Monthly Archives: September 2009

Simple Indulgence

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hand-indulgenceAre you like me? Do you have a favourite little ritual that feels indulgent?

Years ago, before I got married and started my family I used to enjoy taking bubble baths. Once a week I would pick up special soap, foot scrubs, face masks, do a Biore pore strip, grab a scented candle and indulge in a long soak followed by a manicure and pedicure. That was when I had all the time in the world.

Now that I’m a wife and a mom with a full time job, a home to keep in some semblance of order and another baby on the way, I feel like it’s even more important to find those small indulgences that make me feel good. The trick is finding those things that take no more than 5 minutes.

I wanted to share my little simple indulgence with you… if you’re a guy, you may want to pass (though I bet if you did this you’d feel great too, albeit maybe a little awkward about explaining the enjoyment), but for the ladies, try giving your hands a one minute pampering.

My favourite products are from Bath & Body Works. Last time I was across the border I picked some up at Bellis Fair. I can’t tell you how excited I am that I will soon be able to get my hands on these things here in BC! Bath & Body Works is coming this fall to Richmond Centre. Now granted it’s a bit of a trek to Richmond from North Van, but it’s a longer haul to Bellingham so it’s still a win.

Anyway, I digress. Here’s the routine:

  1. Wash your hands with Midnight Pomegranate Anti-Bacterial moisturizing hand soap with green tea extract and shea butter. It’s so nice and creamy but with a hint of grit to exfoliate; it will leave your hands clean  but feeling moisturized.
  2. Dry your hands well.
  3. Grab about 2 tbsp – a little glob – of True Blue Spa ‘there’s the rub’ Salt Glow with natural sea salt and rub it in your your hands. Really rub it… rub your fingers with it, your palms and the back of your hands… keep going for at least 30 seconds or longer. It’s got a super gritty, sort of greasy feel to it and it smells wonderfully of eucalyptus. Reminds me of being at the spa.
  4. Rinse your hands under warm water and continue rubbing until all the salt scrub has been removed.
  5. Pat your hands dry.
  6. Grab pretty much any of Bath & Body Works’ scented body lotions – I really enjoy Mango Mandarin – and apply like you would any other hand lotion.

And voila!

This one minute indulgence will leave you with the softest hands you can imagine, you’ll have had an experience that will make you feel like you might have just woken up from a dream about being at a spa, and your hands will smell so good you’ll want to lick them (don’t actually do this, though… the lotions don’t taste as good as they smell).

Then all you have to do is indulge at least 3 times a week for best results.

What little simple pleasures do you indulge in?

Listerine Smart Rinse turns teeth brown

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listerine-smart-rinseI am a little neurotic when it comes to oral hygiene.

Ever since my son got his first teeth I have been diligently following the oral care guidelines set out by my healthcare practitioners… swabbing his gums and washing his teeth with a soft cloth as an infant, then on to brushing twice daily and he’s never taken bottles to bed. He even went to the dentist for the first time when he was less than a year old because I’d been advised to take him 6 months after his first teeth come in.

Now that he’s 3 we’re working harder on getting regular flossing into his routine and were looking for ways to make oral care something kind of fun.

We recently saw some TV ads for Listerine mouth washes for kids… they have a product called Listerine Agent Cool Blue that works like those awful little red tablets we had when we were kids that would discolour the plaque so kids could see it to brush it off and measure their effectiveness at brushing. They also have a product called Listerine Smart Rinse to be used after brushing to stick to remaining bacteria so they can see when they spit it out after rinsing.

He’s been using both for a few weeks now.

I have noticed in the last week or so that his teeth are really quite brown and I was wondering if I just hadn’t noticed this before or if they were turning darker. I even had my husband make a dentist appointment for him – though he can’t get in until mid October now. So I did a little web search and came up with some other testimonials of Listerine Smart Rinse turning kids’ teeth brown. Just check out the search results for “Listerine Smart Rinse brown teeth“.

Wow… do I ever wish I had searched this info before using my son as a test subject.

Now you can choose to chastise me for using a product that is for 6+ years on a 3 year old but the outcome would no doubt be the same on an older child.

We have obviously stopped using these products and I am going to do my best to spread this message to every concerned mother out there. This product is put out by Johnson & Johnson Inc. in Canada. The product packaging advises rinsing for a full minute after brushing… we’ve only been doing it for a count of 10. I can’t imagine how bad it would be if he had been rinsing for a full minute.

It seems the culprit is an ingredient called Cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC), which is known to cause tooth staining that looks similar to that caused by tobacco, coffee or tea and yet it is still included in a children’s mouth without any warnings at all.

Please pass this information on to other parents, and do not buy this product.

I only hope we can get his teeth white again.