On and off for the last few weeks I have had a bit of a head cold. It was originally all on my chest and in my bones but over the last week it has been mostly in my throat which has felt akin to a sack full of glass which scratches and hurts terribly, mostly first thing in the morning. My mother, angel that she is, foisted some of this magic throat spray on me when I visited over the weekend - taking pity on me (or more likely thinking it was the best way to stop me whinging).

It was so good that I figured I simply must review it here. You can buy this for around the £5 mark (cheapest online was Pharmacy 2U when I checked, at £4.85). This might seem quite steep but the bottle holds 15ml and each spray is so targeted as to be very affective without much denting the volume in the bottle.

The bottle has a nozzle which is designed to direct spray to the very back of your throat. It does not taste too great but neither is it offensive, it basically tastes a little of chemicals but because most of it hits the back of your throat you won't taste it too much in any event. The nozzle is very powerful and easy to use, on each occasion I have successfully targeted my throat without incident, the design of the bottle is very well thought out in this respect.

The reason that this works so well is that it contains benzocaine which is basically a local anaesthetic. It almost instantly numbs the throat and stops the pain and this is unbelievably soothing when you have been suffering so much. I was absolutely gobsmacked at how instantaneous the effect of the spray was.

I found that the full effect of the spray lasted around 2 hours before starting to wear off again but the instructions say that you can use it every 2-3 hours up to a maximum of 8 doses in any one 24 hour period. This is plenty enough to keep your throat soothed during waking hours at the very least and I honestly wish I had found this stuff years ago. An adult dose is 3 sprays every 2-3 hours but children under 13 can only have 1 spray every 2-3 hours. To be honest I was only using 1 or 2 sprays on each application and was finding this was sufficient for me.

I will certainly be replacing this in my first aid kit when it runs out (my other half is now suffering and using the same spray but I still think we will have some left). I think it should be considered a key part of any self respecting first aid kit and as somebody who absolutely detests having a sore throat it is certainly something I highly recommend.