The Best Body Washes For Black Skin

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Black skin tends to be more fragile due to its inherent dryness, lacking essential compounds like ceramides. This can lead to issues like ashy skin, eczema, and hyperpigmentation.

Proper moisturization becomes crucial to maintain skin health and prevent these concerns. While body washes can’t directly address hyperpigmentation, they play a key role in preventing dryness and irritation.

A good moisturizing body wash is a great starting point for a healthy skincare routine tailored to black skin’s needs. And, to help you with that, we created a list of the best body washes for black skin.

What are the best body washes for black skin?

1. Bioderma Atoderm Ultra-Nourishing Anti-Irritation Cleansing Oil

This is a great nourishing body wash for black skin. It is enriched with vegetable biolipids, vitamin PP, and skin barrier therapy, a Bioderma patent for nourishing, smoothing, and protective action on the skin.

Appropriate for the whole family, this gel in oil creates a very light foam and reinforces the skin barrier, while preventing and reducing irritation, calming dry dark skin during the shower.

This is the type of body wash that, with some people, lets you get away without a body moisturizer afterward (we promise this will be our secret).

With a very high tolerance, this has a very light and refreshing fragrance that feels luxurious and makes you look forward to shower time. Soap-free and non-greasy, the pump also makes it very easy to use.

TIP: This Bioderma product is also one of the best body washes for dry skin.

2. A-derma Ultra-Rich Shower Gel

This is an excellent nourishing and soothing body shower gel for black skin that is appropriate for children (from the age of 2) and the whole family.

Enriched with A-Derma’s oat extract, it preserves skin moisture and prevents its water loss, one of the criteria used to see if the skin is healthy and well-functioning.

It is suitable for sensitive skin due to A-Derma’s clean care complex; it produces a soft and gentle foam via its formula with ultra-moisturizing and nourishing properties.

The best part about this body wash is that it can not only be used in the body, but it’s so gentle that it can also be used in the face. One less bottle of product in your bathroom!

3. Avène Xeracalm Nutrituion Shower Cream

If you haven’t realized, there’s a theme here: the best moisturizing body washes have a cream or oily texture.

This means that emollients have been included in the formulation to counteract the cleansing ingredients in it, which allows for a gentle cleanse that leaves skin soft and supple and not ashy as soon as you dry it.

This Avéne option is a gentle and nourishing option for everyone in the family: from babies to children and grown-ups. Another body wash developed for atopic dermatitis that is soothing, restores the skin barrier, reduces dryness and comforts parched skin.

Enriched with lipid-forming agents, sweet almond oil, and glycerin to moisturize the skin, its true magic lies in the supported ceramide production. Remember when we said that black skin has fewer ceramides than Caucasian skin? This is exactly the help your skin needs.

With a very high tolerance due to its adjusted skin-friendly pH, it’s even safe to be used in the mucous membranes in intimate areas. Paraben and soap-free with a light fragrance to please the whole family.

Beyond being a great body wash for black skin, Avène Xeracalm is one of the best and safest body washes for pregnant.

4. La Roche PosayLipikar AP+ Cleansing Oil

If you are still searching for the perfect body wash for black skin, you might just have found a favorite in La Roche Posay’s Lipikar AP cleansing oil. Perfect to keep dry skin at bay, this body wash has been tested for many scenarios:

Pregnancy safe
Baby safe
Children safe
Safe to be used by atopic skin

Dry skin doesn’t stand a chance against this formula with niacinamide, La Roche Posay’s thermal water Aqua Posae Filiformis that has been shown to promote skin health by reinforcing the skin barrier, no perfume, and high tolerance tested in many types of conditions.

Dermatologically tested, this cleansing oil, with a physiological pH, intensely moisturizes and nourishes the skin while gently washing it without drying or irritating it.

Due to its formula, it is suitable for the body, scalp, and intimate area. And, it can be used by the whole family, including babies, children, and adults. And, it’s a great body wash for hard water!

5. Uriage Xémose Cleansing Soothing Oil

This amazing liquid body wash for black skin by Uriage. Enriched with Cerasterol-2F, it reinforces the skin barrier by promoting its natural metabolisms and providing skin with the natural balance needed to produce ceramides. Remember ceramides that black skin doesn’t produce as much? This amazing cleansing and soothing oil helps with that!

Formulated for dry skin and even atopic skin, it’s also appropriate to be used in children and babies. Enriched with Uriage Thermal Water and with a gel-cream texture, this moisturizing body wash contains Cerasterol-2F® to strengthen the skin’s lipid protective film. It provides a gentle and rehydrating cleansing action.

