ATTITUDE's Super Leaves shower gel with olive leaf extract, 473 ml. Vegan, EWG VERIFIED, free from parabens, sodium laureth sulfate, PEGs and synthetic fragrance.
Why gentle matters more in a body wash than almost anywhere else. The outer layer of skin is held together by a mixture of ceramides, cholesterol and fatty acids — the mortar between the cells that keeps water in and irritants out. Detergents do not distinguish between the oil you want gone and the lipids that make up that barrier, so a harsh body wash strips both. The tight, squeaky feeling people associate with being properly clean is in fact the sound of a damaged barrier, and if your skin itches after a shower, this is usually why. A mild surfactant system cleans perfectly well without taking the mortar with it.
Olive leaf. Not the oil from the fruit but an extract of the leaf, whose defining compound is oleuropein — the intensely bitter polyphenol that makes an olive straight off the tree inedible and that has been studied more than most plant antioxidants. In a rinse-off product it is a supporting ingredient rather than the active one, and we would rather say that than pretend a ninety-second contact time delivers an antioxidant treatment.
Practical points. Hot water strips skin faster than any detergent — a shorter, cooler shower does more for dry skin than switching products. Moisturise within three minutes of getting out, while the skin is still damp: applied to dry skin, a cream has far less water to seal in.
Why 473 ml? It is 16 US fluid ounces. ATTITUDE is based in Montreal and bottles for the North American market.
Available at Só Verde, an organic concept store in Foz, Porto.