Just to address your main question...a story - hopefully not too rambly.
When I was a kid, there was this Zest commercial. And what Zest was claiming was that it didn't leave soap film. The way they demonstrated this was to rub a finger across skin cleaned with "some other soap" and pointed out the fact that it wasn't slick. Well even as a kid I knew that clean skin wasn't slick...in fact, it's the opposite. If your skin is slick after washing it, it's because there is some film there. Silly, I know, but it made me angry. It was my first experience with advertising (aka lying).
Now I use body wash - and dammit...my skin is slick after it. I can't seem to wash the damn stuff off, so I'll often follow with what I recommend to everyone; good ole Ivory soap. It totally dries your skin out, but that's what lotion was created for.
In short, use that lovely smelling body wash, folks, but if you want to be REALLY clean, it's Ivory all the way.