Eczema and dermatitis are very difficult to treat and those who suffer from it are driven to distraction by the discomfort they cause.  When babies and young children are affected it can be heart wrenching because the little ones can’t help themselves and often the scratching just makes things worse.

A couple of nights ago a local television program featured a herbal product I am quite interested in –  Garden Of Eden’s Baby Oil.

Always one to be wary of “snake oils” advertised as the latest cure, I looked into this herbal oil and so far I am impressed by the anecdotal evidence of its effectiveness.   Naturally the show featured a dermatologist who would prefer people to use cortisone based ointments and creams because “they have no side effects”.  Ok, so I don’t actually accept that cortisone doesn’t have side effects and I am more open than this particular expert as to the healing power of herbs.

Said to be based on an Aryuvedic formula of 14 herb extracts and 9 plant oils the oil is marketed as a baby oil, but can be used safely on any skin type. Since eczema and dermatitis is a common problem it comes as no surprise that the suppliers of this product have sold out after the program was aired.   The next shipment is expected in early August.

I have just ordered a bottle of the oil for my son who has a very resistant case of eczema and I’ll be more than happy to report how that works for him.

Hello Herb Lovers,

With more and more people embracing a greener attitude to modern life, there is an abundance of commercial hair & beauty products that utilise the benefits of herbs. Some are just the same old synthetic products made up of goddess-knows-what with some token herbal essences added to give them the appearance of being natural.  But there are quite a few others that have actively changed their products to include a healthier, more natural and especially HERBAL list of active ingredients.

There are now a myriad of products, especially hair care products that advertise their herbal goodness.  But I thought I would have a look at a product that people might have a problem changing to from the one they and their family have been using for years and years. Toothpaste!

I picked two different brands of toothpaste from the supermarket shelf purely based on the word HERBAL in large letters on their packaging. Herbal Fresh by Red Seal and Colgate Herbal.  The packaging is very green as if to emphasise their naturalness and has images of herbs.  All very pretty but what’s inside?

On first glance the list on Colgate looks to be a lot longer – most ingredients are exactly the same, but you’ll find that where Red Seal simply states flavours and natural colour Colgate spells out what their flavours are and what colour they are using.  Again, very similar with the one obvious difference that Red Seal uses No Added Fluoride as their strong selling point.

Colgate Herbal is a white toothpaste with a green stripe. The green stripe is said to contain their exclusive blend of honeysuckle, tea tree oil, clove oil and eucalyptus. The box informed me that this particular toothpaste was manufactured in Vietnam.

Red Seal Herbal Fresh is plain white (which I guess is the colour they used?) and contains herbal extracts/oils of eucalyptus, peppermint, lemon, orange, spearmint, nutmeg, aniseed, basil, oregano, thyme, cinnamon, clove, pimento and menthol. This product hails from New Zealand.

Then I brushed my teeth.  Both toothpastes frothed the same way, had the same texture and the tubes had identical squeezability. But where they differed significantly was the taste. Colgate is quite in your face – a strong eucalypt taste and the clove oil leaves your mouth slightly numb.  Not bad if you like that feeling but I for one can’t even use the anaesthetic throat lozenges because I hate the numb mouth feel.  Anyway….

Colgate Herbal is probably not the best idea for the person who is new to herbal tastes.  If anything it could turn them off.  For the seasoned herb lover it could work well because it does leave your mouth with a very clean feel.

Red Seal Herbal Fresh still has a definite herbal taste, not necessarily milder but somehow gentler. The eucalyptus and clove oil are not nearly as strong and there is a slight hint of fruitiness which I assume is the lemon and orange. My mouth was left feeling very fresh and incredibly clean, much more so than my usual toothpaste.

Both toothpastes are an acquired taste but if you wanted to give it a shot, then I would recommend the Red Seal Herbal Fresh as a gentler introduction.

If neither appeal and you still want to go natural in your tooth cleaning regime then you could always try liquorice sticks. No, not the black sweet kind but actual sticks of the herb liquorice.I read somewhere that if your split one end a bit and make it into a mini brush it makes for a great dental cleanser.  I havent tried it, and I know that liquorice is many times sweeter than sugar…..so I am not entirely sure how that is great for your teeth….but people are doing it.

