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Skin care. Closeup woman's body with cosmeticBeautiful black girl with moisturizing lotion on hydrated body skin

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In just about every bathroom, bedroom, and car, people keep a tube of body lotion – generally to ward off dry skin or to smell nice. The beauty industry has turned into a well-oiled machine pushing out new products at an alarming rate. And they have every reason to because sales of body moisturizers have skyrocketed. You’ve trusted Mamavation to bring you topics like best & worst shampoos, best & worst facial moisturizers, best & worst sun protection, and best & worst makeup brands, now join us as we explore the best natural body lotions with non-toxic ingredients.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links and was researched by Rebecca Elizabeth Sherrick Harks, RN, BSN.

Young beautiful woman applying body lotion on her attractive legs indoors

False Marketing to Watch Out For When Shopping for Lotions

Take a stroll down any grocery store “lotions” aisle or pull up a quick internet search and you’ll see that the options available are limitless.  You’ll see several claiming to be dermatologist recommended or contain special extracts, has colloidal oatmeal, hyaluronic acid, or be fast-absorbing, but the truth is the best body lotion is one that works without junk in the formula. As sales and marketing crews learned ages ago that “science-y” sounding terms sells body lotion, they increasingly use terms that are not well defined.

  • Hypoallergenic: Many available body lotions are touted as being “hypoallergenic” or “allergy tested” — which SOUNDS nice even though there’s no government standard in the US for making such a claim.
  • NonComedogenic: Other products claim they’re “noncomedogenic” — a Thesaurus-style word that only means that the lotions won’t cause pimples — which doesn’t really set them apart. Why? Well, almost all body lotions we can buy today use ingredients that are noncomedogenic.
  • Vitamins: Another “scientific” trick advertising agencies do is to list out a ton of vitamins within the lotion. This is supposed to make us think that body moisturizers can add antioxidants and actually nourish our skin. Sounds pleasing, right? Unfortunately, most of the vitamins, like Vitamin A, inside body lotions are unlikely to make a difference: the amounts of vitamins used are too small for an effect, or because vitamins do degrade with exposure to light and air.

Here’s the bottom line: despite the long lists of obscure ingredients and the pseudoscientific hokum, all body moisturizers can with dry skin for an incredibly simple reason: they supply a little bit of water to the skin and contain a greasy substance that holds it in like a healthy skin barrier. That’s about it.

woman of color putting lotion on her dry skin on her legs

How to Combat Dry Skin Before Using Lotion

A good lotion will make you feel less itchy with irritation and uncomfortable. The skin feeling should be smoother and have a better consistency. It is important to remember that dry skin and dryness alone is not a medical condition; it’s the problems it can cause, like cracks and fissures in the skin which may turn into open wounds. Your skin texture, like roughness, and pores are sensitive to all sorts of things. An ounce of prevention does equal a pound of cure, so let’s take a look into dry skin and how to manage it for anti-aging effects.

Of course, finding a proper body moisturizer will absolutely help you avoid dry skin, but there are other things you can do as well if your dry skin is a big problem:

  • Use a humidifier – you can find these at just about any store and they disperse tiny amounts of water into the air and hopefully help you with your skin. Be careful to follow the instructions on your humidifiers, though, because many brands can actually grow bacteria in the inner-workings of the humidifier – which means that it’s blowing bacteria-laden water into your house and into your body. Replace all filters on schedule and follow those instructions.
  • Watch the thermostat – hot air, as we often must pipe into the house during the cold months, has a nasty habit of drying things out. Including you and your skin. So turn it down – it’ll save you money on electricity too!
  • Bundle up if you live in a climate in which cold air occurs (for at least part of the year) – windy, cold air is very drying to your skin. Use scarves, hats, and mittens as necessary.
  • Switch body soaps – some people are more sensitive to certain types of body soaps. Try going with a more mild soap in order to reduce any issues you may have – including dry skin.
  • Avoiding hot showers is going to be a hard one for a lot of us but unfortunately hot water is excellent at washing away the substances in your skin that protect it from drying out.

Pregnant woman with cream on bump on white background

Ingredients to Avoid 

There are a zillion ingredients in body lotions and body butters – some of them good, some bad, some awful. With the massive list of ingredients within each pretty bottle of that lotion, it can be nearly impossible to ascertain what, if anything, is bad for you. What follows is a list of the worst ingredients in your body lotions and body butters.

*These ingredients are listed on the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics Red List, which is part of the MADE SAFE screening process for personal care products.

Woman rubbing lotion on her belly

What About Preservatives in Lotion?

Anytime you add water or aloe vera to any formulation, it starts to collect bacteria and mold. This is the reason why lotions have preservatives inside–to stop the formation of mold in their products. And this is important to remember because we believe that light preservative use overall is good for you, but bad preservatives should be avoided.

Mold toxicity is no laughing matter. Some mold spores produce mycotoxins and they can build up in your body, and cause a multitude of symptoms. These mycotoxins are both microscopic and fat-soluble, and they often end up in your cells and mitochondria, disrupting health. Vulnerability to mold toxicity is present in 25% of the population, mostly with people who have a genetic predisposition that inhibits their clearance of biotoxins. According to Psychology Today, “some cases of chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, mast cell activation disorder, histamine intolerance, irritable bowel, and leaky gut, multiple sclerosis and post-treatment Lyme syndrome, which do not respond to treatment, are due to a chronic inflammatory response caused by toxic mold.”

