Life with Bees

This Christmas I was given a set of Yes to Carrots creams - a body lotion, face cream and shampoo. Apart from the silly name, the brand is a surprisingly affordable organic beauty range (about $40 for the set from www.chemistdirect.com.au). The range is paraben free and purports to be filled with Dead Sea minerals which have magic powers of rejuvenation. And organically grown carrots.

The body lotion is thick and silky and does a reasonable job keeping skin smooth and soft. It's not quite as rich as the Richmond Hemp Body Lotion but is a good light lotion. The C Today face cream is also souffle light, with a mild, pleasant smell. Good for summer and plenty of it to go round in a generous tub. It can leave the skin a tiny bit oily on a hot summer day but this could also just as easily be a side effect of the weather. The Pampering Carrot Juice shampoo is also a pleasant little product - it keeps hair relatively free of dandruff and has a soothing feel. Perhaps the only drawback is the funky orange colour in the shampoo gel. Having tested the shampoo I'm now curious to try the Yes to Carrots hair conditioner, which could be a contender in the Neverending Quest for Good Long Hair Care.

Yes to Carrots offers excellent value and reasonably good performance for an organic or chemical-free beauty range. There's a sense of fun - and some sadly lame puns - through the products and the gentle day face cream is a particular standout.

Yes to Carrots
Value for Money: 8/10
Ethical Smugness Factor: 7/10
But Does It Actually Work? 7/10

When your hair is waist length, you start to notice if a shampoo or conditioner works. And you really notice if it doesn't - try combing four feet of prickly dry strands, or struggling to find a scarf big enough to hide it all on a bad day (a tight bun helps or alternatively adopt purdah). Thus begins the never-ending quest to find the perfect product for extremely long hair.

In this case, the quest is complicated by the fact that I'm trying to use shampoo and conditioners without dodgy chemicals. There are hundreds of organic or natural beauty products on the market - sadly, many of them simply don't work. For the last year I've been treading the fine line between icky synthetic goo that makes my hair beautiful and pure organic crap that leaves it ugly. Here are some of the things I've tried.

Aesop advertises itself as a beauty company with high organic standards - and a price tag to match. The Gentle Scalp Cleansing Shampoo (pictured - $40) is quite a good shampoo, very mild and seems to be effective even on dandruff-prone scalps. It doesn't froth up orgiastically in an effort to show how well it's working. Instead it's more like a gel cleanser, it stays matte to the scalp and a little goes a long way. I might get it as my main shampoo if I'm feeling rich. The Revitalising Hair Sealing Conditioner ($42 from www.aesop.net.au) was very disappointing. It left my hair nearly crackling with dryness and seemed to help create tangles. Very poor form and definitely not a good option for long hair. It was meant to be used in conjunction with the Rose Hair and Scalp Moisturing Masque ($100 - yes, $100) - described as a weekly botanical treat for hair. You apply the masque to freshly washed hair, wrap in a shower cap or clingfilm and leave on for half an hour before rinsing out. Sadly, it did nothing for my hair. I got the masque as a free sample with a purchase so wasn't out of pocket, but if I can save just one long-haired lady $100 - then all the pain has been worth it. :-|

Kiehl's Olive Fruit Oil Nourishing Conditioner (about $40 from Mecca Cosmetica). A rich conditioner that really softened my hair. More importantly, it didn't wear off and kept hair soft for days. Ends were still a little dry but I've never found anything that cured dry ends. Left a good gloss on the hair and helped detangle. I got compliments for how shiny the hair looked. A favourite. It's not chemical free and doesn't use organic ingredients but there are no parabens or SLS and none of the more obviously questionable ingredients. A good compromise between the two.

Endota Spa is offering all its 2-hour treatments at half price for the month of June, a discount that makes the beauty spa affordable even on my tiny salary. So two girlfriends and I booked in at our local spa immediately.

We all got the same 2.5 hour treatment, the Endota Layabout, which involves a "billabong footsoak'', a full body scrub and clay body wrap, followed by a massage and an organic facial.

When we arrived we were seated in a little reception area with bright green ottomans and a water feature. We filled out the usual questionnaires asking about allergies, health problems and skin concerns. It also asked what sort of pressure we liked in our massage and whether we wanted our therapist to chat during the treatment - a thoughtful touch.

