Body care on Reddit is the category most under-discussed relative to its importance. Most redditors spend years tweaking face routines while ignoring body skin entirely, then notice keratosis pilaris, strawberry legs, or eczema flares and scramble to learn the basics. r/SkincareAddiction's advice for starting out is unglamorous: gentle body wash, basic body lotion, and one occlusive ointment for repair work. Add a body acid only if you have a specific exfoliation concern.
Body wash picks: Dove Sensitive Skin Body Wash, CeraVe Hydrating Body Wash, Vanicream Gentle Body Wash. These three cover daily cleansing for almost every skin type without stripping the barrier. For genuinely sensitive or eczema-prone skin, CeraVe Psoriasis Cleansing Wash or Cetaphil Restoraderm enter the picture. The category Reddit consensus avoids is heavily-fragranced body washes — they smell good in the shower but most modern formulas use synthetic fragrance loads that aggravate sensitive body skin over time.
Body lotion picks vary by need. For general daily use: CeraVe Daily Moisturizing Lotion, Aveeno Skin Relief Body Lotion, Vanicream Moisturizing Cream. For dry-to-very-dry skin in winter: Eucerin Advanced Repair Cream, Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream, Aquaphor Healing Ointment as the heavy occlusive. For body exfoliation: AmLactin Daily Moisturizing Body Lotion (12% lactic acid) and Naturium The Smoother Body Exfoliating Acid Serum (10% glycolic + 2% salicylic) handle keratosis pilaris, strawberry legs, and ingrown hairs better than physical scrubs. Use 2–4 times per week, not daily.
Vaseline Healing Jelly and Aquaphor Healing Ointment are the two products that dominate occlusive discussions on r/SkincareAddiction. They're not pretty and they're not glamorous, but they do barrier repair work no other product matches. Slugging at night, lip protection, hand and heel rescue, post-shower-itch relief — both deliver. Aquaphor edges out Vaseline for facial use because the formula is slightly less occlusive and lets actives breathe; Vaseline wins on price-per-ounce and pure occlusive volume. Reddit's consensus is that everyone should own one of the two.
Deodorant is the body category where Reddit pushes back hardest on natural alternatives. The transition from aluminum-based to natural deodorant takes 4–8 weeks of detox-stage smelliness, and most users abandon before the recalibration is complete. If you're committed to going natural, the consensus picks that survive transitions are Native, Lume, and Salt and Stone. If you want to stay with aluminum-based, Mitchum Advanced Control and Dove Advanced Care 48-Hour rank highest by mention volume and remain the category benchmarks for performance.
Hand and foot care round out the basic body kit on Reddit, and both are categories where consistency outperforms product choice. For hands, O'Keeffe's Working Hands and CeraVe Therapeutic Hand Cream are the two products r/SkincareAddiction recommends most often for severe dryness, with O'Keeffe's winning on barrier-repair speed and CeraVe winning on daily wearability. For feet, the consensus routine is weekly use of a chemical exfoliant (AmLactin Foot Repair or Baby Foot peels every 6–8 weeks) plus a heavy occlusive at night, often Aquaphor under cotton socks. The unglamorous truth Reddit reinforces is that moisturizing hands and feet daily for a month does more than any premium hand cream used sporadically.
