I’ll say it outright. I’ve worked with TEN Skincare so you would imagine I’d be biased towards this. And whilst I’ll let you know now, this is a positive review, it’s honestly written. Read on and you’ll see what I mean.
Several years ago, founder of TEN Skincare, Amanda, brought me on board to help her launch the Mums & Babies skincare range, TEN Sound Skincare Science. One of my first jobs was to familiarise myself with the ingredients used and I was shocked and horrified to discover just what goes into skincare products. TEN Skincare makes it their mission to ONLY include ingredients which work together in a safe way to promote fast results in a natural and gentle way. Many other brands, including those aimed at babies, seemed to vie for profit over reputable ingredients and I was proud to work with a range which really cared that the ingredients it used were wholesome and more importantly, safe. This isn’t too surprising given that Amanda started the brand because she couldn’t find a skincare range for herself and her baby which she trusted.
Even though the range includes products for the everyday woman, I’ve not yet had the chance to try the baby range for myself. I have, until now, been lacking in the ‘baby’ part. So it was pretty exciting when, shortly after HB arrived, a package arrived. TEN Skincare products! In it was the Baby Protective Diaper Cream, the Baby Gentle Massage Oil, Cleansing Foam, Natural Shampoo and Bath Milk.
We’re still actually waiting to try the shampoo and bath milk, as HB hasn’t taken to his baths, even though everyone else on our NCT group has said that their babies love bath time. We tried it once and it involved him turning into ‘Mad Max’ (aka enough screaming to make the cat run from the room in horror), a lot of wee and 3 towels (one soaked).
So for now, I’ll be reporting on the diaper cream, massage oil and cleansing foam.
I always thought I’d be vigiliant enough to prevent HB from getting nappy rash but as I soon discovered, it can happen to any baby. The midwife and health visitor told us it’s caused by poo rather than wee and when we were in the neo-natal unit, we were advised to use Vaseline. I’m just not sure about Vaseline; it made the skin ‘sweaty’ and seemed to sit on top of the skin as a barrier without providing any other benefits. TEN’s nappy rash cream contains 6% zinc oxide which provides a protective barrier against moisture and the irritating components of poo (did you know its poo, not wee which causes nappy rash?) as well as sweet almond oil, shea butter and aloe vera to moisturise and soothe skin.
The cream is pretty thick so you don’t need a lot at all if you spread it thinly, and it lasts for ages. It feels like it’s moisturising the skin as opposed to just sitting on it too. I had previously tried Vaseline (too greasy) and Sudocream (too runny) and TEN’s nappy rash cream was just right.
HB’s verdict? HB was pretty pissed off at having a nappy change already and this was made worse as I tried to apply more diaper cream than I needed as I hadn’t realised how thick it was. This meant it took a while to rub in and create a thin layer. However, I got better for the next times and once I’d got the amount needed right, it was much easier. It still takes a bit of effort to apply it but so far, as we speak, HB is nappy rash-free!
Apparently you can use olive oil for baby massage. Quite frankly, I don’t want HB to smell like a salad and TEN’s massage oil is anything but salad-like. Instead, it’s got the warm smell of sweet almond oil. Having just got round to trying to establish a routine, having nice massage oil is important. Most bedtimes, after HB’s bath, I’ll dispense a couple of squirts of oil into my hand, warm it up and stroke firmly down his torso, arms and legs. HB doesn’t scream so I think he likes it… I certainly do. The bottle also has a handy dispenser which pumps a delicate stream of oil, rather than leaving you dripping with the sticky stuff.
HB’s verdict? He likes it! We’ve started including this as part of HB’s bedtime routine and whilst we’ve not done a proper baby massage course, he really seems to enjoy the feeling, especially when we massage his little feet!
I’d heard loads of good feedback about this from reviews and I wasn’t disappointed. There’s a handy, if sometimes stiff, pump dispenser and one squirt of this goes a long way. I use it in addition to the water wipes for particularly out of control poos. I just wish we had this when HB was going through his meconium phase as cleaning that required something more hardcore than just water and cotton wool. It also smells good. For anyone who gets poonamis or has a mucky child, then this is a must-have.
HB’s verdict? On the whole, HB is pretty OK during nappy change (unless he’s hungry) and using the cleansing foam has made cleaning up the awkward bits of poo much faster. His advice would be to pump the cleansing foam onto a wet wipe or tissue before you use it or to squirt it directly onto the skin before using a wipe.
Check out the whole range, available from CleverSkincare.com and Ocado
