I'm Finally Treating My Body as Well as My Face, Starting With These Cult Faves
A quick scan of my vanity confirms two things about me. First, I desperately need a better organizational system, and second, I'm ultra serious about my skincare. From vitamin-rich serums to chemical exfoliators and more sheet masks than I care to count, I've got it all. Like many other beauty enthusiasts out there, caring for my face is a top priority, but the skin south of my clavicle has become more and more important as well.
Now, I'm Black, so I was trained to douse my whole body in lotion every single day. But other practices, such as regularly exfoliating and taking warm baths, are newer additions to my now decidedly extra bodycare regimen. Since making my skin feel as smooth as a baby seal is now among my top missions in life, my bathroom is stacked with luxe body cleansers, post-shower oils, and enough components to build dozens of top-notch baths. (It's all about the salts!)
Snagging all my bodycare faves on sale sparks serious joy, so it's shopping opportunities like the Dermstore Anniversary Event that inspire me to stock up. The sale is on now through August 17, and you can save up to 25% sitewide on everything from hair tools to body oils. Just use the promo code CELEBRATE, and get ready to save.
Ahead, check out the 27 best bodycare must-haves I found on sale, and don't forget to snap up your own while the getting is good.
Exfoliators
I've never loved any body product as much as I love this one. It's a two-in-one treatment, first offering a detoxifying mask and then a gentle exfoliation as you rinse and buff it away. I'm always shocked at how truly refreshed and renewed my skin looks and feels after every use—even on the rougher areas like my knees and elbows.
Chemical exfoliators are an important part of any anti-aging skincare regimen, but they're not all that common to use all over the body. This cream subs scrubbing beads for 10% glycolic acid to loosen and remove dead cells and boost radiance everywhere below the neck. Just be sure to keep any treated areas that will be exposed to the sun covered in SPF, just like you would after using a similar exfoliator on your face.
Aside from the fact that this scrub smells like vacation, it's nice and gritty, so it really leaves the skin feeling baby-smooth. It's got a mineral-rich salt base and contains nourishing oils like Tahitian monoi, frangipani, and coconut for added silkiness.
Cleansers and Bath Soaks
I've discussed my previous aversion to spending too much money on facial cleanser, so you can probably imagine that I had similar reservations about body wash. This one, however, feels and smells so heavenly that I don't even think about the fact that my coins rinse right down the drain with every shower.
If you think $42 (or even $34, on sale) is too dang much to spend on body wash, then you're a lot like me. Up until a year or two ago, you could not convince me to pay that! That is until I tried this rich cleanser at one of my favorite boutique workout studios and suddenly found myself acutely aware that those extra $20 or so buy pure luxury. This wash is so thick and smells so good.
Soaking in the bathtub is one of my favorite pastimes, so this bubble bath is a prominent fixture in my bathing lineup. It has a sweet and earthy scent that fills my bathroom with the most glorious smell, but it's the tingly feeling it creates all over my body that keeps me coming back again and again.
These flakes create a dreamy soaking solution that can help soothe achy muscles and facilitate a full body detox.
Oils
Ingrown hair is one of those beauty woes that everyone deals with, but no one wants to talk about. This targeted oil goes to work to soften hairs while also keeping pores free and clear so hairs won't get caught up as they try to break through the skin. For areas like the bikini line and underarms where ingrowns happen the most, this stuff is a must.
This oil spray is perfect for drenching the body in intense moisture post-shower or even sealing the ends of the hair. It's super lightweight so you won't have to worry about feeling overly greasy.
This highly concentrated toning oil brightens and tightens the skin all over the body while also improving hydration retention and even reducing scars, dark spots, and sun damage.
I stan this luxe body oil. It is so perfect for applying to wet skin right out of the shower or even sealing in moisture from thinner body lotions that need an extra kick of oils.
Lotions and Creams
It's only recently that I started taking buzzwords like "lifting" and "firming" into consideration for the products I slather over my body and not just the ones I put on my face. This whipped body cream employs a blend of grape polyphenols and iris extract to make the skin appear tauter and smoother.
