The Good: Cleans slightly deeper than soap, Gentle, Moisturizes well
The Bad: So gentle it's almost ineffective, Smell is incredibly weak
The Basics: Disappointing in that it is so mild, it becomes ineffective, this Apricot Scrub is more appropriately "semi-greasy moisturizing skin wash."
For those who have been keeping up with my reviews lately, I cut my hand a few days ago and this has allowed me to test how various skin care products react to such things as fresh wounds. Actually, what happened was I was bringing my big, fat cat home from a visit to his home away from home when he decided he was determined to get out of my arms and he leapt through the door as soon as it was open. As a result (or to enable him to make this jump), he unleashed his claw on my palm and opened it up with a pretty good, pretty deep gash. This allowed me to find an alternative use for the white tea and ginger body splash that I had kicking around and allowed me to discover that Bath & Body Works's Shower Gels will not interact significantly with open cuts or scabs. This did, however, become enough for me to pull the St. Ives Gentle Apricot Scrub off my shelf and give it another chance.
Some time ago, I picked up the St. Ives Hypo-Allergenic scrub to clean my skin a little deeper than with normal body washes. Honestly, I was having a breakout and I wanted to really clean my skin, but I didn't want anything so abrasive that it would tear me up. That is why I went with the gentle, sensitive skin formula as opposed to their maximum grit, brillo-pad in a bottle exfoliating cream that I have used before . . . when I couldn't find a pumice stone.
The thing is, with normal use, I originally found the gentle apricot scrub to be underwhelming. With normal day to day use, I found no significant change in my skin quality or feeling of cleanliness. The formula is so mild that it cleaned my skin about as well as a wet washcloth with liquid soap.
For those unfamiliar with scrubs, this is a product that comes in a cream form (like skin lotion) and has grit to it, hard little bits of sandlike rocks that are designed to exfoliate the skin when washed off. This is seen as a great way to clean deep in pores, remove dead skin and stimulate new skin growth that is clean, elastic and clear. The sensitive skin formula that makes this apricot scrub gentle uses smaller grit that agitates skin less. As a result, it takes off less dead skin, stimulates less new growth and does a mediocre job of cleaning the skin (better than body gel, less effective than Lava soap).
During normal, day to day use, I remained unimpressed by the apricot scrub for both its function (which was average) and it's scent, which was so mild as to be nonexistent. Facial scrubs tend to trade on the scent of the product and this apricot scrub smelled apricot the first time out of the tube and never since. It's like St. Ives puts apricot scent in the top of the cap and that's it. Having been on the shelf for a few months now, this tube has lost all scent. It does not smell at all coming out of the tube, when applied to the skin, not at all!
This is a liability for any health and beauty product, especially as the resulting description (lacking "apricot scented") is "greasy with a hint of sand." Regardless of how it may or may not interact with sensitive skin (I do not have sensitive skin), that it's scent does not last, permeate or even present itself is a liability for this product that is trying to sell itself on its apricot scent.
Which leads me back to my hand wound. I took this tube out - it's a six ounce bottle with a flip top that is difficult to fair to use with one hand - thinking that there would not be a better time to see how this works on atypical skin conditions than this. I tried it again as a facial scrub and remain disappointed.
After three days of using it on my hands, my hands remain well-moisturized. This product did not agitate my cut at all. It was so mild, in fact, that it did not have an effect on the skin around the wound. In fact, as you might know, as a wound heals, the old, damaged skin will dry out and die off. Using this scrub kept the dying skin fairly supple, but did not remove it. Ultimately, this is an exfoliating product that refuses to exfoliate! Perhaps the grit in this is more jelly than sand . . .
I understand the need to make scrubs for sensitive skin that are not abrasive and thus facilitate cleaning skin that is has special needs. But there's a limit to sensitivity and this product is so mild as to be ineffective. It cleans, but not deeply and not with what one expects from a SCRUB.
Ultimately, the only thing I can recommend it for is cleaning wounds. It's great for not agitating skin as it tries to heal. Then again, most body washes would do the same trick and I do not have the same expectations for them.
The front of the tube advertises "radiant skin" which I do not see from this product. The best it ought to be promising is clean. It achieves that, though unremarkably.
For other skin care products, please check out my reviews of:
The Body Shop Smooth & Renew Loofah Mitt
Bath & Body Works Winter Candy Apple Anti-Bacterial Gel
Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Creme
3/10
For other health and beauty product reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!
© 2011, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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