Its natural composition is tolerated by sensitive skin, children, and babies. It’s also made free of perfume, parabens, or soap, which makes it appropriate for everyone in the family.

TIP: This Uriage Xémose is a dermatologist-recommended body wash for eczema.

6. Eucerin pH5 Shower Oil

For skincare enthusiasts, the Eucerin pH 5 shower oil is an old friend – everyone knows it because it’s one of the most effective and one of the best body washes for sensitive skin.

With an extra-nourishing effect, this shower oil has a skin-balancing pH of 5 and is suitable for daily use while keeping skin moisturized and comfortable.

It has added natural oils that protect the skin and leave it smooth and supple, making it ideal for sensitive skin.

7. Dexeryl Atopic Skin Shower Cream

This shower cream has also been developed for dry and atopic skin, so it also follows the same philosophy that helps with dryness and itching.

This is a rich milky soap designed to suit all skin types (even atopic skin) and to be used by the whole family to have soft and moisturized skin even after a shower with the worst water.

Soap and fragrance-free, this shower cream has a biodegradable formula with a physiological pH that does not sting the eyes.

Enriched with glycerol, vaseline, and liquid paraffin, it’s the perfect choice for those who may be intolerant to scented body washes or other irritating agents.

8. Noreva Xerodiane AP + anti-irritation cleansing oil

This cleansing oil by Noreva is another body wash staple for the whole family, yes, babies too! This balanced wash formula is nourishing, replenishing, and specially developed for dry, very dry, and atopic skin.

This body wash formula contains omega 3 and 6 oils, emollients, and triglycerides that help reestablish the skin barrier while nourishing the skin and providing an anti-irritating effect.

Cleanses gently without drying the skin. However, it’s important to highlight that none of the oil body washes are true oils, because they do provide cleansing action and most of them turn milk or foam in contact with water.

9. Rilastil Xerolact Cleansing Oil

This cleansing oil is very nourishing and provides anti-irritant protection for very dry, irritated, and atopic skin due to its moisturizing and lipid-replenishing complex, which allows for a comforting cleanse.

Enriched with ingredients such as sodium lactate, glycerin, niacinamide, almond, and rice bran oil that provide the formula with an anti-itching effect.

With long-lasting moisturization that lasts up to 24 hours, this body wash is suitable for the whole family, babies, and children included. Clinically and ophthalmologically tested as well as hypoallergenic, it can be used safely on the face too.

10. Ducray Ictyane Ultra-Rich Cleansing Gel

The Ictyane line from Ducray has been around for a while. This specific ultra-rich cleansing gel is gently cleansing, leaving skin moisturized and healthy.

Enriched with glycerin and nourishing plant oils, its cleansing base provides a protective and soothing cleanse with a physiological pH balance. If you’re a fan of floral fragrances, you’re in for a treat!

This oily and soothing foam leaves your skin very soft. If you close your eyes you’ll feel at a spa!

How to choose a great body wash for black skin?

When choosing a body wash, choose one that is targeted to atopic skin, since atopic skin has some things in common with black skin and it’s a very prevalent skin condition within black and brown skin.

These atopic skin-targeted formulations are usually richer and formulated to be non-irritating and soothing for the skin, helping you to keep the skin smooth and without any “ashyness”.

Some ingredients to look for in body washes for black skin would be ceramides, omegas that help with ceramide production, natural oils like shea butter, and jojoba oil, and humectants like glycerin and aloe leaf juice.

All of these ingredients help you to reestablish the skin barrier, stimulating ceramide production and avoiding skin dryness. The final result is beautiful and healthy skin that bounces light and looks radiant from within, with no ash in sight.

Additional Tips

Although we stand by these body washes, never forget that they need to be paired with a body moisturizer after the shower. Also, please keep in mind that no matter how competent your body wash is, if you shower with a temperature way too high, you will be destroying your skin barrier.

Many people use products like African black soap, but most bar soaps (and specifically African black soap) can become very very drying.

So, if you enjoy using this type of soap because you see its benefits in dandruff and even seborrheic dermatitis, please keep in mind that this soap causes a huge skin barrier disruption and leaves your skin even drier.

So, our advice would be to use it sparingly, and in between soap uses, use one of these body washes, which are much more appropriate for black skin’s dry tendencies and skin conditions, such as hyperpigmentation. (Read also: The best hyperpigmentation products for black skin)

Don’t believe the myth that black skin is more resilient because it is untrue over and over again and it should be treated as dry and sensitive skin.

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