Riding in the Cart

Congratulations! You all get to ride in the cart while I grocery shop! PLEASE sit down and don't try to jump out when you see something you want or I'll have to use that dumb strap! You're lucky since we're only shopping for one item today: Body lotion. As the weather gets cooler my family's skin starts to get dryer so it's time go shopping.
Here are the requirements:

• It must be paraben-free
• I have to be able to get it at the grocery store.
• It must be under $5 a bottle.
• It must have a "low-hazard" rating on the Skin Deep database.
• It must WORK! My oldest has eczema so we need something strong!

OK, so here we go. First I'm going to check out the Skin Deep Database. It's a fantastic tool that is great for doing a lot of the leg-work on just such a shopping expedition as ours. There are tons of categories of personal care products to search to see what the toxicity level is. I'm just going to go to "Eczema/damaged Skin". They are ranked from the lowest hazard level (a 0) to the highest(a10). I usually have to to to at least a 2 (the highest number to still receive a score of low hazard) before I find anything I've ever heard of. Actually, the second product on the list is Cortizone 10, with a score of 0, which is good to know for Eczema flair ups. But I'm still looking for an everyday moisturizer. I had to switch to just moisturizer and there were SO many different products, I decided to just type in a brand I've had good luck with in the past: Neutrogena. I was surprised to find that a few of their products received a score of 2! I checked the ingredients and found that it was paraben free! (I chose to go with Neutrogena's Norwegian Formula Daily Therapeutic Lotion, Body Moisturizer, Fragrance Free.) I priced it online and it's $7. I'm willing to negotiate on my $5 rule since it's a pretty big bottle. OK, now I actually have to go to the store and buy the thing! But now I'm an informed consumer. I LOVE this site because it allows me to figure out what I need before I'm standing in the grocery store aisle. I have time to really LOOK at what I'm buying.