6 Best Natural Body Lotions & Moisturizers for Dry Skin in 2024

February 5, 2021 (updated February 2, 2023) — Written by

Whether you’re looking for a thick and creamy hydrating lotion, or something on the lighter side, I’ve got you covered with this review of the best all-natural body lotions and moisturizers on the market in 2024.

a women holds a jar of thick body cream in her hands

By: Lisa Fennessy

IN THIS POST:

We’ve talked about how to keep skin hydrated and happy with our favorite organic lip balms, best vegan lip balms, hand creams and natural face creams but what about the rest of your body? Today, we are demystifying how to shop for natural body lotions (including the best body lotion for dry skin), plus spilling the beans on all of our faves. 



The natural body lotion experience

I would be remiss if I didn’t start with this, first and foremost: I can’t stand a body lotion or hand lotion that is greasy. There’s nothing worse than slip-sliding around on yourself or getting dressed (or into bed) and leaving an oil slick in your wake. (But that doesn’t mean I want an oil-free body lotion!)

Second, I want an organic body lotion that I can feel good about using. Something that actually improves the state of my skin without taking anything away. So if either of those things resonate with you, keep reading! 

Ingredients to celebrate in natural body lotion

I love looking for a natural or organic body lotion that delivers some sort of skin benefit. This could be hyaluronic acid to increase skin hydration (1), anti-inflammatory jojoba, essential magnesium (2) or even wrinkle-reducing bakuchiol (3), for example. 

RELATED: Best natural face cream for your skin type.

Ingredients to consider in natural body lotion

And of course there are always ingredients to consider. Here are some of the ones that come up the most for me when shopping for natural body lotions. 

  • Synthetic fragrances listed as fragrance or perfume. 
  • Questionable preservatives like chlorphenesin (4), parabens (5),and unregulated phenoxyethanol (6).
  • 1,4-dioxane and ethylene oxide, listed on labels as PEGs, SLS, SLES, Ceteareth-20 and polysorbates. Adding carcinogens 1,4-dioxane (7) and ethylene oxide (8) to fatty alcohols turns them into emulsifiers or surfactants. Since these carcinogens readily absorb into the body through the skin, Canada, Qatar,and NY State have banned cosmetics containing them (9) in ingredients like Laureth-23, SLS and Polysorbate 80.
  • Mineral oil, typically listed as petrolatum or paraffin. Fatty acids from petroleum are absorbed through the skin, stored in our adipose tissue, not metabolized and not excreted. Mineral oil snuck into food and cosmetics has led to mineral oil being the largest contaminant in human tissue (10).

The best of the best natural body lotions

Honestly, saying “the best of the best” is getting harder and harder to qualify because there are just so many great hydrating lotions available these days. That being said, we do get to try more body lotions than the average person 😂. So let’s call this “the best of what we’ve tried.” As always, we never recommend anything we haven’t personally tried or vetted or gotten our hands-on. These are our faves as of late. 

These recs are broken down into three categories: light, medium and serious. We’ve done the legwork for you by narrowing each category down to just our top pick (which is so hard, but we are up for the challenge!).

RELATED: The best nontoxic tinted face SPF.


The best LIGHTWEIGHT natural body lotion


The best MEDIUM WEIGHT natural body lotion 


The best SERIOUS natural body lotion

RELATED: Check out my favorite body tools here.


Best BUDGET natural body lotions

But, realistically, most of us snag our body lotion on the go, at Target or the drugstore. So, keep an eye out for these natural body lotion picks next time you’re searching for a quick grab-n-go option.

RELATED: How to use your body oil the right way.

What’s your favorite natural body lotion? 

xo, lisa in cursive

REFERENCES:

1. Jegasothy, S. Manjula, MD; Zabolotniaia, Valentina, MD; Bielfeldt, Stephan; Efficacy of a New Topical Nano-hyaluronic Acid in Humans; March 2014; //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3970829/#:~:text=Conclusion%3A%20The%20new%20nano%2Dhyaluronic,the%20end%20of%20eight%20weeks

2. National Institute of Health, Office of Dietery Supplements, March 2020; https://ods.od.nih.gov/pdf/factsheets/Magnesium-Consumer.pdf

3. Dhaliwal, S; Rybak, I; Ellis, S R; Notay, M; Trivedi, M; Burney, W; Vaughn, A R; Nguyen, M; Reiter, P; Bosanac, S; Yan, H; Foolad, N; Sivamani, R K; Prospective, randomized, double-blind assessment of topical bakuchiol and retinol for facial photoageing; February 2019; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29947134/#:~:text=Results%3A%20Bakuchiol%20and%20retinol%20both,facial%20skin%20scaling%20and%20stinging

