11 Lotion Bars For Mess-Free Moisturizing Everywhere You Go
Updated: Feb. 26, 2024
It's time to raise the bar by adding skincare's best-kept secret to your routine—a lotion bar.
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Body lotion may feel luxurious to use, but this skincare product is usually packaged in plastic, full of additives and more trouble than it’s worth. A lotion bar comes in a solid form, is eco-friendly, easy to travel with and contains cleaner, all-natural ingredients.
Lotion bars offer impactful solutions to conundrums like that 3.4-ounce TSA carry-on rule (never put liquids in a plastic baggie again) or how to live a low-impact lifestyle. They even provide a mess-free way to travel with products.
The best lotion bars are made by sustainable brands with high standards and make meaningful eco-friendly gifts too. Keep reading for some of our favorites.
Katie McLeod Daily Stone Solid Refillable Body Moisturizer
Highly regarded as the best of the best, Katie McLeod Daily Stone Body Moisturizer is a really long name for a really good product. Shoppers love it not only for its subtle everyday scent but also for the glowing results it leaves behind. Beyond its refillable packaging, this lotion bar is vegan, gluten-free, cruelty-free and melts upon contact with the skin. No need to goop it up after using this product; it’s the perfect precursor to natural makeup.
Better Shea Butter Raw Shea Butter
A bestselling lotion bar on Amazon, the Better Shea Butter Raw Shea Butter lotion bar has over 19,000 ratings with a 4.7-star average. So, what’s the hype about? The Better Shea lotion bar slows off unwanted dead skin, leaving behind only the cells that glisten and shine. It also moonlights as one of the best frizzy hair products for curly hair or a softener for dry, cracked heels.
Moon Valley Organics Herbal Lotion Bar
It may come in four different scents—coconut lemon, lavender, lemon vanilla and bergamot geranium—but the latter is a fan favorite. Made from heat-activated, moisture-sealing beeswax, this lotion bar’s oils melt into the skin upon contact better than any other moisture-based product.
Herbal ingredients like calendula and comfrey work together to heal inflammation in the body. This includes aching joints that may cause everyday discomfort. Use a body scrub before applying the herbal lotion bar for a one-two punch of exfoliation and rejuvenation.
Ethique Body Sampler
Well-known for its shampoo and conditioner bars that come in bright and fruity formulations, Ethique also makes a variety of quality lotion bars. Check out the Ethique Body Sampler—a combo of five minis that run the gamut from everything from deodorant and body wash to body polish and lotion.
Included, you’ll find the Sweet Orange and Vanilla Créme Bodywash Bar, Lime and Ginger Body Polish, pumice, Teatree & Spearmint Bodywash Bar, deodorant and the Sweet Orange & Vanilla Butter Block (all sold separately as well). Each one is a bestseller, and since they are minis, the sampler is perfect to take on the go. This eco-friendly gift comes wrapped in 100% compostable packaging.
Seed Geeks Honey Vanilla Lotion Bar
Etsy is a treasure trove full of distinctive, handmade facial scrubs and lotion bars. The Seed Geeks Honey Vanilla Lotion Bar combines the natural powers of mango butter, beeswax and sunflower oil to moisturize any body part that needs some TLC. Small enough to fit in a purse or carry-on, it’s excellent for dry elbows, hands, knees and heels.
It even performs miracles on hard, painful cuticles, really making it an all-in-one product. Each lotion bar is handmade in small batches, always without artificial coloring, synthetic fragrances, preservatives or petroleum products.
ClimbOn All Purpose Body Lotion Bar
ClimbOn’s eco-friendly lotion bars come in recyclable tins and cardboard tubes, so forget about unnecessary, wasteful packaging. Designed with climbers and naturalists in mind, the ClimbOn All Purpose Body Lotion Bar carves its own lane as a must-have skincare for men product, lasting several months’ worth of daily use. In fact, one ounce is the equivalent of an 8-ounce bottle of conventional lotion.
Drunk Elephant Pekee Bar
The Drunk Elephant Pekee Bar has just about everything a conscious skincare user wants: clean ingredients, sustainable packing and a cruelty-free, no-fuss formulation. (Plus, the name recognition doesn’t hurt either.)
Ingredients like marula oil and honey protect the skin’s barrier and promote moisture retention. Those properties alone make the Drunk Elephant Pekee Bar one of the best skin-tightening creams out there—but in the form of a lotion bar.
Raw Shea Butter Body Butter Stick
The budget-friendly Raw Shea Butter Body Butter Stick by the trustworthy SheaMoisture brand quickly absorbs into moisture-deprived skin—perhaps even as quickly as some of the more expensive lotion bars on this list. Fair Trade and free of fragrance, reach for this body butter stick for all the benefits of a hydration facial.
Whether this becomes a staple in a daily skincare routine or you use it once or twice while skin cycling through different products, the butter stick is a tried-and-true favorite that actually holds a candle to some of the pricier brands.
Eco Lotion Bar
With eight scent options, the Eco Lotion Bar from Etsy maker McKeoneSoapWorks is small but mighty enough to stand up to big-name brands. Shipped from a small business in New York, it’s specifically formulated with skin conditions like psoriasis and eczema in mind.
This all-natural formulation contains ingredients like beeswax, coconut oil, olive oil, vitamin E, Shea butter and cocoa butter. The lotion bar won’t exacerbate sensitive skin. In fact, it’s so gentle, it’s even recommended to use on a baby’s irritated bottoms.
Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula Moisturizing Swivel Stick
For a lot of hydration done in a small amount of time (and on a small budget), spring for a three-pack of Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Moisturizing Sticks. For less than $10, create the perfect skincare routine by adopting “spot moisturization.” According to Palmer, that means to “spot treat” any areas plagued by dry skin.
By specifically targeting affected areas, reapply the cocoa buttery formula whenever and wherever. Best of all, it does double-duty as a blemish treatment. It reduces the appearance of scars, stretch marks, hyperpigmentation and other unwanted marks. Just think of it as the Tide To-Go Pen of skin imperfections.
Dionis Goat Milk Beauty Balm
Goat milk is so often mentioned in beauty conversations—and for good reason. It’s full of the necessary fatty acids that repair breakdowns in the skin barrier and soften skin. Goat milk also contains hearty amounts of vitamin A (good for exfoliation) and probiotics (which promote a healthy microbiome). All of that is the reason that Dionis Goat Milk Beauty Balm is a standout lotion bar option.
Though it’s packaged more like a deodorant stick, it works overtime as a generalized “beauty balm,” meaning it does it all. What more could anyone ask for in a skincare product?
Originally Published: May 18, 2023