I used to avoid all chemical preservatives UNTIL I received a bottle of lotion that was full of mold. This brand, in particular, was completely “natural” and didn’t use any preservatives in their formulation. Well, once that happened to me, I started looking through my cabinet at older bottles of personal care products that had been sitting there and, sure enough, more mold.

So to make this easy on you, here are our acceptable and non-acceptable preservatives:

Harmful Ingredients in Body Lotion:

  • methyparaben
  • ethylparaben
  • propylparaben
  • butylparaben
  • isobutylparaben
  • isopropylparaben
  • benzylparaben
  • Methylisothiazolinone
  • Methylchloroisothiazolinone
  • Quaternium-15
  • DMDM hydantoin
  • Imidazolidinyl urea
  • Diazolidinyl urea
  • Sodium hydroxymethylglycinate
  • 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3 diol

Better Preservatives in Lotion:

  • Sodium benzoate (Safe, provided it’s not mixed with ascorbic acid or vitamin C. This ingredient is partially restricted by the Made Safe and EWG certifications in certain situations but not banned so some certified products have it.)
  • Potassium sorbate
  • Dehydroacetic acid
  • Glyceryl Caprilate
  • Phenoxyethanol (This ingredient is partially restricted by the Made Safe and EWG certifications in certain situations but not banned so some certified products have it. We allow it at less than 1 percent of the formulation; however, not within infant products. )
  • Vitamin C or ascorbic acid

We think it’s fine if you want to avoid all preservatives. But what we would recommend you do is ask the manufacturer when those products were created and use them up within 6-12 months. You can also date the bottle at the bottom with the date you opened them up and discard when they get too old.

beautiful asian woman holding up bottle of lotion

How To Avoid Preservatives All Together

There’s a way you can avoid mold and preservatives and it’s very simple. Switch to body oils instead. The reason most lotions contain preservatives is because they also contain water or aloe. When water or aloe is added, bacteria starts to accumulate. Simply opting for body oil instead of lotion is one way you can avoid preservatives, provided it’s clean and non-toxic body oil.

Another way you can skip the use of preservatives is to make your own formulation of lotion. If you are used to purchasing lotion and really want something ultra-clean, the safest way to do that is by making your own non-toxic body lotion. Lucky for you, Mamavation has 10 natural homemade lotion recipes for DIYers to explore.

100% Pure French Lavender Body Butter

Small Biz Recommendation & Featured Lotion– 100% Pure French Lavender Body Butter

We’ve pulled 100% Pure out of this list to feature for you so you could take another look at this small business. 100% prides themselves on pure ingredients. This company is very unique because of the pigments they use in their coloring of other products. Whenever you see color in products in this brand, they always come from fruit, vegetables, tea, and cocoa instead of FD&C colorants and heavy metal dyes. This is one of their best body butters. (that’s not colored)

Simple ingredients go a long way. This is all you’ll see inside this bottle of body butter–creamy cocoa, shea, and avocado butters, with added hydration from organic aloe and rose hydrosol and other botanicals and natural ingredients scented with lavender flowers, leaves, and stems.

This product retails for $29 and can be purchased directly from this small business here and get free shipping on orders over $50.

(This link is for those of you wanting to give your money directly to a small business instead of Amazon.)

Woman of color putting lotion on her legs

Mamavation’s Investigation of Non-Toxic Body Lotions

We looked at over 200 different lotions to determine the safest types, but we are not able to tell you which are the most effective: everyone has different skin types and responds differently to different types of lotions and other personal care products. Our methods including analyzing the ingredients for safety, looking at their certifications, and the ways in which their ingredients are sourced.

We opted for lotions with more natural ingredients like sweet almond oil, sunflower seed oil, jojoba oil, mango butter, avocado oil, and calendula, and avoided products with synthetic fragrances & things like mineral oil & bha.

Bad Lotion Brands

These brands have no organic ingredients, no certifications, and contain a number of toxic ingredients. There may be a couple of products containing organic ingredients but also containing problematic ingredients at the same time. Note these lotions do not have spf.

