The Household COO

Dang!  I was just taking a look at the back of the Dove body wash bottle this morning and it does state “1/4 moisturiser” so I’m going to have to retract what I said my previous post about the moisturising properties…  Looks like the info I got from that product manager is either entirely false or outdated.

However, I still maintain that Dove body wash is antigenic - at least it is for me and the hubby because we can’t use it without developing rashes and hives.  This was the variant I used:

I haven’t tried the other variants, but after this experience, I don’t think I’m feeling particularly curious to test it out.  Although, a long time ago, I used to use their original variant - the first body wash they introduced - and I didn’t seem to have any problems using it… 

I’ve also noticed on their website that they have a hypoallergenic variant which I probably might have tested but they don’t sell it here. 

As far as I can remember, I have only ever had allergies to three other skin products besides this recent episode - the first was to a sunscreen lotion (which I forget the brand now); the second was to Nivea body lotion; and the third was to NuSkin’s 180 Anti-Aging face wash. 

Now I feel I have to add a qualifier to that latter.  I have heard complaints from others bout NuSkin’s 180 Anti-Aging skincare range causing sensitivity, but I was also told that they reformulated the product and the new formation is kinder to the skin.  Additionally, I only sensitised to the product after it was exposed to high temperatures (in other words, it was in my toiletries bag which I left in the boot of the hubby’s car while he was running around town seeing his customers).  It is possible that the product’s composition was affected by the sun, however, I’m not about to buy another tube to test out this hypothesis, so if you happen to have any experience using it, feel free to add your thoughts in the comments below.

Being the sort of customer that most companies love and hate, I’ve tried and tested quite a number of the products out there purely because I love to try new things and because I have zero customer loyalty when it comes to testing out new products.  I haven’t noticed any problems with other products so I believe that my skin isn’t really the sensitive type.  The fact that I have sensitised to some ingredient in Dove and Nivea would suggest that those products tend to be harsher than other products on the market.

Over the past few weeks, I had been having some allergic skin reaction for which I blamed the use of some products from the Body Shop.  Well, to be fair, it did seem highly suggestive that the cause was the shear butter I bought from the Body Shop because my rashes were only appearing on my limbs - the only areas I had been applying the shear butter.  The fact that the rest of my body was unscathed seemed only to confirm that observation.

Whenever sensitisation occurs, it can take up to a week after elimination of the causative agent before the rash symptoms completely disappear so I wasn’t particularly alarmed when I was still itching a few days later.  And just to avoid aggravation, I had also stopped using body wash when I showered because soap dries the skin which further irritates it.  By the end of the week, I was still getting hives and I was, at times, so itchy it was driving me insane.

I went to the doctor who prescribed me with anti-histamines and calamine lotion.  They helped to soothe the itch but after I stopped using them, the rashes and hives returned in full force.  It wasn’t until I switched to my son’s Johnson’s “top-to-toe” baby wash (I used it top-to-toe - for washing my hair as well as my body) before the problem seemed to alleviate itself.

I now suspect that the real cause of my allergy was because of the Dove body wash I had been using.  Although I stopped using it for a period, I was still washing my hair with Dove shampoo and since the suds would wash down over my arms and legs, it was still sensitising my skin.

I mentioned my suspicions to the hubby who then replied that he thought Dove body wash was one of the worst body washes around because he felt it was rather harsh on the skin, despite it being 1/4 moisturising.  Hubby has very sensitive skin and can’t use a lot of the body washes on the market because of it.  According to him, after one wash with Dove body wash, he started itching all over.

But that’s the thing…  Dove first entered the market with their bar of soap with the unique selling point of being “1/4 moisturiser” so it didn’t dry your skin.  They did such a marvellous job marketing that tagline that soon everyone associated Dove with its moisturising properties.  When Dove launch their body wash product line, they dropped the “1/4 moisturiser” advertising because the body wash didn’t have the same moisturising properties as their bar of soap.  Because they had done such a thorough marketing job with the bar of soap, consumers just naturally assumed the 1/4 moisturiser applied to all their products.

Anyway, that’s the insider scoop I remember hearing from one of the competitor product managers…  If you’ve heard differently or if you’re from Dove, feel free to enlighten us in the comments section below if this message was misrepresented.

As for the Body Shop shear butter, I might start using a bit of it on a small part of my skin to see if it’s safe to start using it again.  I’ll let you know in a week’s time…

The Body Shop recently had a huge sale with up to 70% off all their merchandise.  Taking advantage of the sale, I discovered some really affordable sheer butter creams for the skin condition I have, called Keratosis Pilaris.  Having been told a long time ago by the dermatologist that there is no cure for this condition, I have long given up the hope of having flawless skin.  When I discovered I could reduce the effects by applying an emollient such as sheer butter, I was naturally quite agreeable to giving it a go.

