Amara's Bath Gets a Makeover

The kiddo has gotten some new bath time goodies. Not just toys, but I overhauled her bubble bath, body wash, and shampoo too. I've been slowly changing things out for greener, healthier options as things run out.

We have finally used up the last of her Johnson & Johnson lavender baby wash and shampoo that we got as gifts before she was born. Yes, one bottle of each lasted us 2 years. I hate to waste stuff, but I was very tempted to just dump it. I read many articles about parents up in arms over the unsafe ingredients in this 'oh so gentle' baby product. Here is an example article with some of the information, and there are many more if you Google the brand name, shampoo, and cancer. I am not sure if they ever agreed to reformulate, but the bottle we had would have been made prior to this article, so would have had these ingredients in it. It's also disturbing that they wouldn't easily agree to removing the ingredients when they had done so for other countries and were aware of the potential problems/risks.

The bubble bath she had wasn't any better. It had Elmo on it though, so you know it was the one kids would be picking out. It was 'watermelon' scented, but it was definitely a chemically smelling watermelon, so not very watermelon scented after all. I can't remember what brand it was, so can't link or look up ingredients.

Her shampoo and body soap are both by Little Twig (we ordered from drugstore.com and used Ebates). It's an organic and cruelty free line. EWG rates it a 2, so it is quite safe to use (the lower the number the better). The harshest item in the shampoo is a foaming agent/conditioner, and the second is a preservative. They present allergy concerns for the most part. That said, it still has a shelf life of 12 months once opened. It's sulfate, paraben, free of artificial scents, and artificial dye free. I got the shampoo and body wash in the tangerine scent. So far so good. It is not as foamy as your typical drugstore shampoo/soaps. It's left her hair very soft and manageable. The scent is very nice and refreshing. I did see they have a conditioner too. Might get it since Amara's hair is getting pretty long and surely will start tangling more easily any day now.

Then I got her some glycerin based bubble bath from My Beauty Addiction (looks like it's is currently only in their Etsy store, but I'm pretty sure I had ordered it from their website in November). I got birthday cake scent, so obviously it's not 100% natural since there is no birthday cake essential oils, but I'm not too worried about it since none of us have ever shown even the slightest sign of being allergic to fragrance. It also makes more bubbles with a smaller amount of the bubble bath. I found it easier to clean after the previous kind left a film on the tub if you didn't really rinse/wipe the tub down afterward.

We also recently got some cute new tub toys for Christmas. One of the best ones has been Little Tikes Butterfly Net toy. It's 3 little butterflies and a net. You pull on the butterfly's tail and they 'flutter' in the water. They actually move around pretty well and are very simple for Amara to use. The wings stop moving when they are sitting against anything, so they stop moving while in the net, or sitting in your hand. They float well, and don't just sink. They do have little holes and can fill up with water, but drain easily. We have another toy that 'swims' and it doesn't work all that well, so I didn't really have high hopes for this toy (it was a gift). It's not a bath time favorite.

I also had to finally put up the baby wash cloths and hooded towels. She got big girl purple towels and neon wash cloths for her bathroom. The hooded stuff just wasn't big enough or absorbent enough anymore.