United States · Medicated body powder · Single-product teardown
30 October 2026
A two-bottle pack of Gold Bond medicated powder, regulated as an OTC drug rather than a cosmetic. That regulatory status changes everything about how it should be read: the actives are declared with a percentage, the uses are enumerated, the warnings are enforceable, and the whole formulation fits in eleven lines.
Built from the live listing, a two-and-a-half-year price archive, and the Drug Facts panel on the bottle - which is the only ingredient declaration this product has anywhere.
Rating
4.6 / 5
15,060 ratings; 81% five-star
Price at capture
$12.93
19% below the $15.98 bundle list
Cost per ounce
$0.65
across a 20 oz two-pack
Declared ingredients
11
1 active, 10 inactive
01
Product information
An OTC drug wearing a body-care label
The listing files this under eczema and psoriasis care and calls it a body powder. Both are accurate: the label's Uses block enumerates exactly which conditions the product is permitted to treat, and menthol at 0.15% is the only ingredient allowed to make that claim.
| Item Form | Powder |
|---|---|
| Scent | Unscented |
| Brand | Gold Bond |
| Product Benefits | Temporarily relieves itch and cools the skin, absorbs moisture |
| Skin Type | Normal |
| Brand Name | Gold Bond |
| Unit Count | 20 Ounce |
| Number of Items | 2 |
| Manufacturer | Gold Bond |
| Model Number | 041167011096 |
| Manufacturer Part Number | 041167011096 |
| Best Sellers Rank | #8,560 in Health & Household; #29 in Eczema, Psoriasis & Rosacea Care |
| ASIN | B0D14X1VQW |
| Item Weight | 1.3 pounds |
| Item Volume | 20 fluid ounces |
| Size | 10 Ounce (Pack of 2) |
| Product Dimensions | 4 x 2.38 x 7.38 inches; 1.25 pounds |
| Item model number | 041167011096 |
| Date First Available | June 16, 2025 |
At a glance
- Format
- Loose powder, 10 oz per bottle, two bottles
- Active
- Menthol 0.15%, purpose anti-itch
- Carrier
- Corn starch. No talc on the panel
- Age limit
- 2 years and older; under 2, ask a doctor
- First available
- 16 June 2025 - a young ASIN with an old formula
The listing copy, as written
- The information below is per-pack only
- Includes one (1) 10-oz. bottle of Gold Bond Medicated Powder, Original Strength, stay fresh with this cooling powder that helps soothe itchy skin
- This Gold Bond Body Powder for men and women is made with a unique triple action formula. A moisture-absorbing powder that cools and relieves to help keep you dry and comfortable through daily wear and post-workout routines
- A Gold Bond powder medicated odor and wetness powder, temporarily relieves pain and itching associated with minor cuts and burns, scrapes, insect bites and summer discomfort
- Gold Bond's talc free body powder contains 0.15% menthol to temporarily relieve itch
- Apply this talc free powder after showering or exercising to keep you cool, dry and comfortable
The first bullet is the most useful line in the listing
Before any claim, the copy says “The information below is per-pack only” - because this is a two-bottle bundle and every bullet that follows describes one 10 oz bottle. That single sentence prevents the most common misreading of a multipack listing, and it is the kind of disclosure most bundles omit. The rest of the copy is a straightforward restatement of the Drug Facts panel: triple action, odour and wetness control, 0.15% menthol, talc free, apply after showering or exercise. Where the listing and the label disagree is in the attribute block, which names salicylic acid as an active ingredient when the Drug Facts panel lists it as inactive. On a regulated product the label governs.
The product, as photographed
Three carousel frames. The third is the back label, which is where the ingredient panel lives. The listing exposes no buyer photos.
Source: Amazon
Source: Amazon
Source: Amazon
02
Product rating
The cleanest rating profile in the set, on the thinnest evidence
15,060 ratings at 4.6, with 81% of them five-star. That is the best-looking distribution here - and it comes with the least supporting detail, because the platform published only two themed aspects for this product.