  • Aquaphor Healing Ointment
  • Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion For Dry Skin 
  • Aveeno Positively Nourishing Comforting Whipped Souffle 
  • Baby Bum Everyday Lotion, Ultra Gentle 
  • Beekman 1802 HONEYED GRAPEFRUIT GOAT MILK LOTION
  • Beekman 1802 Meadow Lark Whipped Goat Milk Body Cream (Other scents available)
  • Beekman 1802 Pure Goat Milk Lotion
  • CeraVe Daily Moisturizing Lotion
  • CeraVe Moisturizing Cream
  • CeraVe Therapeutic Hand Cream
  • Consult Beaute Champagne Beaute Lift Firming Body Creme
  • Dove Cream Oil Intensive Body Lotion
  • Dr.Eckstein Beautipharm® Rich & Silky Body Butter
  • Eucarin Advanced Repair Lotion
  • Eucarin Eczema Relief Body Cream
  • Eucarin Original Healing Lotion 
  • Gold Bond Medicated Body Lotion Extra Strength
  • Gold Bond Overnight Deep Moisturizing 
  • Gold Bond Ultimate Radiance Renewal for Visibly Dry Skin Lotion 
  • Hempz Herbal Body Moisturizer Original  
  • Hempz Triple Moisture Herbal Whipped Body Creme
  • JERGENS® Daily Moisture Dry Skin Moisturizer
  • JERGENS® Deep Restoring Argan Moisturizer
  • Josie Maran WHIPPED ARGAN OIL BODY BUTTER
  • Josie Maran WHIPPED ARGAN OIL ILLUMINIZING BODY BUTTER
  • Kiehls Deluxe Hand & Body Lotion with Aloe Vera & Oatmeal – other scents available
  • Kiehls Intensive Treatment and Moisturizer for Dry or Callused Areas
  • Kiss My Face Body Lotion Olive & Aloe® Fragrance Free
  • Lancome NUTRIX ROYAL BODY
  • Lancome TRÉSOR Body Lotion
  • Lubriderm Daily Moisture
  • Lubriderm Advanced Therapy
  • Melaleuca Renew Intensive Skin Therapy Lotion
  • Meyer’s Clean Day OAT BLOSSOM BODY LOTION – other scents available
  • Nature’s Gate Herbal Lotion
  • Neutrogena Body Oil
  • Neutrogena® Hydro Boost Body Gel Cream – Fragrance Free
  • O’Keefes Skin Repair Body Lotion
  • O’Keefes Working Hands Working Hands
  • Oil of Olay QUENCH BODY LOTION ULTRA MOISTURE SHEA BUTTER
  • Origins Ginger GINGER SOUFFLE™ Whipped Body Cream
  •  Perlier Agrumarium Body Cream
  • Seacrest Body Lotion
  • Skinn Hydro-Vital™ Deep Replenishing Body Butter
  • Vanicream Moisturizing Skin Cream for Sensitive Skin
  • Vaseline Intensive Care™ Essential Healing Lotion

Plus size fashion model in sexy swimsuit, young fat woman on gray studio background, overweight female body, fu

Better Lotion Brands

These brands may contain some ingredients that are problematic or they don’t disclose fragrances in their formulation. We also included brands that had safer preservative combos that were overwhelming. They may help you with fine lines, but they also have some greasy residue like problems as well.

  • Alba Botanicals Hawaiian Cream Deep Moisturizer 
  • Alba Botanicals Hawaiian Hand & Body Lotion 
  • Alba Botanicals Very Emollient™ Body Lotion 
  • Avalon Organics – Unscented 
  • Avalon Organics Wrinkle Therapy Body Lotion
  • Aveeno Eczema Therapy 
  • Baby Bum Natural Monoi Coconut Balm
  • Burt’s Bees Orange Blossom Hand Cream
  • Burt’s Bees Soothingly Sensitive Aloe & Buttermilk 
  • Burt’s Bees Ultimate Care Body Lotion 
  • CONSCIOUS SKINCARE Pure Hand & Body Lotion Fragrance-Free
  • JR Watkins Coconut, Milk and Honey Hand Cream
  • JR Watkins Daily Aloe and Green Tea Moisturizing Lotion (many scents available)
  • Desert Essence Island Mango Hand and Body Lotion
  • Honey Skin Rose Organic Face and Body Moisturizing Skin Cream
  • Jason Age Renewal Vitamin E Moisturizing Creme
  • Jason Hand & Body Lotion Soothing Aloe Vera
  • Osea Ocean Lotion 
  • Pacifica Body Butter Persian Rose
  • PIPETTE Belly Butter
  • The Honest Company FACE + BODY LOTION Purely Sensitive, Fragrance-Free 
  • S.W. Basics Cream – EWG Verified
  • Sally B’s Skin Yummies B Soothed
  • Sally B’s Skin Yummies EcoBody, Lavender
  • SALLY B’S SKIN YUMMIES EcoBody, Unscented
  • Sally B’s Skin Yummies Luxe Body Butter, Citrus Vanilla –
  • Sally B’s Skin Yummies Luxe Body Butter, Lavender
  • SALLY B’S SKIN YUMMIES Luxe Body Butter, Sweet Lemon Ginger
  • SALLY B’S SKIN YUMMIES Luxe Body Butter, Unscented
  • Shea Moisture RAW SHEA BUTTER HYDRATING BODY LOTION
  • Truly Beauty UNICORN FRUIT WHIPPED BODY BUTTER
  • Tubby Todd Everyday Lotion Fragrance-Free 

black woman with ideal skin sitting in the man shirt on the table

Best Non-Toxic & Natural Body Lotion Brands:

These non-toxic body lotions avoid all problematic chemicals we called out in the post. Some are certified Made Safe, EWG Verified, and/or USDA Organic. All brands here are transparent about fragrance ingredients and can assist with signs of aging using ingredients like cocoa butter.

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Best & Worst Non-Toxic Body Lotions 2

Recent Product Investigations