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Reviews

Product Review: Defense Soap Shower Gel – The Combat Athlete’s Soap

If you participate in any type of contact sport like wrestling or martial arts, you may become more susceptible to skin conditions.

val worthington, valerie worthington, bjj, mma, brazilian jiu jitsu, grappling

Written by Valerie Worthington Last updated on Oct 21, 2021

We receive free products and receive commissions through our links. See disclosures page.

Our significant others are not the only ones who appreciate our efforts to get in shape. If you participate in any type of contact sport like wrestling or martial arts, you may become more susceptible to skin conditions like ringworm, folliculitis, impetigo, or even staph. The organisms that cause these very contagious conditions love warm, moist places, and sweaty bodies fill the bill. So, unlike our significant others, we don’t want these guys to linger for too long.

Defense soap is designed for the athlete who participates in these close contact sports, to help prevent these skin conditions. The Defense website claims that “Defense Soap and the Defense line of products are made from only the purest natural pharmaceutical grade essential botanicals. These oils have been clinically proven to have natural anti-fungal, antibacterial and anti-viral properties, when put into our soaps it creates a health care system designed specifically for direct contact and combat athletes, or anyone interested in 100% safe, 100% natural hygiene products.” The shower gel contains no petrochemical compounds, Triclosan, or Sodium Lauryl Sulfate.

Recently, they developed a shower gel to complement the bar soaps they already sell. It has a slippery, creamy texture, probably due to the various other oils (coconut and olive) that are main ingredients. It lathers up nicely and rinses well, with no film afterward. There is no real tingling sensation like some eucalyptus-based products provide, but it is refreshing, with a pungent but not overpowering aroma.

The website suggests using the gel within 4 hours of exposure for best results. I used it after a Brazilian jiu jitsu training session and, per the instructions on the bottle, I left it on my skin for a little while before rinsing. There’s no suggestion about how long to wait, so I just clocked a couple minutes.

Overall, the shower gel is a good addition to the Defense line of products. The gel form is produced with the same care and ingredients as the bar soaps, and it is more convenient to pack in a gym bag. For people who spend lots of time in close training quarters with other people, the Defense shower gel is a great option for keeping them active and skin condition-free!

Defense Shower Gel is available for $8.95 and up at DefenseSoap.com.

val worthington, valerie worthington, bjj, mma, brazilian jiu jitsu, grappling

About Valerie Worthington

Valerie Worthington has been moving her body since before she was born, for many reasons and with many outcomes. She really started to pay attention to how, when, and why her body moves when she began training in Brazilian jiu jitsu in 1998. From then on, she became hugely invested in educating herself about how to optimize her body movement for BJJ and how to support it in doing so. She has observed that these endeavors require her to invest herself not only physically, but also mentally, emotionally, and psychologically, fueling a particular interest in the influence on her life of these dimensions of athletic activity.

Valerie has developed as a BJJ practitioner via her own training and competition preparation, teaching and coaching other practitioners, and writing about her life as a jiu jitsu devotee through the lens of her education, personal experiences, and professional background. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and a doctorate in educational psychology from Michigan State University. She is a first-degree black belt in BJJ, as well as co-founder and proprietor of Groundswell Grappling Concepts. She trains at Princeton Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Princeton, New Jersey.

Most recently, Valerie is the author of How to Love a Grappler: A Guide for People Who Love People Who Love Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

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