Tuesday 23 November 2010

SLS-free Shower Gels: Three Reviews

I'm trying to rid my routines of all SLS and ALS products, now that I've seen the difference it's made to my scalp (no longer sore or bleeding) and split ends (I have none! none whatsoever! and I get my hair cut every six months and blowdry it every three days!) I have super itchy dry skin (oh how I love being atopic: the holy trinity of eczema, asthma and allergic rhinitus are mine for life, hooray) and so using a decent non-drying shower gel is a must for me. These are three I've tried recently.

Naked Love Me Rose Shower Gel



This is a good shower gel, if you like rose scents. I like my rose scents on the foodie, Turkish Delight side, rather than the floral, but this is a definite fresh, floral rose and really pungent. If you like that kind of thing, it's lovely. It's also not as moisturising as I'd like and leaves my skin feeling a little tight before I slather on the Aveeno Skin Relief Lotion for Extra Dry Skin. But the £4 bottle lasts an absolute age. But it's not one I'll rebuy - I've bought the Coco de Mer one to try next instead.

Waitrose Organic Reviving Body Wash, £3.90



I love the scent of this stuff! Like chocolate orange with a hint of spice - a milk chocolate version of Green & Black's Maya Gold, if you will (it's very sweet rather than bitter, hence milk rather than dark chocolate). So few SLS-free products smell sweet and edible - generally scents seem to be of the lavender, geranium or citrus varieties (I imagine these essential oils are most intensely perfumed). But this - it's delicious! It's really comforting, and I used it up really quickly because I loved it so much. It's rather runny and doesn't foam well but I don't care. The next time I'm at a Waitrose, I'm picking myself up 3 of these babies. It's going to make my 6am starts in winter a lot more pleasant.

Cowshed Lazy Cow Shower Gel, £16



No, I didn't spend £16 on a SHOWER GEL. I got it free with Marie Claire and used it on holiday in Turin. As you can tell by now, I'm not a fan of floral or musky scents: I like mind sugary sweet, so I wasn't looking forward to using this jasmine and sandalwood scented gel. But I actually really liked it  -it was heady and exotic and somehow very soothing and relaxing. I do really love jasmine flowers and it's a true representation. It left my skin moisturised too. If Cowshed shower gels had about £10 knocked off their price, I might consider purchasing but at £16, I'm not going to. Shame, as the scent will always remind me of one of the best holidays of my life.

Anyone else out there converted to the ways of SLS-free? I would really love a vanilla or gourmand scented showergel that is SLS-free, can anyone suggest one?

3 comments:

  1. Great to read the reviews, thanks. I use Burt's Bees Citrus & Ginger root body wash as it's the only thing I've found that doesn't irritate my eczema.

    I'd love to know which shampoo you've been using? I'm struggling to find SLS free hair products x

    ReplyDelete
  2. love the packaging on all the three products. I did try SLS free hair product few hairs back but they made my h air very coarse and dull. so back to SLS products!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bibs - post coming right up to answer that question! x

    ReplyDelete

About Me

My photo
Rabbit-like in a nose that twitches when I laugh and front teeth not 100% rectified by 7 years of braces, postcolonial in being of British-Bangladeshi heritage (and reading many many books thereon). Books, tea and dresses: these are some of my favourite things.