Getting back into the flow of review writing - just need to make sure I keep up with the reading now...
Getting back into the flow of review writing - just need to make sure I keep up with the reading now x New review added 23/2/09
Member since:09.07.2007
Reviews:72
Members who trust:31
OK I shall get the obvious double entrendre out of the way first. It always makes me giggle when my husband has been working in the garden all day and comes in and moans about how dry his hands are and I as the dutiful wife ask him if he would like some Hand Relief. This used to bring a broad smile to his face until he realised I was offering him Aveda's Hand Relief - an intensively moisturisinghand cream and not something else.
I first came across this product as a samples which were put into my bag after I had purchased other Aveda products (anyone who has read any of my reviews knows I am quite an Aveda afficionado) and to be honest for years I just used to bin said samples because I used another handcream. Suffering from eczema makes choosing a handcream difficult and having found one that I liked and got on with I wasn't about to change brands suddenly. Then one day the inevitable happened - I ran out of my usual brand when I was quite poorly and couldn't get out to buy some more. And as any eczema sufferer knows moisturisers can be lifesavers. Knowing that I had recently bought some Aveda haircare I wondered if they had slipped a sample in and lo and behold I had two of them.
My hands were incredibly dry and I could see the red itchy blotches ready to break out so I liberally applied a good 10p size blob of this cream
to my palm and distributed it evenly between the palm and back of my hands. What I noticed immediately apart from the heady herbal aroma (I will talk about that in a moment) was the smooth consistency of the cream. It wasn't runny - it was thick but it was easy to spread and rub in. It wasn't lumpy - I have used thick creams in the past that can sometimes seem a bit grainy especially if they use shea butter or cocoa butter as a base. Instead this product was perfectly smooth and consistent and very soothing.
It also didn't leave my skin feeling greasy. Yes it felt like I had used a product but it felt reasonably dry to the touch (but softer). I instantly felt that my irritated skin was calmer and although the skin has been quite badly damaged by severe outbreaks of eczema in the past it looked smoother and more supple and it felt conditioned and protected as opposed to just moisturised. In fact when I washed my hands a couple of hours later the water just danced off the back of my hand and didn't remove all the goodness the cream had put in to my skin. As soon as I could I bought a big tube and now I give my samples to friends who have also gone and bought the product.
So what exactly is in this cream which makes it so effective. Well like any Aveda product they use natural plant based extracts, many of which are either organic or farmed in sustainable ways, to produce high quality beauty products. Of course there will be chemicals but the key ingredients are based on centuries of knowledge of the natural remedies and botanical uses. In this particular product the effective ingredients are licorice extract, Meadowfoam seed oil, vitamin A and E.
Licorice extract is an anti irritant and this makes it ideal for those with sensitive skin or with skin conditions. An alternative name for licorice is sweet wood and this is the sweet heady aroma that greets you when you apply this product. In some ways you also get citrus notes but it is a lovely warm smell which has quite a calming effect on the senses as well as the skin. Personally I love it but some might find it a bit overpowering. In fact if ever you go to an Aveda counter or salon and they offer you a small cup of their Aveda herbal tea, they use licorice as the base for that too. Meadowfoam seed oil is a highly moisturising oil which does not leave the skin feeling greasy and this is particularly important when you do apply handcream regularly.
These two ingredients combined with exfoliating fruit acids and the antioxidants of vitamin A and E also help this cream prevent the signs of aging and help to give the licorice extract and meadowfoam seed oil the perfect base to allow them to work effectively. In fact Aveda also claim that with prolonged use this cream can increase the overall moisture of your skin and improve its elasticity. Well they all claim that really but I have to say that since I have been using this product the skin tone of my hands has improved considerably. Yes I have used hand cream for years but literally all they have seemed to have done in the long term is moisturise to the point of eventually feeling greasy. With Hand Relief I have felt that my skin has been improved and comments have been passed about how much better my hands now look. Of course I still get eczema outbreaks but they are more controllable - even more so than when I regularly used other products.
So how much does Hand Relief cost? Well normally in the Aveda stores it is £15.50 for a 125ml tube but you can get it cheaper on some internet beauty sites like StrawberryNET. It is expensive but because it increases your overall moisture levels in the skin the amount you use eventually reduces so you might go through the first one quickly (even then it lasts 6 to 8 weeks) but the next few last 3 or 4 months. I use mine twice a day now and I probably use a 5p size blob. Obviously if I have been gardening or cleaning and my hands become really dry I use alot more product but then I tend to put loads on and put cotton gloves on overnight and this sorts me out a treat. Ordinarily the product comes in a soft white plastic tube which like all Aveda products is recyclable (as long as your local authority can recycle it). It is easy to use and you can easily control the amount of the product you use so you minimise any wastage. And if you do apply too much well it absorbs easily and if you keep rubbing your hands together it will eventually all melt into your skin so again you don't waste it and you won't need to use very much next time.
However in October you can buy 150ml of this product for £15.50 as Aveda do a special size in conjunction Breast Cancer Awareness Month and £2 is donated to Breast Cancer Research when you purchase the special pink lidded and labelled tubes - so if you needed a noble cause and a bit of extra value for money now is a good time to purchase it.
Overall I and my husband (who won't buy handcream himself but happily uses mine) love this product and how it makes our skin feel. I use it to protect and moisturise my skin in my constant battle with my eczema and I know it won't irritate it and he uses it to help his skin when he has been doing more manual jobs around the house and when he has been out in the cold alot and both of us notice the difference this product can make. Yes it is expensive but it does a fantastic job of making our hands look beautiful.
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Oct 22nd, 2008
exceptional by (3%):
very helpful by (97%):