Average rating
4.6 / 5
15,060 ratings
Five-star share
81%
four in five buyers
One-star share
2%
against a 1% two-star bucket
Aspect themes
2
effectiveness and value only
Star distribution
A monotonic fall to almost nothing
81 / 11 / 5 / 1 / 2 is the shape of a product that is bought on purpose and used up. There is no bump in the middle and no spike at the bottom, so neither the shipping-damage nor the one-bad-batch explanations apply. Two cautions. The two-star bucket is a single rounded percentage point, so the step from 1% to 2% is rounding, not a real dip. And this distribution describes 15,060 ratings of a product whose ASIN only went live in June 2025 - a fast accumulation that suggests repeat buying rather than a single launch push.
The two themes the platform published
Only two aspects were returned for this product, so this chart is short by necessity rather than by choice.
| Aspect | Mentions | Positive | Negative | Positive share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| effectiveness | 323 | 293 | 30 | 91% |
| value for money | 146 | 90 | 56 | 62% |
The summary the platform itself gives
Customers find the body powder effective, particularly noting its performance in hot summer months. The value for money receives mixed feedback, with some customers saying it's a great product for the price while others consider it overpriced.
The value split is the only argument in the review data
Effectiveness at 91% across 323 mentions is close to unanimous. Value sits at 62% across 146 - the one place buyers disagree, and the disagreement is about the bundle rather than the product: some call it a great price, others call a two-pack overpriced. That is what a $0.65-per-ounce medicated powder looks like when shoppers compare it to store brands. It is also the aspect a reader should weight least, because 146 mentions is a small sample next to 15,060 ratings, and value complaints are the most context-dependent thing a reviewer can say. No irritation theme was published for this product at all, so this report makes no claim about how the menthol load lands; the label's warnings are the only reliable guide on that.
03
Product ingredients
Eleven lines, and the talc-free claim is structurally true
The merged ingredient reading. Neither community database would answer, and for this product that matters less than it would for a serum: the Drug Facts panel is a legally controlled declaration, recovered in full from the back label, with the active ingredient's own percentage printed on it.
Distribution by level
Classified by function in an anhydrous powder, not by any safety score.
| Level | What it contains | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| L1 Absorbent carrier | Corn starch, silica, tricalcium phosphate - the bulk and the flow | 3 | 27% |
| L2 Relief & protectant actives | Menthol, zinc oxide, salicylic acid, methyl salicylate | 4 | 36% |
| L3 Binder, flow & scent | Acacia gum, zinc stearate, eucalyptol | 3 | 27% |
| L4 Antimicrobial | Thymol - the whole preservation strategy | 1 | 9% |
| Total | 11 | 100% |
Eleven ingredients, and no preservation system to speak of
36% of this panel is doing relief work and 27% is the absorbent carrier - the inverse of the cosmetic products in this set, where the vehicle dwarfs the actives. The reason is structural: an anhydrous powder needs no emulsifier, no pH adjustment and no preservative system in the cosmetic sense, because nothing in it supports microbial growth. One antimicrobial, thymol, covers the whole requirement. A buyer who reads eleven lines and assumes a cheap formula has the logic backwards - there is simply nothing else a powder of this kind needs.
The formula by functional family
Counted from the label. Four groups, four jobs.
What “talc free” actually changes
Talc does not appear anywhere on the panel, and the carrier is corn starch in second position. The claim is literally true - and it cost three other ingredients. Starch absorbs less per gram than talc and cakes more readily, so silica and tricalcium phosphate are in the panel to keep it flowing, and acacia senegal gum is there to bind it. That is why a talc-free powder is not simply a talc powder minus the talc: the substitution reshapes the formula. It is the single most consequential fact about this product's ingredients, and it is the one the reviews never mention because it does not change how the powder feels.
