Method Men body wash is generally safe for most people. The Environmental Working Group gives it an overall score of 3 out of 10, where lower numbers indicate fewer health concerns. That puts it in the “low hazard” category, which is a solid rating for a mass-market body wash. Still, a few ingredients are worth understanding if you have sensitive skin or specific concerns about what goes on your body.
What’s Actually in It
The formula is built around three main cleansing agents. The primary one is sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), a strong surfactant that creates lather and strips away oil and dirt. It’s joined by cocamidopropyl betaine, a milder cleanser derived from coconut oil that also thickens the product and boosts foam. A third surfactant helps blend the oily and watery parts of the formula together.
For preservation, different scent varieties use different systems. The Cedar + Cypress version uses phenoxyethanol, a widely used preservative considered safe at the concentrations found in body washes. The Glacier + Granite version uses a combination of benzyl alcohol and dehydroacetic acid instead. Both preservation approaches are standard in personal care products and keep bacteria from growing in the bottle over time.
The Ingredients That Score Higher on Hazard Ratings
Two things stand out when you look at the ingredient-level safety data: fragrance and sodium lauryl sulfate.
Fragrance scores an 8 out of 10 on the EWG’s hazard scale, the highest of any ingredient in the formula. That’s not unique to Method. “Fragrance” is a catch-all term that can represent dozens of undisclosed chemical compounds, and the EWG flags it across virtually every scented product because companies aren’t required to list the individual components. For most people, synthetic fragrance causes no issues. But if you’re prone to contact dermatitis or skin irritation, fragrance is the most common culprit in personal care products.
Sodium lauryl sulfate is the other ingredient worth knowing about. SLS is effective at cleaning, but it’s also one of the harsher surfactants available. It can strip natural oils from your skin, which sometimes leads to dryness or irritation, particularly if you have eczema or naturally dry skin. It’s not toxic or dangerous in a rinse-off product like body wash, where contact time is short. But if your skin feels tight or itchy after showering, SLS is often the reason.
How It Compares to Other Body Washes
A score of 3 on the EWG scale is respectable. Many popular drugstore body washes score in the 4 to 6 range, so Method lands on the cleaner end of mainstream options. The preservatives in both formulations score low individually: benzyl alcohol gets a 4, dehydroacetic acid gets a 1, and phenoxyethanol typically falls in a similar low-hazard range.
Where Method differentiates itself is on ethical standards. The brand is certified cruelty-free by PETA, meaning neither the finished products nor individual ingredients are tested on animals. All Method products are also vegan, containing no animal-derived ingredients. These certifications apply across the full product line, not just select items.
Who Might Want to Choose Something Else
If you have sensitive or eczema-prone skin, the combination of SLS and synthetic fragrance could be irritating. You’d likely do better with a sulfate-free, fragrance-free body wash. Signs that the product isn’t agreeing with your skin include redness, itching, flaking, or a tight feeling after you rinse off. These reactions typically show up within the first few uses.
For everyone else, the formula poses no meaningful safety risk. The surfactants rinse off quickly, the preservatives are used at standard concentrations, and the overall formulation scores well on independent safety databases. If you’ve been using it without any skin reactions, there’s no reason the ingredient profile should concern you.