If you’re anything like me you tend to be a bit doubtful about the effectiveness of these “all natural” lotions and balms. I mean the idea’s great, but is it really going to be as powerful as some chemical formula? That’s how I felt when I heard about Tradies Balm, but with a name like that I thought it was worth a shot – after all tradies don’t suffer from your run of the mill dry skin problems. A cream that works on dishwashers’ hands might be a bit outclassed in that line of work.
Anyway I thought I’d get some for my dad, a lifelong builder. He wasn’t disappointed, let’s put it that way. First off, he loved that it’s un-fragranced – perfumes just irritate already inflamed skin, so that’s one less thing to worry about from the start, plus he didn’t have to go round covered in cement dust smelling like the perfume counter. It’s a great texture too; not oily so it’s absorbed fully in a couple of minutes. Also, unlike those runny lotions that seem to evaporate on contact without really doing much, the results are amazing!
Years of grafting in all weathers have taken their toll on him and he thought some of the cracks in his hands were so old and deep they would never go; “just one of those things”, he always says. He couldn’t have been more wrong! His hands are much smoother, the cracks are finally healing and he’s finding he doesn’t seem to get new ones as much now that his skin’s got some elasticity back. But that’s just the start of this balm’s magic. It’s great on mozzie bites; it brings the redness and swelling right down, and the itching goes almost immediately. It even works on fresh tattoos! In fact it seems to do wonders on everything from tradies’ hands and blisters to sunburn. It doesn’t contain SPF protection, but that’s no big deal; use this for a while and your skin will be in much better shape, so you won’t mind smearing some regular sunscreen on there. If you’ve ever put that stuff on cracked skin you’ll know that it stings a bit.
Tradies’ Balm only has seven ingredients, but between them they have just about everything your skin’s been begging for – and not just the usual moisturising, softening and soothing benefits you would expect in any normal hand cream. It has all that, but this great little balm also contains antifungal qualities from virgin coconut oil and Calendula oil. Chamomile oil provides a natural antibiotic and analgesic and Macadamia wax creates a protective barrier that still allows the skin to breathe, just to name a few.
It’s powerful stuff, so you only need a tiny bit (they recommend a pea-sized amount), but with body-heat it softens really quickly so you can rub it in easily. At $12.50 for 20g and $28 for 100g it works out as great value for money. It comes in a handy little tin too – much easier to carry around than tubes and bottles, and a lot less likely to get squished while you’re working. As far as my dad’s concerned, it’s worth its weight in gold.
