That's right, plain store brand olive oil.
My awesome ex-hippy mum suggested this as her favorite go-to belly soother during all of her pregnancies and I'm always game for a natural solution to skincare woes.
Here's the breakdown:
1. Smell 5/5
I like the smell of a decent olive oil anyway, it's clean and natural. Better, the smell faded really quickly once it was applied. I was worried the heat from my body would make me smell like bruscetta all day, but I think maybe the scent molecules dissipated faster because of the heat. Look at me making bogus vaguely scientific claims!
2. Texture 4/5
This was surely the easiest application yet. I poured about 2 tbs. in little bowl and then just lubed up my hands and rubbed them all over my belly. Which is now giant, by the way. Yes- my hands were a little oily after and yes, so was my belly. I wouldn't throw on a shirt you value right away, but it absorbs very quickly, probably less than five minutes, so compared to the balm style rubs, this seemed really easy.
3. Skin outcome 8/10
There's a reason people have used olive oil to clean their skin for centuries. It makes your skin feel luxuriously soft. I only docked some points because a nighttime application doesn't seem to get me through the whole day- I'm itchy again by dinner.
Total 17/20
Well done Mom. Well done. I think I'm going to start using this on my face. And my dinner.
There are roughly 7 billion different products for itchy pregnant tummies out there. Any other suggestions for where I should look for the perfect one?
