A good body wash is more versatile than the eight minutes it usually gets. It works as a foot soak at the end of a long day, as a bubble bath base, as a shaving lather when you have run out of anything better, and as the single bottle that covers everything in a carry on. All four are proper uses of a wash off product rather than clever ways to leave it on your skin, which is where most body wash hacks go wrong.
Most of us buy a bottle of body wash, keep it in the shower, and never think about it again. Which is a shame, because it is basically a bottle of pleasant smelling cleanser with a decent oil base, and it will happily do several other jobs.
Four of them are genuinely worth knowing. One housekeeping note first.
A quick word on Soaked
If you landed here looking for our Soaked Transdermal CBD Shower Gel, it is discontinued. It was a lovely product and we are not currently making a replacement.
Everything below works with whatever body wash you already own. Where a cannabinoid product genuinely earns its place is in the steps that stay on your skin, which is why our range these days runs to bath bombs and Melt lotion rather than anything that goes down the drain in forty seconds. More on that at the end.
1. As a foot soak at the end of a long day
The best of the four, and the one your feet will thank you for.
Fill a basin with comfortably warm water, add a generous squeeze of body wash, and swirl it around. Sit down somewhere you can actually stay for fifteen minutes. Feet in, book or phone out, and leave them there.
This is a proper use of a cleanser rather than a workaround. The gel is diluted, it is doing the job it was formulated for, and it rinses off. Afterwards, dry your feet properly between the toes and put something on them while the skin is still slightly damp.
If you want to make an occasion of it, this is the first step of a full at home pedicure, which we walk through in our guide to CBD pedicures.
2. As a bubble bath
Body wash under running water makes a perfectly good bubble bath, and it costs you nothing to try.
Add it while the tap is running rather than after the bath has filled, since the agitation is what creates the foam. Do not overdo it. A modest squeeze goes a long way and too much leaves a film you will feel when you get out.
One caveat worth knowing: if you have a jetted tub, do not do this. Jets aerate water constantly and turn a reasonable amount of foam into a very unreasonable amount very quickly. Every spa technician has a story about this.
If the bath is the part you actually care about, this is where a cannabinoid product is worth the money rather than in the shower. A CBD bath bomb spends half an hour on your skin instead of under a minute. We go into why in our guide to CBD bath bomb benefits.
3. As a shaving lather
Genuinely useful and almost nobody does it deliberately.
Body wash works well as a shaving lather for legs and body, and the oil base tends to give a smoother glide than a foaming shave gel does. Work it into a slick layer with wet hands rather than trying to whip it into foam, since the slickness is the point and the foam is not.
Two practical notes. Rinse your razor more often than you would with shave gel, because a richer lather clogs the blade faster. And skip this on your face if you shave there, where a product formulated for facial skin is a better bet.
4. As the one bottle that travels
Cabin baggage rules being what they are, a single bottle that covers several jobs earns its space.
Body wash will handle your body, your hands at the sink, and a quick wash of underwear or a shirt in a hotel basin. For the laundry job use a small amount in cool water, rinse thoroughly, and roll the item in a towel to press the water out before hanging it.
Decant into a travel bottle rather than taking the full size one. Label it, or you will spend a fortnight guessing which identical bottle is which.
One thing not to do with it
Every list like this eventually suggests leaving a body wash on your skin or in your hair, as a face mask, a leave in conditioner, a soothing gel for irritated skin.
Do not. A body wash is built around surfactants, which are designed to lift oil and rinse away. Leaving them sitting on skin or scalp is asking a product to do a job it was not formulated for, and irritated or damaged skin is the last place to experiment.
An earlier version of this article suggested two of those uses. We would not repeat them.
Where cannabinoids actually belong
Since this is a CBD company writing about body wash, it is worth saying where we think the money goes furthest.
Contact time is the whole answer. A body wash is on you for under a minute. A lotion stays on for hours. A bath surrounds you for half an hour. If you are paying a premium for cannabinoids, put it where the product stays put.
That means the soak and the moisturiser rather than the wash. For cleansing, use whatever suits your skin and save the budget for the steps that stay. Everything we make is lab tested and the results are published before you buy, at kushqueen.shop/pages/lab-tests.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you use body wash as a bubble bath?
Yes. Add it under running water rather than after the bath has filled, since the agitation creates the foam. Use less than you think you need. Avoid it entirely in a jetted tub, where the jets will produce far more foam than you want.
Can you use shower gel as a foot soak?
Yes, and it is one of the better uses for it. A generous squeeze in a basin of warm water for fifteen minutes. Dry properly between the toes afterwards and moisturise while the skin is still slightly damp.
Can you shave with body wash?
For legs and body it works well, and the oil base often gives a smoother glide than foaming shave gel. Work it into a slick layer rather than a foam, and rinse the razor more often. Use something made for facial skin on your face.
Does Kush Queen still sell CBD shower gel?
No. Soaked Transdermal CBD Shower Gel is discontinued and there is no direct replacement. Our current range focuses on the leave on steps, bath bombs and lotion, where cannabinoids have time to do something.
Can I leave body wash on my skin or in my hair?
No. Body wash is built around surfactants designed to lift oil and rinse away. Leaving it on skin or scalp is not what it is formulated for, and irritated or damaged skin is not the place to experiment.
