.
Organic
Keep an eye out for the USDA Organic Seal. When a product comes bearing this - it is a statement that it complies with handling and manufacturing policies, avoiding pesticides, and utilizing plant-based ingredients whenever possible. The problem is, getting this certification kind of costs a large chunk of change, so some smaller brands will simply list their ingredients clearly and transparently on their packaging without carrying the official seal.
Sustainable
Just because a company uses natural plant-based ingredients, minimizing chemical pollutants on the environment, doesn’t necessarily mean the environment isn’t taking a toll in other ways. Take palm oil, Anyall-natural, for example, a perfectly natural ingredient used in many beauty products, sourced from tropical palm trees. However, building palm oil plantations means clearing them out from tropical rainforests, the home to many endangered animals. Destroying their homes threatens their extinction.
So if sustainability is important to you, this is something to keep in mind when shopping all-natural, so be sure you have a clear understanding of where and how your natural ingredients are sourced and get to know its impact on your planet.
When looking to shop sustainably, also pay attention to the packaging. Is the package recyclable? Is it sourced from recycled plastics? Is the company making any efforts to reduce plastic waste?
The revolutionary idea to sell body wash sans water, in powder form, provides the amount of body wash you would otherwise have from five different body wash bottles. Thus, they are making a difference by reducing single-use plastic waste. With clean ingredients like seaweed and kaolin, this body wash is unique within itself because of the powder-to-foam action it provides.
Vegan
If a product doesn’t contain any animal by-products or ingredients sourced from animals, it is considered vegan. But, don’t make the mistake of associating “vegan” with “clean” because a vegan product can still contain chemical ingredients. If you’re on the vegan train, some non-vegan ingredients to watch out for are honey, beeswax, lanolin, and tallow.
Cruelty-Free
If it has not been tested on animals at any point from manufacturing to before being sold, it can tout the little bunny ears as cruelty-free. It has been tested on the animals, and that no ingredients were derived from them, such as horse-tail makeup brushes or real mink eyelash extensions.
No Parabens
Parabens are necessary for any water-based product because they reduce harmful bacteria and mold growth, preserving it to give it a longer shelf-life. These chemicals are used in many cosmetic and beauty products -- in everything from deodorant to toothpaste.
In low amounts, it is not harmful, but it is the cumulative exposure that can be hazardous. And if you think about it - little parabens in every product you use adds up to… a lot of parabens. For example, adolescent girls who wear makeup every day had 20 times the levels of propylparaben in their urine compared to those who don’t wear makeup. Overexposure to this chemical can mess with your hormones and lead to reproductive problems.
In Conclusion
As you may have picked up, natural is the way to go. Brands that produce all-natural products seem to be taking a bit more ownership and responsibility for not only what they put in their products but the intentional concoctions they create and why. They not only take care of your skin but pay respect to the environment and the plant-based, natural resources they utilize to help us better care for our skin, an all-natural way.
Sources:
What's Wrong with Palm Oil? | Orangutan.org
The Cruelty Behind Mink Lashes | PETA
What Are Parabens, and Why Don’t They Belong in Cosmetics? | EWG.org