This £3 body wash is a game-changer

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There are dozens, maybe hundreds, of nice body washes. It’s rare for me to try one and think: “This body wash is absolutely atrocious.” What I do quite often think is: “This body wash is lovely but I can’t understand why it’s so expensive.” As with most things, the answer is usually to do with the packaging (glass costs a fortune).

I don’t mind coughing up for things I put on my face, but there is a part of me that is resistant to coughing up for things that get washed down the drain two seconds after you’ve used them. I’ve reluctantly come to accept that some expensive shampoos work better on my (challenging) hair than cheaper ones. But when it comes to body washes, I remain sceptical. Case in point: my current favourite is £3 — in fact, it’s £2 on offer at Boots at the time of writing.

There is one caveat, which is that I don’t generally like excessively scented products. Dove, for it is Dove, has an immediately recognisable and fairly insistent scent. If that bothers you, its Advanced Care Nourishing Silk Body Wash (dove.com) — why do so many product names read as though written by AI? — won’t be for you. But I have been beaten into submission through familiarity: rightly or wrongly, I now associate the smell of Dove with the smell of clean, and if you’re going to smell of something after your bath or shower, it might as well be clean. You wouldn’t want to emerge from the steam smelling of musk or of loucheness. I wouldn’t, at any rate.

Smell of clean aside, this is a perfect body wash. I am still in the process of general remoisturisation in anticipation of warm weather and bare limbs, and this does the job brilliantly and pretty much instantly. You are noticeably better moisturised, smoother and sort of plumper-skinned when you come out of the bath than when you went in. What more could one ask for, really, body-wash-wise?

It all has to do with some special technology called 24-hour Renewing MicroMoisture, whatever that is — I’m sure it’s real, but I always take these thrilling innovations with a pinch of salt, not least because I tend to glaze over when I have to explain them. In this case, it’s moisturising microdroplets that, touchingly, cling on to the skin for dear life and simply refuse to be washed away. Instead, they get absorbed and therefore feed your skin with moisturising goodness for up to 24 hours.

I don’t know why I’m sounding slightly facetious about it because I completely believe it: use it, and you couldn’t not. It makes your skin feel incredibly smooth and comfortable, as if you’ve slathered on a ton of lotion — which you won’t need to do because you are beautifully moisturised already. (If I were slathering on a ton of lotion, it would be the trusty and beloved Weleda Skin Food or anything containing shea butter.)

All for £3. You really can’t go wrong.

Buy Salt and pepper shakers in the shape of an apple and a pear that are a collaboration between the artist Hal Haines and the Amsterdam brand &Klevering. They’re ceramic and they look like toys from the 1970s — I love them. £24, la-gent.com

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