Stay herbal

Hello Herb Lovers,

On Sunday Pixie Boy and I went to the Northey Street Organic Markets in Windsor (Brisbane).  After we had our usual Tibetan Morning Rice for breakfast – creamed rice with goji berries, pistachios, orange syrup and whipped cream – we went on a bit of a wander to see what we could find.

One of our finds were the Wort Organic herbal softdrinks that I have reported on once before.  Years ago I accidentally stumbled across one of their drinks while on holiday in NSW. I loved them then and hoped that more wide spread distribution would follow swiftly.  Well, I hadnt seen it again until this past weekend.  And I bought up big.

There were three flavours on offer:

Original Lemon & Ginger – A refreshing combination of organic ginger, lemon myrtle, chamomile and sage.

Travel Easy – A century old recipe combining bracing peppermint with the goodness of certified organic ginger.

Wild Potion – Zesty lemon myrtle sweetened with natural Xylitol wild harvested from birch trees.

I would have loved to try all three but due to my pesty food intolerances I could not buy Wild Potion (it contains apple juice which I can not have). But I did manage to grab a couple of 4packs of each of the other two.

The Lemon & Ginger drink is lovely and refreshing with the perfect hint of ginger, which can be quite overpowering otherwise. I’d happily drink this when ever I felt like a sparkling drink.
I found the peppermint to be quite intense in the Travel Easy drink – pleasant, but an unexpectedly strong taste.  If one goes by the name of this drink it is meant to ease travel sickness and it would certainly be strong enough to have that effect.  I would happily drink this to combat nausea or a bloated tummy but probably not just to quench my thirst.

I think it’s terrific that there are people out there who reinvent old herbal recipes and bring them to us in a way that fits in with our fast, modern world.  Please support the local producers who keep the old ways alive.

The Wort Organic website unfortunately is completely hopeless. It has the potential of being a very stylish site, but it has no real information whatsoever.  It would be nice to read more about their philosophy, the background to their choice of herbal recipes, and a distribution list where one can find stockists around Australia and/or the world.  A shame, but perhaps they are only new and the site will evolve with their continued growth.

Hope you can find these products in your neck of the woods – if you can give them a try!

Stay herbal

While grocery shopping at the supermarket, Spawn (teenage son) asked for some rosehip tea - good boy – and since I was out of dried rosehips at home I agreed to some teabags. I always like having a look at what the conventional shops stock and this time was pleasantly surprised by the selection available.

Sure there are the usual odd creations by Twinnings, and some long standing European favourites, but one brand I had not seen on these tea shelves before was Healtheries.

I was impressed to see herbal combinations such as Be Wise Tea – Gingko Tea with Tangy Lemon – which utilises lemongrass, gingko biloba, cinnamon and fennel to help you concentrate and think clearly.

When your mind runs overtime you may like to try Be Sleepy Tea – Passionflower & Chamomile Tea with Lemon Balm (yum) – which combines the calming powers of passion flower, chamomile, lemon balm, and lime flowers (linden) to gently soothe your mind and enables a pleasant night’s sleep.

I also picked up Be Well Tea – Echinacea Tea with Lemon & Vitamin C. This is very relevant for this time of the year (remember we are trying to PREVENT all the nasty winter bugs) as the echinacea, lemon, rosehip and added vitamin C in this tea will help boost your immune system.

There is no added sugar or artificial sweeteners involved, instead Healtherie uses Stevia which is a natural sugar alternative

Dont be afraid to try new things.

There are quite a few different herb combinations available in the “Be something Tea” range – apart from the ones I mentioned above there are: Be Clean, Be Spicy, Be Charged, Be Happy and Be Soothed.

These products are packed in New Zealand (we like that), the ingredients are blended in Germany (they know their stuff over there but we like to support things a bit more local) and the blend is made up of local and imported ingredients (is that local for us Australian consumers? for New Zealand packers or for the German blenders?).

Oh and I would like to point out that I have not been hired or paid by anyone to write this review.

Stay Herbal!