Recently, I started developing hives on my arms and legs.  I strongly suspect my skin has sensitised to something present in the sheer butter by the Body Shop - I’ve been using the Pomegranate variant.  I have since stopped using the Body Shop Sheer Butter to test my theory and have yet to come to a conclusion on the cause of my hives. 

To be fair to the Body Shop, I’m not entirely certain it is due to the Sheer Butter I’ve been applying.  It could also just be an ingredient unique to the Pomegranate variant that is causing my hives, in which case, using the plain sheer butter variant should correct the problem.  The best way to test is to do a patch test on a small part of my skin - I’ve read that the under arm is a good area to test because the skin there is a little more sensitive being less exposed and keratinised.

It comes as a bit of a surprise if my hives are indeed due to the Body Shop Sheer Butter.  I don’t know why but I’ve always thought that if there were any skin product that would be extra gentle to the skin, it would be Body Shop products.  Perhaps I’ve made the mistake of construing that kind to the animals and environment would kind to all human skin.

Looks like I’m going to have to find another emollient for my skin.  Anyone got any recommendations on what I can use instead?

Okay, this post is about as vain as I’ll allow myself to get…

I was just mulling over the fact that I’m getting older (even though at times I can’t really believe how many years have passed since I was last at Uni).  And no, it’s not about being in denial either - I truly feel young. 

After the flattering realisation that people still think I look younger than I really am, I just had to dig out the old photos for a comparison.  One dentist said I look younger than I did before, and one of my old Uni mates says I still look the same as I did when I was in Uni.  These aren’t the best photos to compare, but they’re all I have access to - especially the graduation one since it pre-dates my digital camera.

What do you think?  Older, younger, or the same?

Above: 1999

Above: 2001

Above: 2007

Above: 2008

I have never really been that good at guessing a person’s age, so what exactly do you look for?  Sure you can look for the extra lines around the corners of our eyes and maybe some white hair (if it hasn’t already been dyed) but beyond that how can you tell a person’s age?

In dentistry, we learned how to identify a person’s age from their teeth, but the accuracy was usually only from birth to the teenage years.  After all the adult teeth have erupted, it’s really a best guess from the extent of wear on the teeth.  Even then it has never really been a good gauge since a person might have the tendency to grind their teeth which would unnaturally age the teeth.

I don’t even know why I’m mulling over this since I thought I stopped caring how I looked after I got married - or perhaps even before then.  The only thing I fear about getting older is getting older with ailments.  When I was a kid, I used to want to pass away in my sleep when I was around 60 years old - old enough to have enjoyed enough of life but not too old to suffer the ailments of old age.

Ever since I was a teenager, I’ve always wanted to dye my hair.  My Dad, being the typical Chinese man, didn’t like the idea of me dying my hair.  He always thought that Chinese girls who dyed their hair another colour did so because they were ashamed of their heritage - which I think is totally ridiculous.

It appears to be a very typical “China-man” thinking to prefer undyed hair because the hubby wasn’t particularly impressed with my new red mop either. 

For me changing the colour of your hair (much like changing the colour of your eyes with coloured contact lenses) is like entering a world of “Let’s Pretend” - a game I loved to play when I was a kid. 

Just as you can change how you feel about yourself by the clothes you wear, changing the colour of your hair or your eyes achieves pretty much the same thing.  Or at least, that’s how I feel.  I think a lot of other women must think so, too, since so many women get caught up in dying their hair or at least giving it a drastic haircut as part of the “getting over the ex” ritual. 

In my case, it’s part of an attempt to feel like a young, hip Mum.  I think I’ve started to slide into that bad habit of “letting myself go” by wearing my “house clothes” to go out.  I mean, house clothes were the sort of clothes that I wouldn’t have been caught dead in when I was a teenager. 

The funny thing is that when I was in the height of my climbing, I didn’t mind wearing my torn climbing pants and grimy t-shirts out to the shopping malls to get dinner straight after leaving the crag.  But then, dressing like that, for me, was like making a statement - kind of like how some people pierce their eyebrows and get tattoos.  Wearing my “house clothes” out is like neither making a statement or looking good.

Anyway, I’ve always wanted to try being a redhead.  In fact, I was going to do this before I got pregnant with Gavin.  It turned out that I discovered I was pregnant just before I got around to dying my hair so I couldn’t use the hair dye until recently. 

Here’s what it looks like, although I don’t think the picture really does justice to just how red it really looks.  It was a bit of a shock even for me when I first saw the colour of my hair…