You should never use a hand soap so drying that you’re required to apply a moisturizer after washing your mitts. Yes, washing your hands can reduce the moisture in your skin, especially if you have hard water or tend to turn the hot tap all the way up. However, the soap should never be the reason your hands feel dry after washing.
Still, the best hand soaps and their matching lotions can help you avoid all doubt, by keeping your hands clean and reinforcing your skin’s moisture barrier. For both types of products, prioritize ingredients that proactively boost hydration. “Like hyaluronic acid and ceramides [respectively], as well as nourishing ingredients like plant oils or shea butter,” says N.Y.C.-based board-certified dermatologist Elizabeth Hale, M.D. As for what to avoid, Hale has this to add: “Try to avoid antibacterial hand soaps, as they can be harsh on the skin, are no safer than regular soap and water, and can actually be detrimental to your health by killing off the beneficial bacteria on your skin.”
In this note, Hale suggests that synthetic formulas can be a suitable alternative for individuals with sensitivities, particularly synthetic detergent bar soaps, also known as syndet bars. “When looking for a syndet formula, avoid those with artificial colorants or added fragrance, since they can be irritating to some,” she adds. You’ll probably see this on the ingredients label as “fragrance” or “parfum”, whereas naturally scented formulas are derived from essential oils like peppermint, lavender, citrus, and so forth. Not everyone will react to artificial fragrance, but people with general sensitivities should be especially vigilant.
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If bar soap is your preference here, then Hale has a storage tip to help prolong its life, and it will also help prolong any shower/body soaps you use, too. “Keep it out of the ‘splash zone’ [on the sink or in the shower] and make sure it drains and completely dries in between uses.” For this, find a soap dish that offers proper drainage and ventilation beneath the bar, so that the soap never rests in a pool of water. A properly ventilated bathroom will also help ensure the soap bar dries quickly.
Read on for our picks for the best hand soaps, along with the best hand lotions that round out a perfect pairing.
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Loewe Tomato Leaves Hand Soap and Lotion
Image Credit: Loewe Loewe’s pleasantly green Tomato Leaves soap and lotion are a decadent reminder of summer, so don’t be surprised when you want to restock these two in the dregs of fall and winter.
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Diptyque Softening and Comforting Wash and Velvet Lotion
Image Credit: Diptyque All of the hand soap and lotion sets on this list will turn the quotidian task of keeping your hands clean into a sensory pleasure. But none do it with quite the same panache as Diptyque’s Softening and Comforting Hand Wash and Velvet Lotion. The wash is scented with a garden full of Provencal botanicals, including lavender, rosemary, and ylang ylang, while the deeply moisturizing cream plays up almond, petitgrain, and Virginia cedar.
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Maison Francis Kurkdjian 724 Scented Trio
Image Credit: Maison Francis Kurkdjian There are plenty of perfumers who turn their beloved fragrances into hand-care items, but among our favorites of this set is Maison Francis Kurkdjian. That’s not only because we enjoy the house’s 724 fragrance—scented with jasmine, orange, and sandalwood—but also because its soap and lotion set comes with a small vial of the fragrance itself.
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Sangre de Fruta Head of Roses Hand Wash and Lotion
Image Credit: Sange de Fruta The ultimate IYKYK brand, Sangre de Fruta is a Canadian company whose products are made in British Columbia with formulas intended to celebrate nature. Its Head of Roses fragrance is among our favorites, and the hand cream’s velvety texture gets compliments from guests every time.
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L’Objet Rose Noire Hand Soap and Lotion
Image Credit: L’Objet If you haven’t yet left behind the tired, outdated notion that roses aren’t for boys, fret not: Rose Noire, one of our favorite fragrances from the Portugal-based luxury home decor house L’Objet, has plenty of masculine ingredients to round out the titular floral ingredient. These include funky white pepper and fresh moss, which give the soap and lotion a well-rounded appeal you’ll want to return to again and again.
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Flamingo Estate Euphoria Hand Soap and Lotion
Image Credit: Flamingo Estate This California brand, whose rich Manuka body cream won a Robb Report Grooming Award earlier this year, can’t stop making great stuff. A case in point is its Euphoria hand soap, which has a texture that doesn’t get too sudsy, and a fragrance like being in a rose garden on a warm summer evening. Coordinating hand soap offers a sharp and alluring kick of pepper (we’re smelling a theme here).
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Frama Herbarium Hand Care Set
Image Credit: Todd Snyder If you’re after good, plain, green freshness, don’t be fooled by the name of Frama’s Herbarium soap and lotion. While it has an herbal presence, it also incorporates patchouli for spice and cedar for a woodsy appeal.
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LAFCO Feu de Bois Hand Soap and Lotion Set
Image Credit: LAFCO Speaking of woodsy—LAFCO’s Feu de Bois is among our favorite candles, so it stands to reason that its soap and lotion set would make this list, too. It’s among the purest distillations of that smoky, herby, fire-in-the-woods scent that’s so popular around the holidays, but it’ll also help you channel the scent of a campsite blaze on a summer evening.
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Aesop Reverence Duet
Image Credit: Aesop This set features an exfoliating soap that you may find especially helpful—frequent hand washing can make your hands look and feel drier, and sloughing off dead skin can help mitigate that. Both the soap and the lotion have a pleasant mandarin scent.
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Molton Brown Mesmerising Oudh Accord & Gold Hand Wash & Lotion Set
Image Credit: Molton Brown Molton Brown has earned fans all over the world for creating a beloved range of home scents, but the one that sticks out as a consistent favorite is its rich take on Oud wood. If its rousing aroma doesn’t lift your spirits, maybe the 23.5-carat gold flakes in the hand soap will.
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Byredo Suede Hand Soap and Lotion
Image Credit: Byredo Byredo’s suede soaps and lotions smell so good that we wish the company would bottle them as proper fragrances. Until then, you can wrap your hands in the alluring scent of bergamot, musk violet, and crisp amber with this handcare set, which may have your dinner guests spending more than their fair share of time in the powder room.
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L’Occitane Shea Butter and Verbena Soap and Lotion
If you’ve ever examined the carefully stocked shelves of a L’Occitane boutique, you’ll know that there’s almost nothing the French brand hasn’t figured out how to shea butter in. The signature ingredient is included in both its verbena-scented soap and lotion; it both helps keep your skin from drying out and preserves the pleasing fragrance of the herbaceous flower.
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Le Labo Hinonki Hand Soap and Hand Lotion
Image Credit: Le Labo Le Labo isn’t necessarily responsible for the world’s obsession with hinoki. The distinctly alluring Japanese cypress wood smells so good it’s been turned into candles, body washes and even chipped into sachets that can soak with you in a bathtub. But the French fragrance brand does do a good job of distilling the scent into a variety of products, including this excellent hand soap and moisturizer.
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D.S. & Durga Big Sur After Rain Hand Care Set
This alluring scent from D.S. & Durga channels the aroma in the air after a storm rolls through the lush, verdant, California coastal city of Big Sur. Specifically, it picks up on the scent of eucalyptus, wet wood, and magnolia flowers, leaving your hands with an alluring and slightly spicy fragrance once they’re clean.
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Grown Alchemist Hand Wash & Hand Cream Twin Set
Image Credit: Grown Alchemist Grown Alchemist’s hand-care duo looks nearly identical at first glance. But they do differ slightly: The soap boasts scents of cedar, sage, and orange, while the lotion features both orange and vanilla.
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