Pure Fiji Coconut Milk Shower Gel 280ml

Sulphate-free body washes behave a little differently in the shower, and it helps to know that before you reach for one. This one is built on coconut milk and plant extracts. It lathers gently rather than big and foamy, it rinses clean, and skin tends to feel soft afterwards rather than tight. You will also see sulphate-free written as sulfate-free. Same thing.

How to use it

Start with a small amount, about the size of a 20 cent coin, on a flannel, a sponge or bare hands, and add more if you need it. Work it over damp skin, then rinse. Warm water rather than hot is kinder here, since very hot water tends to leave skin feeling dry no matter what you wash with. Pat dry and put your body moisturiser on while skin is still slightly damp.

Who it suits, and who it does not

• Daily and twice daily showering. A gentle wash is easier to use that often, which matters through a humid Auckland summer.
• Anyone whose skin feels tight after a foaming wash and who has to moisturise straight away to feel comfortable again.
• After a day outdoors, when skin already feels dry by evening. It is a body wash and nothing more, so it does not replace sun protection.
• Not for you if you judge a wash by its foam. Gentle, sulphate-free formulas lather less, and hard water can knock the lather back further again. Foam and cleaning are not the same thing.
• Not for heavy grime. Workshop hands, engine grease and paint want something stronger.

The honest limitation

It will not do a moisturiser's job. Through a New Zealand winter, with the heat pump running and the indoor air dry, a gentle wash means skin is less likely to feel stripped, but it does not put anything back. You still want a body cream after towelling off.

Verdo Cosmetics is an authorised stockist in Parnell, Auckland. If you have questions about it, ask us in store.