Banish the bathtime blues! (TrendyKid Shampoo Rinse Cup)

Member Name: jo1976

Product:	TrendyKid Shampoo Rinse Cup
Date:	02/03/09 (181 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Stops shampoo suds going into your child's face, works on children old enough to tilt their head

Disadvantages: Doesn't work in the way that it's supposed to, expensive

Hair washing has been the bane of my life and spoils many a great bathtime for my two boys. I've tried all manner of tactics, techniques and gadgets in the past to stop the tears without much success. We've got the oldest pretty much sorted now - thanks in part to him being old enough to co-operate with the process, as well as the novelty of a shampoo shield (reviewed previously.) Our youngest was still screaming the house down every time we needed to wash his hair though, so we were back on the hunt for something that would solve the nightmare of hair washing!

When we first saw this 'Shampoo Rinse Cup' in Mothercare we initially decided against buying it as it was £6.99 and it seemed a bit pricey for what is essentially a large plastic jug. We bought the shampoo shield instead as it was the cheaper option. Our youngest flatly refuses to keep this on his head, so we ended up going back to Mothercare in desperation and buying the oversized jug after all! The 'rinse cup' is one of those items that is incredibly simple but quite difficult to describe. It's basically a giant plastic jug which has one totally straight edge and a plastic divider splitting the inside of the jug into two halves. On the outside straight edge there is a rubbery section, described as a 'soft flexible edge which forms a barrier against the forehead.' This should then stop any water and suds going into your child's face and eyes.

With a touch of deja vu, our oldest was keen to road test the latest hairwashing contraption. We pressed the rubbery section up against his forehead (as shown on the photo on the packaging) and poured. No water at all went on to my son's face...unfortunately, no water went on his hair, either! Because of the middle section dividing the jug up, all of the water tipped straight down the sides of his head and completely missed out the bit that we actually wanted to wash! After a lot of moaning about the uselessness of the product, we tried adjusting the angle, tilting his head back etc. Eventually, we managed to get the jug to both wash his hair and keep his face free from water. We don't press the jug right up against his forehead, we just tip it over from a slight height when his head is tilted back and this seems to do the trick.

Once we'd mastered the technique, we tried it on our eighteen month old and, yes, it still worked! It doesn't work exactly as the packaging and description leads you to believe but, providing your little one is able and willing to tilt their head back as you wash their hair, it does actually keep their face free from water and shampoo. Another advantage of the jug is that it is so big and contains such a large amount of water that you only need one, at most two, jugfuls to rinse a child's hair so hair washing is now a much quicker process for us, as well as being free from tears and tantrums! The split level means that half the water cleans the front part of the head and the other half is directed towards the back, so it is really effective at rinsing the suds away. The only drawback is the price but for us, it's been worth every penny so far!

I'd recommend buying one of these if you've been having similar problems with hair-washing. Just remember to perfect your pouring technique and encourage your child to tilt their head back to get the best out of this jug.

Summary: We've finally got clean hair without the fuss!