Review: Neal's Yard Seaweed Salt Scrub

As part of my efforts in attempting to use more natural products and reduce the amount of chemicals I use on my body on a daily basis, I decided to give a couple of products from Neal's Yard a try.

For those of you who are not aware, Neal's Yard is a company who pride themselves on producing products that are free of parabens, sulphates and all other potential nasties and indeed this product is 6% organic.  The Seaweed Salt Scrub claims to stimulate and tone for fresh smooth skin, by gently exfoliating dry patches.  

On first impressions, the packaging for this body scrub looks quite plain, however, Neal's Yard say that all of their packaging is designed to keep out the light to ensure ingredients are preserved and do not lose their efficiency quickly.  I rather like the packaging as I think it goes well with their brand ethos and lets the products and their ingredients do the talking.

Upon opening the scrub, you are immediately hit with a strong sea smell, however this initial scent is not unpleasant and merely smells like a walk along the beach on a crisp autumn day.  When squeezed out, the scrub does not look overly attractive and is a medium brown colour (I will leave it up to you as to what that reminds you of but for me it was not chocolate mousse!).  Neal's Yard suggest that the product should be used once a week but I found the grains contained within the scrub quite fine and I usually prefer a more scrubby scrub, if that makes sense!   I felt I needed to use this about 3 times a week to get any benefit and even then, it did not really exfoliate adequately.  I did find it fairly moisturising, probably due to the essential oils within it, but I don't tend to have super dry skin so a scrub that has moisturising properties is not vitally important to me.  

I finally have to mention the scent which was the biggest negative point for me.  It is very, very strong and takes over the bathroom for a good half hour or so after you are finished showering. The initial scent you get when sniffing the product is not the same as the fragrance when using the scrub, as I find it reminds me more of a derelict beach with lots of smelly seaweed on!  I was expecting a seaweed scent but I did think it would be a more beachy scent, like that of a summers day and for me the scent in this scrub was a major turnoff.

Verdict

Based on a combination of factors, mainly due to the scent and the fact that it was just not scrubby enough for me, I would not repurchase this product. I think this was possibly a bad choice by me though as I tend to prefer fruity scents and if you like more earthly notes, this may be more to your liking.  

3/5

Price - £16.35

Where to buy - Neal's Yard