The Good: It DOES moisturize! Inoffensive fragrance
The Bad: Does not leave hands clean or feeling clean, Bland, Does not lather well
The Basics: After getting a free sample, I purchased a bottle of Dove Nourishing Hand Wash Deep Moisturizing and I now wish I hadn't. Don't make the same mistake!
A few months ago, I was happily traveling down to Florida for a business trip and I stayed somewhere I had not been before. I had a wonderful stay at the Quality Inn & Suites Universal and one of the things that made it so nice was that there was a goody bag given out at the front desk and every room had some nice little amenities that I had never gotten at any other hotel. One of them was a trial size container of Dove Nourishing Hand Wash, the Deep Moisture formula. Well, over the autumn I used it a few times and then I went out and purchased a full size 8.45 oz. bottle; with winter upon us, I wash my hands a lot after putting logs in the wood stove and my hands get extremely dry extremely fast.
Dove Nourishing Hand Wash is a white lotion-like substance that comes in a 8.45 oz. bottle. The bottle is smooth and rounded at the bottom, tapered some at the top. This is nice because it does not get knocked over easily. The Dove Deep Moisture is dispensed through a pump and it is one of the nice newer style pumps where the top may be screwed down to prevent the pump from dispensing soap when you do not want it to (like when it is in your gym bag!).
The pump top is nice because it allows easy access to the liquid soap without making a mess. This also allows the user to control how much liquid soap they are getting with a theoretically average amount being dispensed with one pump. I write "theoretically average" because as someone with larger hands, it often takes me one and a half to two pumps to get enough hand wash for my cleansing needs. I'm not sure what the supposed difference between soap and hand wash is, but I call it soap around the house. That might be why I'm so disappointed with this product, though.
The 8.45 oz. container might go fast in a family, but after a month of using mine, I'm only about 1/3 of the way through it. The reason is simple; when I touch something dirty or am working with food, I want to be sure my hands are truly clean and I continue to use my Dial Liquid Soap (reviewed here!) in those circumstances.
The primary reason I've been using this so little is that the Dove Nourishing Hand Wash provided me with no evidence of actually cleaning my hands. Yes, the Deep Moisture formula has been softening my skin and preventing the rough, damaged skin from cracking more, but it doesn't clean them!
The dove Nourishing Hand Wash has a terrible lather quality. It comes out of the pump like a hand lotion and with water and agitation it never makes a decent lather. Instead, it reacts very little with water and I've found that if one is using water hot enough to cut through the soap, it's pretty much burning away the benefits of the Deep Moisture formula. I've been pretty miserly with soaps before but here it's not because I am trying to conserve the product that it is lasting so long, because when I do use it I find I use two pump's worth (which is a lot). Even with proper handwashing techniques, I could not get a decent cleansing lather out of this.
The Dove Nourishing Hand Wash leaves the skin feeling oily afterward and it does not leave my hands feeling clean. Indeed, I'm nervous about touching paper afterward as I'm left with the feeling that I might leave an oily stain on it (the product does not actually leave a residue or stain, but is sure feels like it will!). Properly rinsed off, the Deep Moisture does not leave a residue, though it is inconvenient trying to get to the point where one feels like they have rinsed all of it off.
What the Nourishing Hand Wash does do is moisturize. When I use it, I have noticed that it does help heal the cracks in my skin faster and make my rough skin softer. Within a week of even sporadic use, my skin was feeling better, was moisturized more and cracking less. The Deep Moisture formula certainly lives up on that front! With normal use, thus will not dry out the skin and it will effectively moisturize.
But it doesn't clean well. I've washed my hands thoroughly after grabbing moss-covered logs, which results in fine dirt getting into the wrinkles of skin in my fingers and with running water, Dove Nourishing Hand Wash and a lot of hand on hand friction, the hands still come out pretty dirty. Sure, they're well-moisturized, but they're not terribly clean!
The Nourishing Hand Wash has a mild scent to it that smells like a cross between freshed-baked white cupcakes and hand lotion. The smell dissipates when the product is washed off the hands, though. No problem. This only has the one scent, so there is not much variety for those who like that in a hand wash. It is not antibacterial, either.
Ultimately, what it is is a disappointment. It moisturizes, but not much else. I want more from a soap, especially one too pretentious to admit that it is a soap!
For other soap or hand wash alternatives, please check out my reviews of:
Bath & Body Works Frosting Forever 3-in-1
St. Ives Gentle Apricot Scrub
Bath & Body Works Christmas Tree Vanilla Bean Noel Soap
3/10
For other health and beauty product reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here.
© 2011, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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