Relaxing Rosemary. (Radox Stress Relief Herbal Bath)

Member Name: thehonesttruth

Product:	Radox Stress Relief Herbal Bath
Date:	07/09/09 (24 review reads)
Rating:

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I think most people get stressed from time to time . For me, it's living up to the demands of my lively six year old daughter, while trying to balance my budget, and trying to find work at the same time - largely alone, as my boyfriend lives miles away. Add to this the fridge packing up, and the washing machine breaking down and things have gotten extra stressful lately .

I'm not alone in getting a bit stressed it would seem . According to research conducted over 2007/2008, roughly 25% of absenteeism in the uk is down to stress, and in the period 2007/2008, 13.5 million working days were lost as a result .

So, it's clear that we all need a little time to unwind every now and again - to relax, sit back, and just enjoy the moment . For me, one of the most effective ways of doing this, is running myself a hot, bubbly bath, sticking a cup of tea on the rim of it, and submerging myself with a good book. I can be in there for hours, topping up with hot water every few minutes, and it always works wonders.

I usually use Boot's bubble bath - not through any particular brand loyalty, but because my mum works for them and gets them very cheaply, and gives me large bags of stuff every so often. However, I ran out of bubble bath a few days ago, and a bath with no bubbles is just not as much fun . So, off I popped to the corner shop, and the only bubble bath they had on offer was Radox, at 1.79 a bottle .

Not that I minded - Radox have been making herbal baths for years, I remember as a child buying my mum Radox bath salts for christmas, and then as I got older, I used the Radox brand a lot . I think if I didn't get all the free bubble baths off my mum, I would buy Radox as my main brand anyway .

The clear plastic recyclable bottle is rectangular in shape, with rounded shoulders and a blue plastic cap with Radox embossed into it . Through the bottle, you can see the bubble bath inside, a lovely blue colour that matches up to the cap . Overall , the bottle itself is pretty smart, and certainly not something I'd be ashamed of displaying in my bathroom.

The words Herbal Bath are large on the front label, where there is also a relaxing scene of a peaceful mountain lake . There is also a picture of the herbs used in this bath, in this case, Rosemary . I think Rosemary is well chosen as a stress relief herb - It has a calming effect on the nervous system, can soothe muscle pain, and can stimulate circulation.

An old herbal, written by Grete , has this to say :

"'For weyknesse of ye brayne. Against weyknesse of the brayne and coldenesse thereof, sethe rosemaria in wyne and lete the pacyent receye the smoke at his nose and keep his heed warme."

I'm not sure if stress counts as weakness of the brain, but I think I'll count it .

Using this bubble bath is simple, pour a geneous glug under running water, give it a few swishes with your hands, and watch as piles of lovely white bubbles form, just calling you to get in and soak yourself - which I promptly did.

I felt more relaxed very quickly - a lot of this due to the simple act of getting into a lovely hot bath and taking time ut for myself . The bubbles lasted a long time (I so hate it when they vanish!) and were still there when I got out, a full 45 minutes later. Of course, as with many bubble baths, if you also use soap, the bubbles do dissapear faster, but as this was a relaxing bath, not a getting clean bath, I didn't use soap and just enjoyed lying back in the water with a good book .

The smell was lovely - deep and woodsy, with the Rosemary coming back strong and clear . Many people say scents can trigger particular memories, and for me, this bought back memories of my grandmother, who died when I was ten . Her middle name was Rosemary, and so she always had a plant growing in her garden . When she died, all her kids took cutting from this plant and grew the cutting in their own gardens - and my garden now also contains a rosemary plant related to the original one my grandmother had .

After a good soak, I felt refreshed, and better able to organise my thoughts . I also felt deeply relaxed - in fact, I felt as though I could quite happily just curl up in bed and carry on reading, despite it being only 7pm.

I would always recommend a good soak in the bath to soothe aches and pains, and take away the cares of the day . I would recommend this one in particular, firstly due to the abundance of bubbles that lasted for the whole bath, and secondly due to the rosemary aroma, which I really feel did help me relax that extra little bit and organise my thoughts!

5 stars!

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