As I mentioned in a previous post, Caress appears to have a nearly identical surfactant formula to the old unscented Dove. Now that I’ve tried it, I’m not sure I like it that much. I don’t know if it’s because the added shea butter or Vitamin E (depending on the flavor) makes it feel different and rinse less well, or something else.
I’m also wondering if the parent company is going to keep the surfactant formula in Caress the same, rather than switching it over as they have Dove. I have looked at Caress boxes in various drugstores and discount stores – if they were going to switch over to the new Dove surfactant, they probably would have by now. This is all my speculation, I have no idea what will happen.
In the meantime, I’m bringing all those extra boxes I bought of Caress back to the store. Because of the way Caress rinses, it doesn’t appear to be a good replacement for the old unscented Dove per the solveeczema web site, even though the surfactant formula is almost the same. However, provided the product is labeled properly (and hasn’t also been switched to the new surfactant in Dove for Sensitive Skin), and the additional ingredients don’t otherwise cause individual allergy, the product should be okay for those with detergent-reactive eczema.
I say SHOULD, but I don’t have the kind of empirical information on Caress that I had on unscented Dove. Always test. True soaps are a very narrowly defined surfactant, so I can say that all true soaps are fine. Anything else really requires a lot more information.