Monday, March 06, 2006

Blissful Bathing

Thanks for all the wonderful ideas regarding the art situation. There are a lot of things I hadn't thought about - such as the framed textiles. I'll be taking "before" pictures later this week - and perhaps an "after" or two to show what we have done thus far. If nothing else, it'll give me the motivation to get off my ass and finish unpacking before the housecleaner comes on Friday.

Now, onto the next topic. See, you thought I'd drop off the face of the earth while not actively cycling didn't you?

Bathing... and bath & shower products.

For the last 2+ years (almost 3) we've been trying to conceive, I've basically shunned the occasional bath in favor of only showers. The reason being, when I take a bath - I like the water so hot that I come out of it scalded red. After being chastized by my old obgyn, I stopped taking baths because she claimed the elevated body temperature could potentially interfere with implantation. Ha! As if that was the problem...

After the move into the house, I decided to take a bath to ease some sore muscles, and oh - the bliss - the heaven... the wonderfulness of the hot water alleviating the pain radiating down my back. I stayed until my fingers pruned and I was pretty sure Michael was going to have to chisel me out because the water was so cold.

As I now have an enormous (well, to me anyway) amount of storage in my bathroom - I'm adding to my currently spartan bath/shower supplies. I used to be quite the maven when it came to bathroom supplies, but I purged a bunch of old stuff when we moved.

I'm going to buy a new shower head this week, because I just can't handle the wimpy water trickling right now. I have so much hair it takes a ridiculous amount of time to wash the shampoo out.

So, what are the bath/shower products that you swear by? For me, I love Benefit Bathina Sweet Satin Shave. It's in my opinion extravagantly priced for shaving cream, but it lasts forever as you only have to use a teensy little bit and makes my legs (and any other area that's shaved) heavenly soft. Cute packaging too. Their Body So Fine is also wonderful, and can be used to smooth errant tresses as well. The Sandal Scandal is fab for upkeep of pedicures between sessions, as is the Burt's Bees Coconut Foot Creme. I love the Burt's Bees Citrus Facial Scrub as an all over body exfoliator, but be careful, it's prone to mold if you accidentally get water in the container. I used to be an enormous fan of Philosophy's Falling in Love shower gel, but it's become a bit cloying for me. [Philosophy fans may want to check out the Power Shower program where you get 12 full-size bottles of 3 in 1 (shampoo, conditioner and body wash) shipped to you one a month with shipping for $165 - and available on the net only.] After just making my first large purchase from Lush, I'm afraid even I can't rationalize that just yet, and by "can't rationalize it" I mean I just bought the Good For You set - *ahem*

What are those that you use in your daily routine, and what are your "indulgences"? What did you spend money on that you wished you hadn't? I'm talking everything from shower gels, soaps, shampoos, bubbles, melts, bombs/fizzies, to shower heads and bath caddies... if you use it in the shower or bath and you love and or hate it, I want to hear about it. (Sarah, I know you have something to contribute here).

14 Comments:

At 3:23 PM, Blogger Shinny said...

Cassie Blue body scrubs and shower/bath gels. They are either a sugar or a salt base and smell wonderful and for the most part are natural. Let me know if you want the website, not that it is that hard to figure out.
Congrats on the new house and being moved in. How fun to get to unpack now. I am with you on having to get something on the walls right away too. Can't wait until we can start house hunting. Hopefully this summer.

 
At 4:03 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can't live without Lush for my bathing indulgences. As for my everyday stuff. I have about 7 different Philosophy body washes in my shower right now that i use on a rotating basis. Also, Urban Decay's Sugar and Cream sugar scrub is really good for an exfoliating soap. For a scrub, I don't know if they make it anymore, but Demeter had a really good sugar scrub that had oil in it. I'd use it before I'd soap up.

 
At 4:46 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have written about this on my site before, but I will post it again, so delicious and relaxing and delightful it is:
http://www.loccitane.ca/ranges/shea/98/
Really, it is the best smelling, softest bubbling bath product I have ever used, and lasts forever. Unless, of course, you become so hopelessly addicted to it that you start taking daily baths.

 
At 4:58 PM, Blogger DD said...

Just a tip on the shower head: whatever new one you get will have just as much pressure as the old one due to the "water restrictor" built into any new shower heads.

Just unscrew the head and take out this little plastic do-da no bigger than a dime. It'll make all the difference in the world - Promise!

 
At 8:16 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm not much for bath products but we just bought a new shower head - one of those hand held kind. Love it! It also makes cleaning the shower a bit easier as well.

