The Body Care Edit: What Your Routine Is Missing

The hierarchy in most women's skincare routines is stark: the face receives layered, considered, sometimes expensive treatment; the body receives a moisturiser applied after showering, if that, and the legs receive even less. This hierarchy is understandable — the face is the most visible skin and the one most scrutinised both by the owner and by others. It is also, from a skin health perspective, somewhat arbitrary. The skin on the body responds to care with the same fidelity as the skin on the face, and its neglect shows in ways that are increasingly obvious as the years accumulate.

Body care does not need to be complicated or expensive. It needs to be consistent and — crucially — chosen for what the body's skin actually needs rather than for what the packaging suggests it might want.

Exfoliation and why the body needs more of it than the face

The body's skin is thicker than facial skin and has a lower density of sebaceous glands, which means it produces less natural oil and accumulates dead skin cells more visibly. The rough texture on elbows, knees, and upper arms; the dullness on the décolletage; the dry patches on the lower legs — these are accumulation problems rather than dryness problems, and they respond to exfoliation rather than to more moisturiser applied to an unexfoliated surface.

Body exfoliation falls into the same two categories as facial: physical and chemical. Physical exfoliants for the body — body scrubs, loofahs, exfoliating mitts — are appropriate because the thicker body skin tolerates the friction that would be too aggressive for the face. The key is regularity rather than intensity: twice weekly exfoliation with a moderate-grit scrub or an exfoliating glove is more effective and less damaging than weekly scrubbing with an aggressive product. The goal is removing the accumulated dead cells that are preventing moisturiser from reaching the living skin beneath, not abrading the skin itself.

Chemical exfoliation for the body — body lotions containing AHA (glycolic, lactic acid) or urea — is the option for the body skin that is too sensitive for physical exfoliation or for specific conditions like keratosis pilaris (the small rough bumps on the upper arms that affect a significant proportion of the population). Lactic acid at five to ten percent in a body lotion addresses both dryness and texture simultaneously, making it the most useful single body product for skin that is both dry and textured. Apply it to dry skin after showering, every day or every other day, and allow three to four weeks for visible results.

The body oil question

Body oils occupy a specific niche: they are the product for skin that has been well-cleansed and well-exfoliated and now needs sealing rather than treating. A body oil applied to damp skin after showering — while the skin still has a film of water — traps that moisture against the skin rather than allowing it to evaporate. This occlusive effect is different from the effect of a lotion or cream, which adds moisture; it preserves the moisture already present. The two approaches are complementary: a lotion for day use when you want fast absorption, an oil for evening use when you want maximum hydration and do not mind the slower absorption.

The oils worth knowing: jojoba oil is technically a wax ester that is structurally similar to human sebum, making it well-tolerated by even sensitive skin. Rosehip oil contains a high proportion of linoleic acid and is one of the better-studied oils for skin texture and evenness. Squalane, derived from olive or sugarcane, is the lightest natural oil and absorbs without any greasiness. A body oil that lists one of these as its primary ingredient — rather than a fragrance-heavy proprietary blend — is a body oil that is working at the level of the skin rather than at the level of the experience.

The overlooked areas

The hands are the most used and least cared-for skin on the body. They are washed dozens of times daily, exposed to more environmental stress than any other area, and in constant contact with surfaces that strip their moisture. A hand cream kept next to every sink — not in a bathroom cabinet where you will remember it occasionally, but at the point of use — is the most effective deployment of a product that most people own and few use consistently.

The décolletage is the area that shows the effects of sun exposure and neglect most clearly and earliest. It is also the area most consistently forgotten in facial skincare routines that stop at the jawline. The products used on the face — the serum, the moisturiser, the SPF — should extend to the chest and neck as a matter of routine. This requires no additional product and no additional step; it requires only that the downward stroke of application does not stop at the chin. The skin below the chin is the same skin, responding to the same conditions, requiring the same care.

Body care, like all skincare, is a long-term practice rather than a short-term fix. The body skin that has been consistently cared for at forty looks different from the skin that has not. The difference is not dramatic — there is no body moisturiser that reverses decades of neglect overnight — but it is real and it accumulates. The habit built now is the investment that pays back gradually, and the payback is skin that is softer, more resilient, and more comfortable to inhabit. Which is, ultimately, what skin care is for.

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