babyurbeautiful

What a lucky little boy Albie is.
Recently he received a huge delivery of Burts Bees goodies, both mummy and baby were delighted to give them a go.
Rather than list every single item, we decided to list our stand-out ones that are used daily, or could work as a gift for someone expecting soon.



Shampoo & Wash

One of our favourite stand out items was the lovely Burts Bees Baby Bee Body Shampoo & Wash for his blonde thatch, £7.99, www.feelunique.com
With aloe, oat flour and soy proteins, it's gentle and is sulfate, phthalate, petrochemical and paraben-free. To you and I - no nasties.
I added a 5p size blob onto Albie's fluffy head and gently massaged it in. It gave a fair amount of foam, we had no tears or fuss, in fact he barely noticed (was two busy with his bath shape-fitting fish).
I then smoothed some onto his body, his little chubby arms, working the silky lotion onto his stomach and limbs, and the whole time a lovely aroma of honey filled the bathroom.
After a natural dry to hone his curls, his hair was lovely and soft, non-fluffy and smelt delicious.
I kept drinking in the lovely aroma throughout the next day.

Multipurpose Ointment

We've used this from day dot, the rich shea-butter (a natural fat) based cream not only smells sweet, like almonds, and forms a effective barrier against dryness.
Again, with the Burts Bees ethos, it is 100 per cent natural. It's also pediatrician tested and approved and hypo-allergenic.
Even if baby has any flare-ups the cream is excellent for sensitivity, so both baby and mummy get relief in the form of this non-irritating ointment.
I had this on the side one day, and a friend helped herself thinking it was lip-balm, I daren't tell her I'd earlier been smothering it on his bottom!
This long-lasting number retails around £8.99.

Burts Bees Multipurpose Ointment

This brand is incredible for both mummy and baby - and makes a wonderful gift for a mum-to-be.

I have enough hair styling issues to worry about without the added problem of dandruff, especially as winter is upon us and I'll be wearing a lot of black. I wouldn't say I have a serious dandruff problem, but I do get the odd itchy scalp day and I'd rather nip it in the bud. 'Philip Kingsley flaky/itchy scalp shampoo' has been going for years but I've personally only stumbled upon it in recent months.

The first surprising thing with this shampoo was the scent; some anti-dandruff shampoos that I've used in the past have had an awful smell to them, almost like tar or some kind of chemical concoction gone wrong. This however, smelt of apples! Not too sweet, the kind of fresh scent that could appeal to men, women or kids; it was lovely to use.  The second surprise was how well it lathered up with just a small amount of product, and at £21 a bottle, I was using it sparingly. The added bonus was that it claims not to strip any colour from your hair, perfect as I just got my highlights done. 

Having missed the bus to go into town earlier today, I decided instead to shop for my urgent shampoo needs at my local chemist. Why not, I thought, I'll support my local independent retailers.

Now, I've been in this chemist before but only to pick up my contraceptive prescription (which worked out well!) so, I'd not really paid much attention to the shop part of it before. But on closer inspection I realised that this little shop is a veritable Aladdin's cave of health and beauty. That is, if Aladdin was shopping at a car boot sale in the 80s!  Fisherman's Friends and random unheard of brands of chocolate abound.

Before I can hit the personal hygiene section, I am waylaid by an entire rack of baby equipment that begs closer inspection. Before I know it I've picked up a baby brush and comb set, a bottle brush, some dummies and a thingy to stop baby losing said dummies. Just some random brands, not that I care that much, although the packaging looks super old fashioned.

Next it's on to the washing stuff, to pick up shampoo, conditioner and shower gel. No problems with the gel, there was a fairly decent selection at a pound a go. I picked up a basic Carex bodywash. But the shampoo was a different story. I'm not sure who does the ordering of products at this chemist but it's fairly obvious that it's a man.

There were about 20 different shampoo bottles of different brands and types, none with matching conditioners. The few conditioners on the shelf had no matching shampoo. It was all very confusing. Brands included stalwarts Schwartzkof and Alberto, with some really obscure ones and a couple of Pantene and Head and Shoulders thown in.  In the end I went for a Timotei Pure 2-in-1 job against my better judgement as it was the only one for greasy hair. 

Finally I head to the skin care section to pick up some baby lotion and see they have Ponds. I haven't used this for a few years, not since Kylie or someone like that created that cold cream revival. But the anti-wrinkle day moisturiser was only £3.99!! so I pick one of those up too.
















Now I'm home and I've just had a shower and used my three chemist-sourced products. How did I get on?

Timotei Pure 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner £1.99
Actually I was pleasantly surprised by this. I'm not against 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner as a concept but the reality for women like me with fine, thick, long hair is that the conditioner element usually just doesn't work. But I was able to comb my hair with ease after washing with this and now my hair is dry it looks good. Wonders never cease. Also, it's free from chemical nasties and parabens, so yay!

Carex shower cream £1
What can you say about this really? It smells a bit like basic soap but it lathered up well in the shower and hasn't dried out my skin so not too bad.

Ponds Nourishing Anti-Wrinkle cream £3.99
This is really nice - much lighter than cold cream, it left my skin feeling really moisturised without greasiness. Also it has spf15 which is nice for a day cream. I'm not sure how well it works as an anti-wrinkle cream after just one use but I intend to find out and for £3.99 you can't really go wrong! What other anti-aging products can you get for that price??