What looks like a good, old-fashioned bar of soap is actually a miracle product for treating body breakouts. As someone who tests all kinds of “miracle-working” beauty products for a living (a whole lot of which turn out to be BS—just being real here), I don’t use that term lightly. After using the bar to scrub my behind for three days, there’s nary a pimple in sight.
To understand why the bar works so well, it’s first important to note that most butt acne (mine included) isn’t actually “acne” at all. It’s actually something called folliculitis, which occurs when friction from things like sweaty workout leggings and thongs plug up your hair follicles and create inflammation. The fix, according to derms, is exfoliation. “Exfoliants keep the follicle from getting clogged with extra debris,” Janelle Vega, MD, a board-certified dermatologist, previously told Well+Good. And that’s where the buffing bar comes in.
It’s made from superfine sanding crystals that are packed into a moisturizing base, and offers physical exfoliation that is somehow intense, yet gentle, at the same time. The texture is not dissimilar to that of a pumice stone, but because there are so many skin-nourishing ingredients—like aloe and glycerin—in the mix, it delivers serious sloughing without irritation. And let me tell you: It feels amazing. I’ve never experienced anything as close to a pro-grade body buffing treatment in my own shower. In fact, that’s the only reason I kept using it for three straight days—my butt-ne disappearing was a very welcome side-effect.
For particularly pesky body breakouts, Soft Services has also got a chemically exfoliating gel made with lactic acid and urea that’s meant to be applied post-shower, and a soothing lotion (which also has urea) to seal it all in. With a trio like this, butt-ne (and back-ne, and chest-ne) are no longer things that any of us have to learn to live with.
