Rad Or Bad: The Ultimate Slacker Shower

Either laziness has reached a whole new level, or this is a really, really genius idea: Cleansing body wipes are an official thing. Sure, a few have been floating around, mostly at natural health stores or outdoor sport supply shops, but looks like beauty brands are working toward making them mainstream.

Brands like Ahava (launching its wipes soon at Target), Playtex, and even Johnson & Johnson — whose wipes for babies feature a daytime version and a nighttime one with aromatherapeutic benefits to help lull baby off to dreamland — have all recently launched their own version of a defunkifying and degunkifying towelette.

The basic concept behind these wipes, much like your basic makeup remover wipe, is that they are disposable cloth towels infused with cleansing ingredients. You simply rub them over wherever you think you need it — underarms, back, chest, legs — and they will wipe away dirt, grime, sweat, and odor without the need to rinse. They also contain hydrating ingredients so they don't dry out your skin in the process, plus fragrance to help cover up any lingering, less-than-fresh odors.

Frankly, we're kind of torn on the concept. As much as we love makeup wipes, our face just never feels totally clean when we use them. And, barring a very select few, most wipes leave behind a tiny bit of sticky residue, which would annoy the hell out of us if it covered our whole bodies and made our clothes cling to us.

Conversely, this could be awesome for those days when you don't have time to shower but need something to freshen up — providing they actually can do that. We can definitely see these coming in handy for festival season, and there's some serious potential for those super-sweaty, sticky summer days when you feel all kinds of icky and need something to wipe away the gunk and grime. But, we think we need to investigate these a bit more before we give these our stamp of approval.