I first stumbled on neem back in 2003, after the birth of my beautiful baby boy. After about two months he was diagnosed with eczema, and what should have been routine sleepless nights, (if there is such a thing!) turned into stressful sleepless nights, and days which were worse! His eczema progressively worsened, and frequently turned blistery and painfully sore. We tried pretty much everything from Aqueous Cream and Oilatum to the harsh steroid based creams, the latter, I’ll admit, I must’ve only used a handful of times when things got really bad. We all know of the health implications of long term use of steroid creams, and although they usually work like a treat, I wasn’t keen on using it on my baby.  That’s when my mother in law suggested using neem.

The neem tree has been used in the sub-continent for several centuries and is seen as a miracle cure for a multitude of ailments. Traditional Ayurvedic medicine originating from India revers the neem tree because of its unique properties. It is considered to have both anti bacterial and anti fungal properties, with every part of the tree having a use and purpose. It is used in many rural villages to treat a host of conditions; malaria, ulcers, sores, dandruff and various skin complaints. There have been countless academic papers and journals in recent years that have researched the properties of neem, with findings that confirm the reasons for its popularity in that part of the world.

I’ll be lying to you if I told you that I wasn’t sceptical. How could the leaf of a tree I’ve never heard of bring any relief to him? I was desperate, and ready to try anything, after all, there was nothing to lose…it was all completely natural.

So started the process of hunting down Neem here in the UK, this was not an easy task, I couldn’t even get hold of its bottled oil…things weren’t looking great until we had someone visiting us from the Subcontinent, and they agreed to bring the dried neem leaves.

So began the process, under my mother-in-laws guidance, of steeping the leaves in water, boiling them, straining them, and letting the water cool, before adding to my little one’s bath…laborious I’ll admit, but it worked like a charm!! You could see the expression of relief on his little face when you’d dip him in his neem infused bath, and the relief had a lasting effect. The bath ritual coupled with lashings of oatmeal cream meant we were able to control is eczema, and I happy to say, that we moved away from having to rely on steroid creams.

I could barely contain my excitement when I realised that we were able to create a collection which could harness the use of neem oil. Our Rose & Sandalwood with Neem Oil range blends the medicinal properties of neem with the beautifully scented Moroccan rose, known for its emollient properties. It is a truly unique combination with numerous benefits for skin, hair and scalp. A wonder treat that has been blended to help repair, nourish and hydrate – without the fuss of having to source, steep or crush the neem leaves yourself.