The scenario: It's time to stock up on body wash, but when you do a quick search online for your go-to pick, it's out of stock across the board. You don't want to make a trip to the store just for the sake of soap, so you order something you've never tried before. It doesn't feel that different when you use it for the first time — body wash is just body wash, right? But soon, seemingly out of nowhere, you notice you start feeling very dry and itchy... all over your body, all the time.
If you're experiencing that nagging allover itch right now, and maybe a little redness to pair with it, your body wash might contain allergens or irritants. It's not uncommon for skin to get inflamed by certain products, so we asked dermatologists how you can tell if your body wash is the source of your irritation, what to do if it is, and what types of body washes and soaps you should be using instead.
As dermatologist Mona Gohara points out, there's a difference between skin issues that are caused by an allergic reaction and just plain irritation. "General signs of an allergy to a cleanser is inflamed, pink, scaly, [and] itchy skin," she explains. "It can be localized to one area or generalized."
Dermatologist Daniel Belkin further explains that allergic reactions to body washes are a little different than allergic reactions you might have to other beauty products. "Usually allergic contact dermatitis will present as a red, itchy rash at the site of exposure, but an allergy to body wash is an exception because body wash is used all over and washed off," he explains. "It will, therefore, present as a patchy and diffused rash, probably sparing the face because most body wash is used from the neck down."
According to Gohara and Belkin, allergies like this can develop at any time, even if you've been using the same wash or soap for years (skin is weird, y'all). If you suddenly start developing these types of rashes on your body and have never been diagnosed with an inflammation-based skin condition like eczema, you might be allergic to your body wash.
The best way to confirm that you have an allergy to an ingredient in your soap is to visit a dermatologist and get patch-tested. Dermatology offices are widely closed across the nation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, avoiding certain soap ingredients might solve your problem.
"Based on [rash] distribution and timing, a dermatologist may suspect a body wash to be one possible culprit," says Belkin. "They may look at the ingredient list and identify a couple of compounds that stand out to them as possible allergens." He provides the example of someone who uses a body wash with tea tree oil, which he would recommend avoiding in this scenario. "If trial and error works, then we may leave it at that," Belkin explains. "If trial and error is not working, we might proceed to patch testing, where I would place a bunch of common allergens on the patient's back and leave them for a couple of days to see how the skin reacts at each spot."
If your skin reactions persist and you can't visit a dermatologist to get patch tested right now, you can contact your preferred dermatology office or health care provider to see if virtual consultations are available.
Just because your skin is irritated by a certain product doesn't necessarily mean you're allergic to it. Gohara points out that an allergic reaction and mere irritation can have similar appearances but are caused by very different things.
"Allergic and irritant contact dermatitis are different but can look the same," she says. "Irritant contact dermatitis is not allergic in nature. [It] can come from soap-based surfactants that have a higher pH than skin and create irritation to the barrier."
As a result, your skin gets stripped of its essential oils and proteins, leaving you with dry and itchy skin that only gets worse the more you're exposed to those surfactants. Surfactants, by the way, are the ingredients that make body wash's foamy lather.
Again, you can't really confirm whether a rash is the result of an allergy until you can get tested by a doctor — but it is far more likely for allover body irritation to be caused by barrier-breaking ingredients. Simply switching to a non-foaming body wash might yield great results.
The list of ingredients that have the potential to cause either type of contact dermatitis is, unfortunately, a pretty long one. But there are a few key things you can look for on labels, the first being fragrance or parfum. Fragrances are the most common source of contact dermatitis, according to clinical studies, but the blanket terms cosmetics companies use to identify them certainly don't help.
"The words fragrance and parfum are catchalls for a big group of thousands of undisclosed chemicals that include synthetics that can cause skin irritation, sensitization, allergies, skin reactions, and asthma," says dermatologist Sapna Palep. According to cosmetic chemist Ginger King, "not all synthetic materials are bad or toxic." Still, avoiding these types of fragrances in your skin-care products never hurts. As Belkin points out, even so-called natural fragrances such as essential oils and plant extracts (ahem: tea tree oil) can cause a negative reaction.
Palep also cautions against using body washes containing a high level of alcohol. "It seriously damages your skin’s barrier protection, it can trigger free-radical damage, and it makes oily skin worse because your skin overcompensates to being stripped of oil," she explains. "Alcohol also promotes redness and irritation." And the type of alcohol is important. If you see cetyl or cetearyl alcohol on a body wash label, you can rest easy because those aren't actually alcohols. "They are fatty acids from coconut to help with conditioning of skin," says King. SD alcohol, on the other hand, is the type that dries skin out, she adds.
According to Belkin, the preservatives that give body wash a long shelf life can also cause irritation, even when derived from natural sources. Some common examples of body wash preservatives, according to King, are phenoxyethanol, methylchloroisothiazolinone, methylisothiazolinone, dehydroacetic acid, and chlorphenesin.
And then there are those pesky surfactants and detergents. You can easily tell if your body wash has a lot of surfactant by how foamy it gets when you use it — but sodium laureth sulfate, alkyl glucosides, taurates, sullfosuccinates, c14-16 olefin sulfonate, and betaines are all common lathering ingredients, says King.
You might not like the sound of this if you're attached to your fruity foam or sudsy sandalwood body wash, but the plainer the product, the less likely it is to cause a reaction. Reading a label with those long ingredient names can get frustrating, so we asked each dermatologist to give us their body wash recommendations.
Gohara prefers Dove's Sensitive Skin Body Wash [she is consultant for the brand]. Palep likes Aveeno Skin Relief Body Wash. Allure editors are particularly partial to Olay Ultra Moisture Shea Butter Body Wash.
Belkin recommends looking into mild formulas from dermatologist-approved brands like Eucerin, Cetaphil, and CeraVe.
If you make these changes and still experience skin irritation, reach out to your local dermatologist for help.
All products featured on Allure are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
More on skin conditions, allergens, and irritation:
- Your Lip Balm Could Be Making Your Chapped Lips Worse, Experts Say
- How to Tell the Difference Between Dermatitis and Eczema
- Have You Ever Had an Allergic Reaction to Makeup?
Now, see what's in Allure's Beauty Box for April:
