Can You Use Dove Soap On Your Face?
While Dove has maintained a top spot in the body care space for decades, it has recently gained new popularity on social media as the main step in many skincare routines.
For almost as long as the brand has existed, there has been a debate over whether its bar soap is an ideal product for daily facial cleansing.
While the bar soap has been an iconic staple for the Dove brand, some people are unaware of the wide variety of lotions, soaps, and sanitizers that also comprise their lineup.
Although the brand offers simple solutions for a deep and thorough body cleanse, the skin on your face is often more sensitive and requires different products to address your needs properly.
So, while Dove soap is a popular body soap choice, can you also use it on your face?
While Dove bar soap has been hailed for years as being an ideal cleanser for all skin types, the regular bar of Dove soap may be too harsh for your face. However, the brand’s Beauty Bar is full of moisturizing properties that can work well as part of your main skincare routine!
Below, we discuss the Dove brand, including the benefits and side effects of using their bar soap on your face, as well as other products to consider for your skincare routine.
The Dove Brand
Dove has been a leading brand in the skin and body care industry for over 60 years and remains at the forefront of body care products. It is a brand that prides itself on its gentle, yet effective products, which work for all skin types.
The brand offers a wide range of products, including soaps, lotions, and cleansers, each featuring unique ingredients tailored to address specific skin concerns.
Most of us have used at least one Dove brand product before in our body or skincare routines, and have been impressed by the gentle nature with which it cleanses and hydrates the skin.
Dove is a brand that has been consistently recommended by dermatologists due to its gentle nature on the skin. The brand also focuses many of its campaigns on giving back to various communities or taking a stance on social issues.
The main message of the Dove brand is centered on empowering all people, particularly women and girls, to feel strong and confident in their own skin by embracing their individual uniqueness.
With its focus on embracing our unique differences, the brand also prides itself on using regular consumers for its campaigns.
Dove wants to spotlight their everyday users who have seen positive results and can share their stories with other consumers alike.
Can You Really Use Dove Soap On Your Face?
As mentioned above, there has been a long-standing debate among consumers and professionals alike about whether Dove soap can be used on the face and what benefits it provides when incorporated into a skincare routine.
While Dove is often a dermatologist-recommended brand, the bar soap has not always been their endorsement for people looking for facial cleansers.
However, the Dove Beauty Bar is a recommended product by consumers and professionals alike, as it is less harsh than the brand’s regular bar soap!
There are many versions of the Dove brand soap to cater to various skin needs; however, the Beauty Bar can be a good solution for most skin types, especially as a cleanser.
Although regular Dove soap, or regular bar soap in general, is not recommended for the face, many dermatologists find that the Beauty Bar is a better alternative.
Most bar soaps are formulated with many harsh surfactants, which can strip the skin of its natural moisture barrier and disrupt its pH balance.
The Beauty Bar is not formulated with any harsh surfactants; instead, it is infused with moisturizing ingredients to soothe the skin. The product contains sulfate-free cleansers, which are gentler on the skin without drying it out excessively.
While the Beauty Bar will thoroughly cleanse the skin, it is not formulated with harsh detergents.
Instead, it contains ¼ moisture cream to ensure your skin feels soft and smooth — it also contains a neutral pH to help balance the skin without stripping it of moisture.
Pros Of Using Dove Soap On Your Face
There are several benefits to using the Dove Beauty Bar on your face or as a body cleanser.
It is a multitasking product, which means it can be used as both a facial cleanser and a body soap, helping to streamline the number of products you use.
Often, skin can become overwhelmed by too many products, so being able to reduce the number of products you incorporate into your routine can enhance the skin’s overall complexion.
Based on your skin type, the Dove Beauty Bar can help reduce the appearance of acne and help prevent future breakouts. While it will not completely cure acne breakouts, it can help diminish their appearance.
Creating a simple routine with a gentle cleanser can help prevent the skin from having to acclimate to too many separate products and ingredients.
The formulation of the Beauty Bar is also meant to keep a neutral pH balance in the skin, without disrupting the moisture barrier. It can be an ideal cleanser for those with sensitive skin, as it is formulated with moisturizing cream ingredients.
Dove is also available at countless drugstores, making the product easily accessible. It is also a budget-friendly product, and the single bar should last you for a while.
Cons Of Using Dove Soap On Your Face
Although many dermatologists may recommend using the Beauty Bar soap, it may not be a suitable facial cleanser for everyone. While it is more moisturizing than most other soaps, it can still leave the skin feeling dry.
Even with the mild cleansing ingredients it is formulated with, there is still a potential for mild skin irritation to occur, which can include itchiness, tightness, or redness.
While it may help with reducing the appearance of acne or breakouts, it will not completely cure the skin condition. It can help to control it, but it is best to identify the actual cause of the acne and treat the skin accordingly.
In some cases, the soap can cause the skin to break out more, depending on how it reacts to the product.
There are several variations of the Beauty Bar cleanser, and while they all have their benefits, they will not help to alleviate certain other skin concerns, such as texture, hyperpigmentation, or fine lines and wrinkles.
Dove Soap Alternatives For Your Face
If you are looking to switch up your skincare routine and have been interested in incorporating Dove Beauty Bar soap, but are still unsure, there are several other options you can try as well.
If you notice that your skin is becoming overwhelmed by too many products or breaking out more because of the types of products you are using, it is best to simplify your routine by stripping it back to the essentials, with as few steps as possible.
Taking a step back to assess the number of products or steps in your routine can help reacclimate your skin, allowing you to focus on cleansing, moisturizing, and addressing the specific concerns that are present.
The Dove brand focuses on using simple ingredients, and there are many skincare alternatives that offer similar options.
Brands like CeraVe, also available at drugstores, focus on creating a simple, streamlined routine that balances the skin and provides the right amount of moisture to keep the skin feeling comfortable and calm.
The cleansers are designed with different skin types in mind and share the same basic objective: to keep your skin clean, clear, and hydrated.
The best solution, especially when creating a new routine, is to understand the root cause of the specific skin concern that triggered it.
From there, you can find the correct products and ingredients to accurately target your skin, giving you the best results.
Often, it is best to scale back from many products and complicated routines and focus on the basics to get the skin in a good place.
Final Thoughts
Over the years, the Dove brand has expanded and enhanced its formulas to address each and every skin concern for its consumers.
The recent resurgence of using the iconic bar soap as part of a simple skincare routine has reignited discussions over whether it is an ideal choice for a facial cleanser.
While it will ultimately come down to your skin type and how it responds to the soap, the recommended choice for the brand is to use the Beauty Bar, which is formulated to help provide moisture, comfort, and simplicity to your skincare routine.