The full declaration, all 11 entries
Active first as the label requires, then the inactive ingredients in label order.
| # | Label name | Function | Level | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Menthol | Active ingredient, 0.15%; antipruritic and cooling | L2 | The only declared active; the label sets its own 0.15% figure |
| 2 | Zea Mays (Corn) Starch | Absorbent carrier; bulk of the powder | L1 | The talc replacement - this is what 'talc free' means here |
| 3 | Zinc Oxide | Absorbent, mild astringent, skin protectant | L2 | Declared inactive, but functionally a protectant |
| 4 | Acacia Senegal Gum | Binder, film former | L3 | Keeps the powder from separating |
| 5 | Silica | Absorbent, anti-caking, flow agent | L1 | Gives the powder its slip and prevents clumping |
| 6 | Tricalcium Phosphate | Bulking agent, opacifier, flow aid | L1 | Also the calcium source used to buffer the salicylates |
| 7 | Eucalyptol | Cooling agent, fragrance component | L3 | Part of the medicinal scent; also a mild antimicrobial |
| 8 | Methyl Salicylate | Counterirritant, cooling | L2 | Declared inactive; wintergreen note in the scent |
| 9 | Salicylic Acid | Keratolytic | L2 | Declared inactive at a low level; assists the anti-itch claim |
| 10 | Zinc Stearate | Lubricant, adhesion aid | L3 | Makes the powder cling rather than fall off |
| 11 | Thymol | Antimicrobial, fragrance component | L4 | The closest thing to a preservative in an anhydrous powder |
Two “inactive” ingredients that are not inert
Salicylic acid and methyl salicylate both sit in the inactive list while doing recognisable work - the first a keratolytic that supports the anti-itch effect, the second a counterirritant that supplies the wintergreen note and a second layer of cooling. The listing's own attribute block calls salicylic acid an active ingredient, contradicting the Drug Facts panel. Neither reading is a problem: both are at cosmetic-level inclusion and both are ordinary in this product class. But a shopper comparing the listing text to the bottle will find they disagree, and on a regulated product the bottle is the one that governs.
What the two databases would have added, and did not
COSDNA returned a browser-verification wall and was not retried; even reachable, it indexes cosmetics and would be unlikely to hold a US OTC monograph drug. Skinsort carries no Gold Bond product at all, and this SKU sits outside its scope by category. Nothing was substituted. The practical effect is narrow: this report can state exactly what is in the bottle and in what order, and cannot tell you whether any single ingredient is comedogenic - though for a powder applied to the body rather than the face, that is the least useful of the missing fields.
04
Product price
A narrow band, one seller, and a record that had gone stale
Two and a half years of price history with Amazon as the only seller ever recorded. The range is $5.60 wide, the current price is near the bottom of it, and the tracker's own last observation is two months old and $1.59 higher than what the listing actually charged.
At capture
$12.93
19% below the $15.98 bundle list
Subscribe & Save
$10.99
31% off, the deepest price in the record
All-time low
$11.72
19 June 2026 - the only price that beat today
All-time high
$17.32
13 April 2026
The five fixed points of the record
The dashed line is the price actually charged at capture, which sits below every point the tracker records except the June low.
| Price type | Lowest ever | Highest ever | Current | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon (first party) | $11.72 (19 Jun 2026) | $17.32 (13 Apr 2026) | $14.52 (27 Aug 2026) | $14.08 |
| 3rd Party New | no data | no data | no data | no data |
| 3rd Party Used | no data | no data | no data | no data |
The tracker's current value was last observed 64 days before collection. That is too old to quote as a price, and it is contradicted by the $12.93 charged on the capture date.
