NICE, LIMEY AND GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT!!! (Original Source Lime Shower Gel)

Member Name: dlb74

Product:	Original Source Lime Shower Gel
Date:	08/07/07 (67 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: VERY NICE TO USE AND MAKES YOU FEEL FRESH...

Disadvantages: NONE THAT I CAN THINK OF...

Well… this review is certainly going to be a pretty big departure from my usual movie and video game reviews...

Today, for you reading pleasure (I hope!), I have decided to write a review for…

Original Source lime shower gel…

RRP £2.49 (250ml bottle)

I had seen some television adverts for some of the products in the Original Source range – which included a man standing naked in a field full of mint in the pouring rain which advertises their mint shower gel. Thankfully there’s also an advert which feature a naked woman in a field full of lavender for their lavender bath foam – so at least there’s an ad that will appeal to the men too!

So… the adverts appear to highlight the fact that everything that goes into any Original Source product is natural – hence the naked people in their adverts appearing to be ‘at one with nature’.

I had never used any of their products until very recently when my other half did a large online grocery shop with a large supermarket chain that I shall not name but simply say that they are controversially buying up lots of land in order to increase the numbers of their stores. In fact, they seem quietly hell-bent on world domination – starting with the entire UK… so perhaps we’ll see James Bond sent out to stop them in a future Bond flick?

Sorry… I digress (as usual). Back to the shower gel!

So… after the shop had arrived and been put into all the relevant areas of the house, I spotted a very understated and yet somehow cool bright green bottle of shower gel standing in the bathroom. Upon closer inspection, I found it to be a bottle of Original Source lime shower gel. It’s quite an unassuming bottle to look at – with a label on the front in bold writing stating ‘ORIGINAL SOURCE – LIME SHOWER’ it also states that it is ‘packed with essential oils’. The wording is quite casual and in small, subtle lettering at the top of the front label, it simply states ‘Mouthwateringly Zingy’…

Since I was there to grab a shower, I thought I might as well check it out and give it a try. I popped open the lid (which also doubles as the base when the bottle is standing upright… there are no hooks on this product to hang it from anything) and took a sniff of the stuff before I decided to even put it anywhere near my skin…

Immediately, I was hit by a very attractive smell of lime (obviously!) that did indeed smell so fresh and somehow… tasty! So it seems that the makers of the product weren’t in fact just trying to be clever when they put ‘Mouthwateringly Zingy’ on the bottle. The product smells good enough to eat!

So I decided I would definitely give this shower gel a try. I lathered up and instantly felt very refreshed by the combination smell of the natural fragrance and the hot water bouncing off my bod!

After using this product, I have to be honest and say that I did indeed actually feel very clean and refreshed. The nice citrus smell of the lime essential oils leave the skin gently but nicely fragranced thereafter too. Therefore, I would say – speaking for myself – that the product very much does what it says on the packaging and ticks all the boxes that are needed for me to not only use the product in the first place but to buy it again and encourage me to try other products within the range.

Upon reading the back of the bottle (which I practically never do) I was treated to some brief but interesting information on the label.

The directions for use are simple and somehow amusing: Pour out, feel fruity.

The makers also state that if you know anyone else who needs to feel fruity, a free sample of original source can be obtained from their website:

www.originalsource.co.uk

Once in the site, you are faced with an array of information about the range of the Original Source products which include bar soaps, bath foams, hand washes, shampoos, conditioners, shave gels, shower gels and foaming shower gels. So there’s certainly plenty of variety to be found. You can even buy the products direct from the website.

When I looked up the lime shower gel on their site, it states that as the company doesn’t use any artificial fragrances or perfumes – using only lime essential oil. So in that sense, I suppose you probably won’t find such natural ingredients in most other shower gels and cleansing products available on the market.

The site also includes ‘Hot Topics’ which refers to many interesting topics including natural remedies for hay fever among others that will no doubt make interesting reading. This adds to the feeling of sincerity of the company and makes them stand apart from other companies who make similar products.

There’s also a ‘Have Your Say’ segment on the site which allows users of their products to leave their comments on a forum – which is again quite innovative of the company to add this. It’s not all positive as there are people who have had some problems with free samples not arriving etc. You have to admire any company that doesn’t hide solely behind its positive comments (of which there are many) and isn’t censoring or removing the very few negative postings on their site. I think that this shows how confident they are with their products – and rightly they should too, I would personally say.

I’ve not used another shower gel since I caught a whiff of this impressive stuff and will definitely either invest in another bottle of the lime shower gel when it runs out – or certainly try another of their shower gels to see how it compares to this one.

Their site is also full of other interesting and informative stuff. There are games where you can win prizes, ways to contact the company directly and also a very interesting section which details all of the natural plants that are used to create their products.

All in all, I would whole-heartedly recommend the lime shower gel on the basis of having used it and loved it and recommend the company as a whole as they seem very committed to promoting the natural aspects of their products and keeping their customers happy (there is also a loyalty scheme detailed on their website).

Some other interesting points worthy of mention include the following:

• As the range of the companies products are as natural as possible, they are suitable for most skin types – including sensitive skins. That said, they do suggest that people with severe allergies to certain things ensure that the products do not contain them before use.

FYI: The ingredients list is as follows:

Aqua, Sodium, Laureth Sulfate, Cocamide, DEA, Citrus Aurantifolia (Lime) Oil, Sodium Chloride, Limonene, PEG-150, Distearate, Sodium Lactate, Citral, Lauryl Bentain, Disodium EDTA, Styrene/Acrylates Copolymer, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Linalool, Lactic Acid, Magnesium Nitrate, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Magnesium Chloride, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, CI 42090, CI 19140

Now... I'm no expert but I'm damned if I know what most of those things are (though I do know what Methylchloroisothiazolinone is... it's a complete bitch to type!) - but I can tell there's more to it than simple lime extracts. I guess that even products that strive to be as natural as possible can't escape the need for non-natural additions.

• Following on from the use of natural materials, the packaging of the products can be recycled – although where and how it can be recycled should be established first of all.

• The products are not tested on animals.

• Aerosol products do not contain CFCs and as such are more environmentally friendly as a result.

• The company is registered by the Vegan Society and is also a member of the Aromatherapy Trade Council

Having a partner who strives to be as ‘green’ as possible is somehow having a positive effect on me and has made me a little bit greener too, I suppose. So much so that products such as this actually do appeal to me now.

I’ve just registered on the Original Source website (this requires some basic information such as name and address etc and involves answering a very short questionnaire – so all in it shouldn’t take you more than 5 minutes to do this) and have ordered a free bottle of mint and tea tree shower gel – so I may very well have to write a review on that when I receive and try that too.

Many thanks for reading this op.

Derek.

Summary: A TREMENDOUS AND REFRESHING SHOWER GEL... TRY IT!!!