 
At 8:25 PM, Blogger Ms. Pants said...

Okay, well. You already know my take on bath pillows and caddies cos we had a big ole talk about it.

#1--paint your bathroom whatever colour makes you feel relaxed and comfortable. I painted mine two shades of brown (which people always give me --ahem-- shit for, but it's really pretty) and I love it. You'll be surprised how different your bathroom feels once you paint it. And replace your cabinet hardware with something you really dig. Use the purple lights in the fixtures that show "real light" or whatever it is called.

And make sure you have a stock pile of candles for when you take your baths. Big fatties work best.

Plan out a bath cd or playlist.

The rest is coming up next.

 
At 8:37 PM, Blogger Ms. Pants said...

For Bubbles:
--Avon Soft Pink bubble bath: People forget about Avon, but they make kickass bubble bath. I always go with the standard Soft Pink. A little goes a long way and the bubbles last. If you don't have an Avon chick, ebay it.
--Lush Bubble Bars: Pretty standard. I bust the average slice into thirds or even quarters. Long lasting bubbles usually. Great smells.
--Mr. Bubble: Don't forsake the Man of the Bubble. Go for the standard pink kind in liquid. (The powder tends to aggravate the pink bits.) It's cheap and you get good bubbles.

For Soaking Sans Bubbles
--Burt's Bees Baby Bee Buttermilk Bath: Holy crap. This stuff smells like heaven! Just put however much you want in the tub as it fills, under the running water and then soak. Aaaaahhhh.... You'll get all softy soft and you'll smell wonderful!
--Lush Bath Melts: I'm a fan of the "Nude" one and the one that's supposed to help you sleep. I halve or third them. I'm a cheapskate.

Bath Bombs
--Lush. They've got the market cornered on this one. And I highly recommend the Butterball. It's my standard.

Soaps
--Believe it or not, I'm a straight up Zest gal. Straight up bar soap. However, I do have a couple bars from Seventh Sojourn (soapmagic.com) that smell glorious. But I love the smell of Amber--not everyone does.

 
At 8:38 PM, Blogger Ms. Pants said...

And double ditto to DD and the water restrictor thinger. I noticed my shower was starting to suck it hardcore and I found that restrictor. I pulled it out and found that it was all sorts of clogged up after years of whatever was in those pipes. I now have pretty damn good pressure and no flow restrictor.

 
At 9:29 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

How I miss not having a bath but since we dont have one the ultimate indulgance for me is products .. hair .. body.. face...skin nail blahblahblah products of all of them my
Micro Dermabrasion Cloths are heaven on earth, I love seeing all that old skin rub away. and then lathering on clinique moisturisers mmmmmmmm skin stuff

 
At 10:29 PM, Blogger Linda said...

I have this awesome showerhead and I wish I knew what it was called so I could tell you. It's huge and flat, lots of surface area. It doesn't angle like a regular head, it just rains straight down on me. It's DIVINE.

Found it!

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=2-3/qid=1141702124/ref=sr_2_3/601-3514587-0101714?%5Fencoding=UTF8&asin=B000066PXL

 
At 2:36 AM, Blogger sirwilliam said...

Benifit Bathina, heh? My newest favorite is the Vitamin C face wash from The Body Shop. That and tee tree oil. I have had a huge bottle of the tee tree oil moisturizer for years now, but unfortunately they don't make it any longer. It rocks, just a pea size does it. Anyhow, the Vitamin C face wash has a wonderfully invigorating smell to it, helps to wake up in the afternoons!

 
At 9:28 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Lord knows that I love products.

I've recently been enjoying some of the Aromatherapy products from Bath & Body Works -- especially Jasmine Vanilla from the "Sensuality" line. After I put on the lotion, my husband always comments on how great I smell. LOVE it.

Speaking of Bath & Body Works -- they have a new Gauze Mesh Sponge that gives lots more lather than a regular mesh sponge, and feels smoother. Good stuff.

 
At 3:38 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I really don't take many baths and never have. I have extremely sensitive skin and I hate most things that smell. But I LOVE the Knock-Out Bath Melts from Sumbody.com. If I actually like it, they must be good :) Very relaxing.

 
At 8:37 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love baths too but have a terrible bathtub in our current house with a completely straight-up-and-down back that is totally uncomfortable to recline against. So I'll be living vicariously through you on this. But I second the Lush recommendations: I love their almond body soap.

 

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