The more beloved a beauty product, the greater the risk when a brand decides to change its formula—even if that change in formula is intended to make it better. (Don’t believe me? There are more than a few message boards dedicated to tracking down the original versions of everything from eyeliner to nail polish.)
So when Dove decided to refresh perhaps the most beloved body wash of all time—its Best of Beauty-winning Deep Moisture Body Wash—we at Allure held our collective breath. It was a big swing… and a big hit. After testing the new formula, I can confidently say that it still has all the qualities that made me fall in love with the OG, but leaves my skin even softer.
What makes the new formula different from the original?
Okay, okay: Longtime Dove fans will flag that this isn’t actually the first time the product has gotten an upgrade. In 2023, Allure reported on its new packaging, a flat-top bottle intended to be more ergonomic and allow users the option to flip it upside down to more easily access every last drop of cleanser.
But now the formula, too, has gotten more than a tweak: This new iteration is made with a souped-up version of the brand’s “MicroMoisture” technology. What does that mean? Let’s revisit the science of skin. If you think of your skin like a brick wall, the individual cells are the bricks and the “mortar” around them is “a mixture of lipids that are important to the barrier properties of our skin,” says cosmetic chemist Kelly Dobos. When those lipids become disrupted and depleted, she says, the result is dryness. To undo the damage, you’ve got to go deep: “Those channels around the cells are tiny, so the smaller the droplets of moisturizing ingredients are in a formula, the better chance they have of penetrating and supplementing that ‘mortar,’” Dobos says.
With that thinking in mind, Dove infused its body wash with millions of teeny-tiny droplets that metaphorically and literally fill in the cracks. “These droplets carry emollients and moisturizing factors, like stearic and palmitic acids, that then get deposited into the crevices of our skin,” says cosmetic chemist Marisal Mou. “This is quite unique to a body wash because most have surfactants that attach themselves to the oil and dirt on your skin and wash it away [without doing much else].”