Afterwards we were introduced to our therapists and led into separate treatment rooms. Mine was cosy, decorated in chocolate and eucalypt green colours. There was a big, immaculate vanity table along one side of the room with the therapist's kit. A large, discreet frosted glass shower was in one corner, and a big rattan chair in the other.

Billabong Footsoak: In front of the chair my therapist had laid out a fluffy towel and a large silver bowl full of warm water. I placed my feet into the warm liquid and she began to stroke my feet and legs with a mimosa and ginseng body polish. There were smooth river pebbles in the bottom of the bowl, which massaged and soothed the soles of my feet as I rubbed against them. The therapist gave me a full foot and lower leg scrub and then rinsed the polish off my legs and massaged some body balm into them.

Clay Body Wrap: After I moved to the treatment table, she draped me in a towel and worked on me section by section, using the mimosa body polish again. The scrub was fine-grained and had a lovely mild floral smell, not too sweet or overpowering. The therapist worked it methodically over my legs, back, arms and hands - it was almost like having a massage in itself. As she finished with each body part, she wiped the polish off with a warm, damp towel. Then she applied the body wrap, smoothing it onto my skin in a hot trickle of clay. When my back half was done, I turned over and she worked on my front with the polish and the clay. This time she only scrubbed and wrapped my arms, legs and decolletage, leaving my stomach and chest untouched - which was a bit odd. I could understand not covering my chest in clay but surely we could have worked around it and done my stomach?

When I was completely ensconced in clay, she pulled some warm sheets over me and gave me a soothing scalp massage while the body wrap soaked in. The scalp massage was blissful and relaxing, and was much better than being left alone to stew in the dark, covered in clay and blankets. Then it was off to the shower to wash off the pale clay wrap. In another nice touch, the therapist covered the steps leading to the shower cubicle with a fluffy towel. I spent a bit longer in the shower than I anticipated - the clay was a bit tricky to wash off completely and the warm shower was very relaxing. The wrap left my skin slightly oiled and a bit tacky to the touch, but not greasy.

Massage and Organic Facial: After my shower the therapist started on a half-hour body massage with the endota olive and macadamia oil. I had asked for firm pressure in my massage and she did not disappoint, using a fairly heavy hand to knead the tension out of my shoulders, arms and legs. Impressively, she had the knack of smoothing more oil onto my body without breaking her massage strokes.

When I was well oiled and relaxed, I turned over and she covered me in more towels before starting a one-hour facial. This began with a cleanse - she pressed two pads of eye makeup remover onto my eyelids (I wasn't wearing any makeup), and then smoothed my face liberally in a fig and sugar cleanser which felt soapy and slick. She pressed this off with a warm towel and started to rub my face with an intense menthol exfoliant from Thalgo. The scrub was brilliantly cool, leaving my face with an almost glowing warmth. In between each facial treatment she sprayed the air above my face with a wild orange spritzer which tickled down onto my face in a mist of sweet smelling citrus.

Then it was time for a face mask. With strong, smooth strokes she applied a thick Thalgo face mask and pressed a warm towel over my eyes to help me relax and soak it all in. She wrapped me up securely in some blankets and then set about with - yes - another scalp massage followed by a decolletage and shoulder rub. It was that good a treatment. Unfortunately when the time came to remove the face mask, with a compress of hot towels, my therapist's firm pressure proved my undoing - I felt nearly strangled under her hands as she pushed down on my face. She cleaned the mask neatly off my cheeks and set about applying Thalgo radiance moisturiser, again with a slightly heavy hand.

It felt: very relaxing, completely soothing and very indulgent. My skin felt very smooth afterwards and smelt of a heady mix of eucalypts, flowers and clay. We drifted out in a daze of pleasure and went home to continue relaxing.

The best bits: The comprehensive nature of the treatment. The therapist rarely left me alone in the room, spending any downtime giving me scalp massages or hand massages while we waited for the wrap or the mask to take effect. She had a very good firm pressure in her massage, and tried to take my needs into account.

The worst bits: The therapist's heavy hand was a bit disappointing in the facial - I do like a firm hand to ease the tension in my shoulders, but my face is a little less sturdy than the rest of my body. The music stopped halfway through the treatment and she didn't put it back on - not in itself a worry, but it did mean I could hear a delivery man rapping on the front counter outside for someone to come and sign a sheet. And surely there could have been some way to clay wrap my unloved stomach...?

But all in all, it was two and a half hours of blissful indulgence for $110 all up. Incredibly cheap, and a delicious treatment which showcased some of Endota's organic products.