10 Best Soaps For Dry Skin: Our Top Picks + What Ingredients To Look For

The quest for the perfect soap is a tricky one: It's important to snag one with gentle—yet effective—cleansing agents to remove particulate matter and daily grime; and since skin care starts in the shower (from the neck down, at least), finding a wash buffered with hydrating and conditioning ingredients is key.
And for those with chronically dry skin, this criteria is extra important to keep top of mind.
Dry skin signals a compromised skin barrier—when your barrier weakens it's unable to stop water from evaporating, which then leads to cracked, itchy, sometimes painful skin.
That said, you want to lather on a body wash that coats your skin in barrier-supporting ingredients.
You're in luck: We found 12 that fit the bill. Ahead, the best soaps that function as a blanket for dry, thirsty skin.
Kopari Hydrating Gel Body Wash With Aloe and Sea Kelp
This body wash quenches thirsty skin with coconut water, aloe, argan oil, and sea kelp extract (which, research has found, may be a better humectant1 than hyaluronic acid). The gel lathers up into a dreamy foam, without stripping your skin.
Hydrating Gel Body Wash With Aloe and Sea Kelp, Kopari ($18)

Skinfix Eczema+ Foaming Oil Body Wash
Those with eczema may reach for a hydrating cream cleanser (typically less stripping on sensitive skin), but this oil-to-foam wash uses gentle, coconut-based surfactants for a bubbly feel. Along with jojoba oil, aloe, sunflower oil, and apricot kernel oil, it keeps the skin happily moisturized.
Eczema+ Foaming Oil Body Wash, Skinfix ($26)

SheaMoisture Raw Shea Butter Bar Soap
Shea butter is a top-notch skin soother, as it can help skin reduce moisture loss (thanks to its fatty acid profile, namely linoleic acid and oleic acid). It even has anti-inflammatory2 properties, which make this rich shea butter bar especially fit for itchy, dry skin.
Raw Shea Butter Bar Soap, SheaMoisture ($5.99)

Drunk Elephant Kamili Cream Body Cleanser
Generally, soaps with a cream base are great for extra-dry skin—the lush consistency feels like you're coating on emollients as you lather. This cleanser uses a slew of nourishing oils (almond, sunflower, and the like) as well as an amino acid blend to support the skin barrier.
Kamili Cream Body Cleanser, Drunk Elephant ($20)

Pipette Calming Shampoo + Body Wash
If a soap is fit for sensitive baby skin, it's likely non-stripping and gentle enough to stave off dryness. It features squalane, a hero ingredient that feeds the skin barrier and has antioxidant properties.
Calming Shampoo + Body Wash, Pipette ($8)

Indie Lee De-Stress Body Wash
Antioxidants galore: This gentle cleanser features panthenol, calendula extract, and hydrolyzed quinoa (which contains vitamins A and B, as well as protein) to combat free radicals and oxidative stress. The calming scent, courtesy of eucalyptus and lavender oil, also makes the shower immensely spa-grade.
De-Stress Body Wash, Indie Lee ($24)

Grown Alchemist Hydra+ Body Cleanser
Speaking of spa-grade, this hydrating body wash loads your senses with emerald cypress (which smells a bit minty and pine-fresh), rosemary, and sandalwood. It leaves your skin touchably soft and pampered.
Hydra+ Body Cleanser, Grown Alchemist ($49)

100% Pure Coconut Shower Gel
This rich shower gel combines all the ingredients we love: coconut oil, aloe, rosewater, algae, and green tea. A truly moisturizing blend, formulated with coconut-derived surfactants to protect your skin's lipid barrier.
Coconut Shower Gel, 100% Pure ($18)

Carol's Daughter Almond Cookie Softening Body Wash
As the name suggests, this soap has you smelling like an almond sugar cookie (not the sickly sweet kind; more like the faint aroma of cookies baking in the oven). Of course, almond oil is the star ingredient here, along with aloe and glycerin to hydrate. The texture is creamy and smooth, leaving skin deliciously soft.
Almond Cookie Softening Body Wash, Carol's Daughter ($10)

Lano Lanolin + Egg White Gentle Cleansing Bar
In addition to the brand's signature lanolin, this bar features goat milk, which provides a gentle cleanse and is beloved for sensitive, eczema-prone skin. And while you may raise a brow at the egg-white mention, know that eggs are rich in amino acids that can nourish and moisturize the skin3. And on a user-experience note, egg whites can help bubbles keep their shape (some people use them in bubble baths)—similar to how whipping a bowl of whites will eventually form peaks.
Lanolin + Egg White Gentle Cleansing Bar, Lano ($10.95)


Jamie Schneider is the Beauty Editor at mindbodygreen. She has a B.A. in Organizational Studies and English from the University of Michigan, and her work has appeared in Coveteur, The Chill Times, and more. In her role at mbg, she reports on everything from the top beauty industry trends, to the gut-skin connection and the microbiome, to the latest expert makeup hacks. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.