Blog — Helen Redfern

The Good, the Great and the Fabulous: Body Scrubs

I've become a little bit obsessed with body scrubs. I mean, considering I never even knew they existed a few months ago I'm now completely addicted.

And when I say I didn't know they existed - what I mean is, exfoliating my skin never even occurred to me. Failing to look after my skin and my body: to exfoliate, to moisturise, to blow dry my hair.... it just - didn't. Which is why I wrote this post.

But then I saw a YouTuber mention them (another recent thing I'm obsessed by, YouTube videos) and I thought, ooh, get me some body scrub and fast!

Over the summer, as I go outdoors doing my daily tasks with the dog, hens and ducks, my legs are like a moving supermarket for midges and other bitey insects; leaving me with itchy, scabby legs. That, coupled with many years of neglect and our hard water meant my skin was more scaly than a chicken's leg.

It was high time for me to try out some body scrubs. And these are the three I tried:

I look down at my shins and they're flaking with dead skin. My elbows are hard and catch on my cardigan. My facial skin is not much better. Puffy eyes, spots, flat. There's no glowy, dewy skin anywhere near here.

For many years, particularly since I had children, I didn't think I was worth taking care of. I wasn't worth spending money on. Buying a moisturiser that suited my skin, getting my hair cut and coloured, taking vitamins, even drinking water. I avoided all of it.

For my children I would look through the Boden catalogue and buy them cute outfits. My son and daughter had eczema as a baby and I researched the best cream for them*. It was pricey (at the time) but I didn't think twice. They were worth it.

But was I?