I love a bodycare product that not only makes me look good but makes me feel good, too. This body lotion has a ton of soothing ingredients such as arnica, black pepper, eucalyptus oil, and menthol oil to relieve muscle tension and soothe the entire body.
This contouring gel is great for targeted treatment of cellulite and dimpled skin. It has caffeine, which stimulates circulation and promotes fat cell breakdown to smooth out textured skin.
If you're a fan of the Hollywood-approved face version of this cream, then you'll be into this full-body iteration as well.
Tools
Dry brushing isn't new (in fact, it's an age-old practice!), but over the last few years, it's really caught on for its positive effects on circulation and its physical exfoliation prowess. It's a no-frills tool and a great one to keep on hand for multitasking skin benefits.
Gadgets like this one are a hard sell for me since I feel like I can't always be sure they're actually working. I've heard so many good things about it, though, so I'd be willing to give it a try. It's designed to send high-frequency sonic vibration to the areas of the body you're rolling over to lift and firm the skin's appearance.
If you thought microdermabrasion was just for your face, I'm here to tell you that it can absolutely be a full-body situation. Just like in-office treatments, this device offers mechanical resurfacing and suctioning power that gently smoothes your skin from head to toe.
Now that we've mastered keeping the skin on our faces looking youthful longer, it's time to send our concentration slightly south. This genius reusable mask can be positioned on either the neck or décolletage and functions just like scar treatments made from the same material to soften lines underneath it. To get more bang for your buck, sweep on a layer of your favorite serum before placing this mask on top for max product absorption.
If you're already familiar with the world of microcurrent devices, then this option for the body might be your next foray. It sends gentle electrical currents into the skin to help diminish the appearance of dimples.
Hand and Foot Care
Hand cream is one of the easiest points of entry for any good bodycare routine. Making an effort to apply a good, nourishing lotion after handwashing and before bed will yield such good results that you'll be paying attention to all your other appendages in no time.
Everything you've heard about Baby Foot is true. Honestly, you've just got to experience the disgustingly satisfying skin shedding for yourself!
Here's another acid peel that makes your foot skin peel off in giant chunks. I highly recommend giving this a go while all our feet are still safely hidden at home.
Aside from just keeping the hands hydrated and protected against the drying effects of scrupulous washing and sanitizing, this cream treats them with ingredients already known to work wonders on the face like vitamin C, niacinamide, and retinol.
SPF
Thanks to an intense obsession with keeping post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation on my face from getting even darker, I got serious about wearing SPF on my face before it was trendy to do so. But I'll admit that it's taken me a while to get just as diligent about wearing the stuff on the rest of my body. Thanks to formulas like this one, which isn't greasy and applies sheer on my brown skin despite being of the mineral variety, I'm getting better and better about it.
Juice Beauty is a pioneering brand in the clean-beauty space, so I'm super intrigued by this offering since sunscreen can be a particularly chemical-laden category. Reviewers confirm that you're probably going to experience a white cast if you're not relatively fair, but I'd still be interested to give it a go for myself to see how it holds up for a day at the beach.
There's a whole lot of talk about what to put on your skin before sun exposure, but not a whole lot about what to put on it after you've spent a long day outside. You might not need anything, but in the event you end up feeling like you got a little too lit (see what I did there?), then you might consider a lotion like this one that has soothing allantoin and ginkgo biloba as well as glycerine and shea to help rehydrate and guard against the ultra-drying effects of prolonged sun exposure.
Up next, I personally guarantee these 25 products live up to their five-star ratings.
Courtney Higgs is a Cancer sun, Libra rising beauty enthusiast with about six years of experience in the editorial space. She was previously Who What Wear's associate beauty editor after spending many years working on the West Coast edit team at InStyle Magazine. She graduated from California State University, Northridge, with a BA in communication studies and pivoted to editorial after spending her college years working in the legal field. Her beauty philosophy is simple: She believes there are no wrong answers and that discovering our favorite beauty products and rituals is a journey, not a sprint. When she's not geeking out over products, she can be found adventuring around L.A. with her fiancé; watching reality TV with their French bulldog, Bernie Mac; or relating way too hard to astrology memes.
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