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Nécessaire's personal-care products are made with ingredients normally found in skin care like hyaluronic acid and vitamin C.
- Genderless body-care line Nécessaire elevates daily basics, like body wash ($25) and body lotion ($25), into luxurious personal-care moments that appeal to everyone - including my husband, who'd previously used the same bar of soap on his face and body.
- Nécessaire wants you to "treat your body like your face," so formulas are filled with nourishing ingredients usually found in skin-care products like peptides, hyaluronic acid, and marula oil.
- All the products are also made without harmful ingredients like parabens, sulfates, phthalates, and synthetic fragrances.
- The minimalist gender-neutral packaging looks great in our bathrooms but doesn't take away from the fact that the products themselves work really well.
Years ago, as my husband and I unpacked in our new shared apartment, I thought the box he'd marked "bathroom" felt suspiciously light - turns out that he didn't own a single skin-care product. Not even a cleanser! He used the same bar of soap on his body and his face (oh, the horror). In contrast, my bathroom cabinet held at least 50 beauty products. Opposites attract, I guess.
We've rubbed off on each other since. He's realized the importance of taking care of his skin, I've realized most of my "essentials" are anything but, and we've both realized that personal-care has nothing to do with gender. In fact, the personal-care products that now dominate our bathrooms are largely unisex (or genderless, or a-gender, or gender-neutral), including the one body-care line we can't stop fighting over - Nécessaire.
"We didn't set out to be genderless," Nick Axelrod, co-founder of both Nécessaire and iconic beauty site Into the Gloss, tells Business Insider. "We set out to create a brand and conversation that everyone can join. I like the idea [of creating] a movement around even the most mundane daily essentials," he says. Regardless of gender, everyone needs to get clean.
So what is the Nécessaire movement? Well, there are a few parts to it. "Treat your body like your face" is one of the brand's loudest battle cries, which it addresses by packing two of its main products, The Body Wash ($25) and The Body Lotion ($25), with skin-care-level actives like hydrating hyaluronic acid; skin-strengthening peptides; nourishing vitamins A, B3, C, and E; and antioxidant-packed marula, cacay, and meadowfoam oils.
Nécessaire FB Page My husband and I used to fight over who gets to keep the body wash and lotion in our bathrooms. As it stands now, I get the wash and he gets lotion.
"Body has historically been an afterthought, never the first thought," Randi Christiansen, co-founder and former Estée Lauder Companies executive, tells Business Insider. "Body products go on our largest organ - the skin - and I guess, put simply, I felt I could design a better product than what is offered today."
Spoiler alert: She totally did.
There are three versions of The Body Wash - smoky Sandalwood (my personal favorite), energizing Eucalyptus, and a fragrance-free option for sensitive skin. My husband loves the scent-free version; it makes it easy to layer on his post-shower cologne without worrying that he'd smell like a teenage boy who'd just discovered Axe Body Spray.
But no matter the scent, the gel-oil hybrid lathers into a sudsy-but-not-too-sudsy body wash that feels like a dream. It delivers all the bubbles I need with plant-based surfactants and leaves my skin feeling silky-smooth, not stripped, afterwards. It also feels so luxe that I even use this in place of my usual bubble bath.
Then there's The Body Lotion, which is Christiansen's favorite product in the line. It's nothing short of perfect to me because it sinks into my skin quickly and keeps my dry elbows moisturized all day. You know how you usually have to wait 15 minutes between slathering on a typical body lotion and pulling on your jeans? Just me? Well, there's zero downtime with Nécessaire.
The lightweight blend of skin-strengthening peptides and marula, cacay, and meadowfoam oils is packed with so many nourishing and brightening vitamins and antioxidants that Christiansen says the lotion is "like a daily multi-vitamin for skin health."
What's not found in any of Nécessaire's products is potentially harmful ingredients like parabens, sulfates, silicones, and synthetic fragrances, all of which can irritate the skin. The No List is essentially the brand's public call-out of potentially toxic ingredients and Nécessaire vows to formulate products without anything on that list.
Using safe ingredients seems like it should be a no-brainer, but since the personal-care industry isn't regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, many products can include questionable or proven harmful ingredients like phthalates, formaldehyde, asbestos, and even "endocrine disruptors," which are things like pesticides and the preservative BHA that are known to interfere with hormone production.
Read more: The best moisturizers you can buy to keep your skin happy and healthy
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The products are housed in minimalist packaging that even my husband, who used to use the same bar of soap for his face and body, appreciates.
Now, because you can't talk about skin care in 2019 without talking about how it good it looks on Instagram, Nécessaire passes with flying colors. In fact, the packaging was what convinced my husband to give the products a try in the first place.
The branding is minimal and elegant without being overtly "girly" or "manly." To put it simply, these bottles look good sitting on the shelf. My husband and I even argued over whose bathroom we would keep them in. We ended up compromising: I get The Body Wash, he gets The Body Lotion.
But what's even better than chic packaging? The packaging is made sustainably.
"We set out to reimagine personal care with clean and effective ingredients, transparency, and sustainability at our core - that is our mission," Christiansen states. To this end, Nécessaire's shipping materials include boxes made from 85% post-consumer waste and paper that's 100% recyclable. The company works with Forest Stewardship Council-certified vendors and doesn't use virgin forest materials. Axelrod and Christiansen say that one of Nécessaire's future goals is sourcing primary packaging that's 100% repurposed; in other words, no virgin plastic.
As a consumer, I appreciate all the transparency; there's not enough in the beauty industry. So many brands tend to exaggerate their highs and hide their lows, but with Nécessaire, there's none of that. There's no marketing hype. The ingredients are safe. The bottles are chic. The products are good. So good that they're worth fighting my husband for.
Get the Nécessaire body wash at Nordstrom for $25
Get the Nécessaire body lotion at Nécessaire for $25
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