ATTITUDE's Super Leaves shower gel with white tea leaf extract, 473 ml — the gentlest-feeling of the range, aimed at skin that reacts easily. Vegan, EWG VERIFIED, free from parabens, sodium laureth sulfate, PEGs and synthetic fragrance.
What white tea actually is. All true tea — white, green, oolong, black — comes from the same plant, Camellia sinensis. What separates them is entirely processing. White tea is the least processed of the four: the youngest buds and first leaves, still covered in fine silvery down, are simply withered and dried. They are not rolled and not oxidised. Because oxidation is what converts the leaf's catechins into the darker compounds of black tea, white tea retains the highest proportion of its original polyphenols — which is why it is the one that appears in cosmetics.
Being honest about what that means in a shower gel. White tea polyphenols are genuine antioxidants, well studied in the laboratory. In a product that is on your skin for ninety seconds before being rinsed down the drain, they are a pleasant inclusion rather than a treatment. If someone sells you a body wash as an antioxidant therapy, they are selling you the contact time of a handshake.
What genuinely makes this good for reactive skin is what has been left out. No synthetic fragrance — fragrance is the single most common cause of cosmetic contact allergy, by a wide margin. No parabens, no PEGs, no sodium laureth sulfate. And a mild surfactant system that cleans without stripping the ceramides and fatty acids that hold the skin barrier together. Take away the irritants and use a gentle detergent, and most “sensitive skin” problems in the shower simply stop.
One more thing that helps more than any product: lower the water temperature. Hot water strips skin faster than detergent does.
Available at Só Verde, an organic concept store in Foz, Porto.
Weleda
Weleda
Weleda