Position against its own history
| Benchmark | Tracker current $14.52 | Price at capture $12.93 | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| vs all-time low $11.72 | +23.9% | +10.3% | today is close to the floor, but not on it |
| vs all-time high $17.32 | -16.2% | -25.3% | a quarter below the April peak |
| vs lifetime average $14.08 | +3.1% | -8.2% | the capture price is a genuine discount to average |
| vs list $15.98 | -9.1% | -19.1% | the advertised 19% saving, confirmed against the bundle list |
| Average vs list | -11.9% | the product has cleared below list for most of its life | |
| Recorded spread | $5.60 (47.8% of low) | one seller, one promotional calendar | |
Why a single channel makes this record easier to trust, not harder
Both third-party rows are empty because Amazon is the only seller of record - this is a Sanofi consumer-health SKU that Amazon stocks and ships itself. That removes the ambiguity that muddies the other listings in this set, where a first-party row and a marketplace row disagree about the same product. Here there is one series and it behaves like one: a $5.60 range over two and a half years, a spring high, a summer low, and a drift back toward $13 in the autumn. The absence of a used market is the same story from another angle - nobody resells a sealed powder.
The staleness is the actionable finding
The tracker last observed this product at $14.52 on 27 August and had not scanned it since late September. The listing charged $12.93 on 30 October. That $1.59 gap is the difference between a product that looks mid-range and one that is 19% off list, and it is a reminder that a last-observation price is a historical fact rather than a quote. For a buyer the practical conclusion is favourable: the current price sits only 10.3% above the all-time low, the Subscribe & Save path at $10.99 is the cheapest this product has ever been offered in the record, and the $11.72 floor from June is close enough that waiting for a repeat is reasonable but not obviously worth it.
05
Bottom line
What holds up, what does not
Holds up
- The label is verifiable in a way cosmetics are not: one active with a published percentage, enumerated uses, enforceable warnings.
- The talc-free claim is structurally true - no talc on the panel, corn starch as the carrier, with the flow aids that substitution requires.
- Effectiveness at 91% positive across 323 mentions, on 15,060 ratings with 81% five-star.
- The listing discloses that its bullets describe one bottle, not the pair - a rare and useful admission on a bundle.
Does not hold up
- The listing's attribute block calls salicylic acid an active ingredient; the Drug Facts panel lists it as inactive.
- Value is the only contested theme at 62% positive, and the complaint is specifically about the two-pack price.
- The scent is undeclared but unmistakable - eucalyptol, methyl salicylate and thymol - so "unscented" is technically true and practically misleading.
- Menthol and salicylates sting on broken or freshly shaved skin, which the label warns about and the reviews do not discuss.
If you are deciding
For anyone treating heat rash, chafing or post-shower itch, this is about as low-risk a purchase as the category offers: a single monograph active at a standard level, eleven ingredients, a price 19% below list and close to its historical floor. Households with a child under two should note the age threshold. Buyers who want an unscented product should know that the medicinal smell is deliberate chemistry rather than a masking fragrance. For a seller studying the listing, the instructive detail is the ASIN's age - first available June 2025, already 15,060 ratings - which says more about the brand's existing demand than about anything this particular listing does.
06
Method and confidence
How this was assembled, and where it is weak
| Element | Confidence | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Specification table, claims, price at capture | High | Read from the live listing with a US delivery address, prices in native USD |
| Rating average and star distribution | High | Published aggregate, 15,060 ratings |
| Ingredient identity, order and active percentage | High | Transcribed from the Drug Facts label at 4x magnification - a legally controlled declaration |
| Level and family classification | Medium | Analyst scheme from each ingredient's role; not a source field |
| Individual review text | Not available | No review bodies rendered at any page variant or retry; only two aspects were published |
| Comedogenic / irritancy ratings | Not available | One database blocked, the other does not carry the brand or the category |
| Price history | Medium | Five fixed points, all-time only, and the current cell is 64 days stale |
What is a snapshot. Price, rank and rating are live values. The tracker's current price was last observed 64 days before collection and is superseded here by the capture price. Everything is dated 30 October 2026.
What is a derivation. Every percentage, spread and position figure is computed from transcribed values and labelled as such. No percentage is presented as a source figure.
What is an inference. Explanations for the promotional pattern, the value complaints and the undeclared scent are marked as inferential where they appear.
What is absent on purpose. No reviewer name, handle, profile or ID appears anywhere, because no review text was obtainable. No source URLs are reproduced in the body. No inactive-ingredient concentration is estimated from label position.