4. Wang, Jingyi; Liu, Yang; Kam, Wendy; Li, Ying; Sullivan, David A.; Toxicity of the cosmetic preservatives parabens, phenoxyethanol and chlorphenesin on human meibomian gland epithelial cells; 25 September 2019; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S001448352030316X

5. Pan, Shawn; Yuan, Chaoshen; Tagmount, Abderrahmane; Rudel, Ruthann A.; Ackerman, Janet M.; Yaswen, Paul; Vulpe, Chris D.; Leitman, Dale C.L; Parabens and Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Ligand Cross-Talk
in Breast Cancer Cells; May 2016; https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/pdf/10.1289/ehp.1409200

6. D’Souza, Ryan S.; Warner, Nafisseh; Phenol Nerve Block; Mayo Clinic, updated in September 2020; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK525978/

7. California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, August 2015; https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/chemicals/14-dioxane

8. California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, July 1st, 1987; https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/chemicals/ethylene-oxide

9. Begum, Ghausia; Mohamed, Ikram; Zahoor, Humaira; Gomaa, Rania; International Journal of Recent Scientific Research, November 2016; https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rania_Gomaa5/publication/322656553_A_STUDY_OF_POTENTIAL_CYTOTOXIC_EFFECT_OF_14_DIOXANE_ON_HUMAN_HEPATIC_CELL_LINE_HEP10/links/5a670f4c0f7e9b76ea8d6285/A-STUDY-OF-POTENTIAL-CYTOTOXIC-EFFECT-OF-1-4-DIOXANE-ON-HUMAN-HEPATIC-CELL-LINE-HEP10.pdf

10. Concin, Nicole; Hofstetter, Gerda; Plattner, Barbara; Tomovski, Caroline; Fiselier, Katell; Gerritzen, Kerstin; Fessler, Siegfried; Windbichler, Gudrun; Zeimet, Alain; Ulmer, Hanno; Siegl, Harald; Rieger, Karl; Concin, Hans; Grob, Koni; Mineral oil paraffins in human body fat and milk, August 2007; https://www.dr-jetskeultee.nl/jetskeultee/download/common/6112014.pdf

What is the best body lotion for dry skin?

Prima’s Skin Therapy 275 CBD Ultra-Rich Body Butter (body cream) is the best lotion for dry skin.

Does scented lotion dry out your skin?

Synthetic fragrances (listed as “fragrance” or “parfum”) can contain unregulated ingredients that can cause skin irritation or dryness. IMO, choose a body lotion with a natural fragrance (essential oil based).

By Lisa Fennessy

Lisa is the founder of The New Knew. Passionate about clean beauty, organic eats and nontoxic lifestyle, Lisa writes to create awareness. Conscious consumerism and informed decisions will impact the marketplace, our health and THE WORLD!

10 Comments

  1. Reply

    Sarah

    I think I will go ahead with True Botanicals. Thank you so much for this! I have dry skin and specially during winter it is more evident.

    1. Reply

      Lisa

      Great choice Sarah! Let us know how you like it! xo, Lisa

  2. Reply

    Jannine

    Lisa,

    Did I miss something?

    Do any of yours contain hyleronic acid?

    1. Reply

      Lisa

      Hi J! These ones don’t but if you are looking for one that does, check this one out!

  3. Reply

    jane

    Hi! I see you have a babys lotion Weleda, have you tried the brand Pipette?

    1. Reply

      Lisa Fennessy

      I haven’t – do you like it?

  4. Reply

    Jane

    Yes pipette is awesome. I use pipette lotions and body wash and oil for my baby and myself, it is EWG verified and has squalane and it’s affordable too! I’m trying to use clean products for my face and hair and it can get expensive so the body wash and lotion definitely needs to be within budget especially since I use those in large amounts.

    1. Reply

      Lisa Fennessy

      So glad you found something that works for you! xo, L

  5. Reply

    Edith

    Please I am in Cameroon, don’t know how to get a good face cream for an acne prone face.

    1. Reply

      Lisa Fennessy

      Hi Edith! Beauty Heroes offers international shipping with a minimum order. I would recommend Mukti’s Balancing Moisturizer or OSEA’s Blemish Balm. Hope this helps! xo, Lisa

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