Badger Sleep Balm

I have worked night shift for over five years now, but my shift pattern is a little bit odd, as I also do one day shift a week too. As I'm sure you can imagine, working such strange hours can totally mess up your sleeping pattern, and although after all this time I've just about managed to sort it out, there are still the odd days when things get messed up and I can't sleep. Not only that, but having to sleep during the day can be a pain in the neck, especially where I live as it's often quite noisy, and you'll just be drifting off to sleep when the mother of all arguments kicks off outside, or the council decide to turn up and dig up the road or something!

I've tried herbal sleeping tablets and putting lavender drops on my pillow, as well as the other things like counting sheep and trying to clear my mind, but I find they generally don't work, so when someone recommended Badger Sleep balm last year when I was going through a particular bad phase when it comes to sleeping, I thought it was worth a try.

Now, this balm comes in a little tin, just like a lip balm. It's predominantly purple in colour and features a cute little cartoon type picture of a badger asleep under the moon.

The information on the tin tells me that this is a 'dreamy night balm rich with precious oils to calm, courage, cheer and relax poetic badgers and other restless warriors.' Well...I don't think I (or hopefully anyone else) would describe me as a poetic badger or a restless warrior, but when you're that knackered and you know there's only four hours before you have to get up and do an eleven hour night shift, anything is worth a shot!

The balm contains a blend of ginger, bergamot, lavender and rosemary, all of which have properties to soothe and relax the mind. The scent of the balm is lovely, the predominant fragrance being lavender - but a nice, gentle lavender scent, not at all like the synthetic stuff you normally get in beauty products. You can also detect the slight herbalness of the rosemary, overall giving it a very natural smelling scent, which somehow manages not to be too girly.

To use the balm, you simply rub a little bit under your nose, on your temples, on your lips or on other pulse points - wherever you choose. Personally, I put it all over the place - anything to get me to sleep!

The balm is made from a blend of extra virgin olive oil, castor oil and beeswax. It looks like Vaseline in the tub, but when you put your finger in it, you will realise that it has a much more solid consistency. You actually have to swirl your finger over the balm quite a bit until it starts to melt slightly, and you can pick up enough to put it wherever you want it to go.

Once it's on the skin, it seems to sink in a bit and leaves no greasiness at all. I was a little concerned about putting it on my face at first. I have a sensitive skin, and was having visions of waking up with red, angry patches under my nose and on my temples, but it didn't happen and I had no reaction at all to the product.

As for inducing sleep? Well, unfortunately I don't think it helped me too much. It does smell nice, and perhaps, yes it relaxed me a little, but on those days when I just can't sleep, I've found that this doesn't really help. I thought perhaps, that it was because I couldn't really smell it once it was on my skin (even when it was right under my nose), so I tried putting a little bit on my wrist then sleeping with my wrist by my head! Still, it did not work. I was still knackered and I was still awake.

The balm is completely organic, and being natural, I wanted to try this before resorting to chemical filled medicines or sleeping pills. You can buy this from Boots for £3.99 a 21g tub, and they also do a kids version called Night Night Balm.

I did buy it after a recommendation from a friend, and it worked for her, so perhaps it's just a bit hit and miss, but personally it didn't work for me, so needless to say, I won't be buying it again.