It could be an ancestral partiality or just a discriminating palette, but my favorite fruits are tropical fruits. Apples, raspberries, and peaches are cute and all, but in my personal pantheon of seed-bearing produce, it's a three-way tie between plantain, passion fruit, and mango.
Mangos, in particular, are just perfect — they're the right amount of sweet with just a bit of tartness (depending on the ripeness), easy to peel, and automatically elevate anything they're included in: yogurt, curry, even a simple fruit platter. When I'm done eating a mango, that seed looks like Albert Einstein's hair on a particularly, uh, flamboyant day. They're good to the last bits of flesh hanging onto the fibrous tendrils of its seed.
But besides tasting (and smelling) good, mangos are also pretty great for your skin. According to Mona Gohara, Connecticut-based board-certified dermatologist and associate clinical professor at the Yale School of Medicine, the key to the mango's skin-loving nutrients comes from its seed, which is used to make mango butter.
"The main constituents are: oleic acid, stearic acid, palmitic acid, linoleic acid, arachidic acid, vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin E," she tells Allure. "All of the acids are fantastic for the skin barrier, keeping it healthy and aiding with its job of keeping moisture in and irritants out." As a bonus, the vitamins in mango butter contain antioxidants, which are also good for your skin. "The butter is very creamy, making it a nice moisturizer active."
Given the many benefits of mango butter, it's no wonder Dove included it in its Glowing Mango & Almond Butter Body Wash, a 2020 Best of Beauty winner.
I hate leaving the shower with my skin feeling dehydrated and tight, and this stuff makes my skin feel soft and primed for lotion. When I use this body wash, I don't feel like I have to moisturize my skin right away. Plus, it makes my shower smell like a delicious mango lassi — one of my favorite drinks.
Another thing to note: This body wash doesn't irritate the eczema on my hands. Since the pandemic started, and we've all had to wash our hands even more than usual, my dyshidrotic eczema has been flaring up like crazy. And it is NOT fun. It's unbearably itchy, and it also can be very painful when the skin on my hands crack and break from it. (Once I see those tiny little bubbles of fluid forming beneath the surface of my skin, I know I'm in for a world of hurt.)
In the shower, Dove's body wash doesn't sting or even make my hands tingle even slightly. And best of all, it doubles as a hand wash, so if I run out of my regular hand soap, I can use this and still know that my paws are getting a gently cleanse.
As an editor, I've gotten my fair share of pricey body washes, but this one is my personal favorite, and it costs a whole $6 for 22 ounces. And believe me when I say it lasts a while. Unless you absolutely cannot stand the smell of mangos or like your skin to feel super dry after a shower (can't relate), Dove's Glowing Mango & Almond Butter Body Wash is always going to be a good buy.
Check out the full list of Allure's 2020 Best of Beauty winners.
