I find it coincidental that I've recently found myself using a range of Lush products that all feature the ingredient, Sago. Before this month, I wasn't even aware of what it was and had to do a little research beforehand to bring my knowledge up to speed.
Sago is a starch that comes from the sago palm. In order to remove the starch, the tree is cut down and the stuff is scooped out from inside. Depending on how the flesh is being used afterwards, a number of different processes are performed to turn sago into the desired format. Some countries will wash it before drying it out to produce a flour which is then used to make bread and aid cooking; others will process it to produce granular sago which has an array of different uses in the cosmetic world.
Lush used this latter type of sago in their Strawberry Boat Fresh Smoothie - decorating the top of the product to give it extra gentle exfoliating properties. In this solid hand cream, the company have used powdered sago along with safflower petals to get a beautifully sweet and floral aroma. Not only this, but the properties of safflower also give it lubricating properties. This means that in cosmetics, it acts as a protective barrier to prevent water from leaving your skin. It works with your skin to soften dryness, smooth roughness and can also soothe some gentle skin problems.
Tiny Hands also boasts an array of beneficial oils and extracts - chamomile is an antiseptic oil that keeps your hands clean and free from harmful bacteria while aloe vera helps to calm and hydrate sensitive skin. It's especially helpful at this time of the year as it can also reduce redness and counteract excess heat from sunburnt skin. The inclusion of both marigold oil and marigold petals in Argan oil gives this solid hand cream a wonderful musky, pungent floral scent whilst working with the aloe vera to calm and protect over-worked hands.
It only takes a single use to really notice how these ingredients work in sync with each other. Take the bar and begin to rub it between your palms. The heat from your hands will melt the bar a little - just like a massage bar, and you'll begin to feel the oils bleeding onto your skin. After just a few seconds, you'll have enough to moisturise both hands.
How this differs from a massage bar is that within a matter of seconds, the hand cream that you've rubbed into your skin, has been absorbed 100% into your skin. Rather than being left with greasy residue that you have to wipe away or leave even longer to dissipate, Tiny Hands leaves your skin silky smooth and feeling really nourished - with none of the annoying stickiness you find with other liquid hand creams.
This solid hand cream has long-lasting effects on the skin - I probably only have to reapply this once a day, whereas I would normally have to dip into a pot of cream every hour. The fact that it's in a solid state means that it lasts much longer than a liquid counterpart; I've been using this for a good couple of months now and I don't even think I've gotten halfway through the bar yet.
While it's a great product to travel with, the size means it doesn't fit into one of Lush's shampoo tins. While I have no worries about it leaking in my bag, it can rub against the sides and leave a bit of a mess. For this reason, I have found that cutting the bar in half and using each piece separately, has meant that I can take this anywhere with me and top up if and when I need to.
Priced at £4.25 for a 60g bar, this is exceptional value for money and I challenge you to find fault in this little marvel. It moisturises your hands beautifully, leaves a gentle floral fragrance on your skin and lasts a good 5+ months. Well done Lush!
Quantitative Ingredients: Cocoa Butter, Talc, Fair Trade Shea Butter, Extract of Marigold petals in Argan Oil, Sago and Safflower Petals Decoction, Perfume, Aloe Vera Extract, Vanilla Extract, Chamomile Blue Oil, Chamomile Oil, African Marigold Oil, Citral, Coumarin, Geraniol, Lilial, Linalool, Limonene, Talc.
Vegan?: Yes.
2014 Price: £4.25 each.
2015 Price: £4.35 each.
2017 Price: £5.95 each.
