The 16 Best New Shower, Bath, and Hygiene Products
Fact: Showers can be pure magic. You know what we’re talking about. The best bath products can also make a difference: They create those moments when you’re sudsing up and suddenly have a brilliant idea. Or you’re granted clarity on a problem that’s been weighing you down. Or maybe you turn on the faucet feeling impossibly weary, only to step out feeling refreshed and clearheaded.
With that in mind, our need for the best bath products and hygiene products has never been stronger. For our Healthy Beauty Awards, we put a mountain of body washes, soaps, deodorants, razors, and more to the test to help you care for yourself, head to toe.
What to Look for When Choosing Bath and Hygiene Products
Here, we’ve used expert testing and dermatologist guidelines to determine the best bath products and hygiene products of 2021. If you have dry skin, dermatologists say to keep an eye out for moisturizing ingredients like shea butter and glycerin, plus soothing and nourishing ingredients like aloe vera. Gentle exfoliants like glycolic and salicylic acids are derm approved for fighting excess oil and removing dead skin cells. If you have sensitive skin, they advise avoiding fragrances, dyes, and essential oils, as they can be common irritants. For skin conditions like eczema, look for soothing colloidal oatmeal. When it comes to the best bath products, you want a product that makes your skin feel clean but not stripped of its natural oils.
Our winners are so effective—and beautiful—that there’s no need to hide them behind a shower curtain or medicine cabinet door. From an innovative deodorant to the soap that made a convert of a most devout anti-bar soaper, we’ve got you covered. Check out the rest of our derm criteria here. Keep scrolling for our picks, and be sure to check out our other Healthy Beauty Award winners right here.
Reviews have been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
The Best Luxury Bath Products for a Spa-Like Soak
When we’re kids, we take baths for obvious reasons: The whole “learning to bathe yourself” thing, for starters. Mom & Dad can control the temperature (and don't have to get wet themselves). Nothing is out of reach for those short arms. Rubber duckie time.
However, as soon as we graduate to the shower, baths are forever in the past—at least for most of us. Why would you soak in your own filth after waiting 10 minutes for the tub to fill, when you could be showered and done by the time it’s finished?
Well, that bathtub in your house could play host to your new favorite pastime. There’s a lot of untapped leisurely potential in that tub, and we would like to convince you to reconsider it. Maybe once a week—even just once a month!—but you also need to approach it with that leisure in mind.
Baths are kind of gross. Like, you’re soaking in the water with your sweaty feet and dirty backside. So, we say start with a quick shower to do the actual washing, shampooing, and so forth. Get yourself clean before you hop in the tub. That’s when the leisure begins—it’s not about bathing to get clean, but bathing to feel incredible, both superficially and spiritually.
Below are the products we recommend picking up to enhance the experience, and to turn your bathroom into a veritable spa. No, we don’t expect you to stock up on hundreds of dollars of products just to take a bath. But if you're in the market, picking up one or two will absolutely elevate your luxuriating.
Bath Oil
On its own, warm water can dehydrate your skin by extracting the natural oils in your skin. A splash of bath oil will yield opposite results: Those nourishing oils, which often include jojoba, moringa, and rosehip, instead leave skin soft, supple, and radiant. (I find it helps to wipe the tub down with a paper towel after the bath, when using oils—it’s a super easy cleanup.)
The Best Bath Oil
Tom Dixon bath oil Rosehip, moringa, and carrot oil make for a luxurious soak. This product can be pumped into the bath (and produces a light foam), and can also be used as a body oil, massaged directly into the skin. $60 Mr. Porter Buy Now
Bath Salts
Mineral-rich bath salts can soothe and nurture the skin—it’s like a full-body version of a relieving foot soak. There’s a reason that salt-rich bodies of water like the Dead Sea are sought out for their remedial powers, too; while you won’t reach 34% salt content or anything, you can get the same soothing benefits with a sprinkling of bath salts. Watch your agonies float to the surface as you soak in satisfaction.
The Best Bath Salt
Bathing Culture mineral bath salts A blend that combines mineral sea salt with purifying green clay, and skin-nourishing jojoba oil. $30 Bathing Culture Buy Now
Bath Bomb
Bath bombs are typically a fragrant, mind-clearing mixture of bath salts, essential oils, carrier oils, and natural extracts that help calm and hydrate the skin. Drop them into the drink, and they’ll dissolve and do their thing.
The Best Bath Bomb
Prima CBD bath gem Come for the skin-calming CBD, stay for the relaxing epsom salt and nourishing meadowfoam oil. $15 Sephora Buy Now
Terry Cloth Towel and Robe
Every guy needs a really great bath robe (which inevitably turns into a house robe, for any and all occasions). The same goes for a set of bath towels, and not just because you want your guests to know that you take good care of yourself—but because you actually do take good care of yourself. In both cases, terry cloth checks all the boxes: It’s oh-so-soft, dries quickly, is easy to care for, and it looks far more expensive than it is. (A minor investment for major longevity and quality.)
Baths Always Seemed Pointless to Me Until I Tried These 5 Things
I've had never been a bath person. I don't even think I really liked bathtime that much as a kid. I distinctly remember enjoying the bubbles for a very short time, then asking my parents to take me out. I'm weird; I know.
So when I saw so many of my friends and random people I follow in Instagram rave about the self-care ritual that is a good soak in a tub, I thought, Uh huh, and remained unconvinced. Baths were never a calming, stress-relieving, or even enjoyable experience for me. When given the choice between a bath or shower, I always took the shower. It was quicker and just as effective, cleanliness-wise.
Case in point: I took a 30th birthday trip to Thailand with my sister last year, and one of our hotels had the most amazing outdoor tub. (There was privacy.) Soaking in a tub outdoors in a villa? I mean, it had to be done. But it took forever to fill said tub, and then when it was filled, the water was scalding hot, so I had to wait until it cooled down. After about an hour and a half of prepping the tub and putting in bath salts, I spent a whopping 10 minutes in it. I just sat there, unsure of how to relax or zone out.
