Today’s product review spotlights some unique skincare products made exclusively in Canada. Reese and Luke certified organic baby balms were developed to fill a family’s need for a balm that was natural, effective and cloth diaper safe.
Reese and Luke sent two products for testing: the Original Shea Butter Baby Balm and the Lavender Baby Balm. Both are available for purchase on Amazon for $23.99 and $13.99, respectively.
Shea butter is a traditional and very soothing skin remedy which contains beneficial vegetable fats. I learned that the shea butter used in Reese and Luke formulations is fairly traded and sourced from a tribal co-op in Africa. Additionally, it has been harvested using traditional methodology so it’s very nutrient dense, as opposed to the refined shea butter that’s found in many products you buy at the store.
In addition to shea butter, both balms contain olive oil, cera alba wax, jojoba oil, St. John’s Wort extract, calendula flower extract and lavender oil. The Original balm also has a small amount of tea tree oil. Here’s what you won’t find in these creams: parabens, sulfates, petrolatum or petroleum by-products or phthalates. Nor are they tested on animals.
I like the two different sustainable packaging options. The glass jar holds 3.5 ounces and is perfect for home use. Only a small amount is need to emulsify between your fingers before applying to the skin, so it lasts a long time. The small tin holds 1.3 ounces and is ideal for your purse or diaper bag.
Reese and Luke balm is a pale, creamy color and the texture is super smooth. It’s not grainy at all, like some natural ointments I’ve tried before, and that’s good because a gritty texture can irritate already inflamed skin. The fragrance is mild and slightly sweet.
Erik, who is teething (again) right now, has been getting the typical loose stools that come with the territory and so his red bum has provided a good testing ground for the balm.
The Reese and Luke balm has worked perfectly to soothe the redness caused by Erik’s teething stools. It has also rinsed cleanly from his diapers (we use mainly flats and fitteds made of natural fibers) with no residue, staining or buildup. There was one area of his skin that actually blistered; after using the balm for a few days on this trouble spot, there wasn’t much improvement, so for that I actually had to get a prescription ointment. So I would say that for your “typical” diaper rash, Reese and Luke’s is a good, natural choice, but you may or may not need something else for more serious issues.
I’ve also found the balm to be very useful for other minor skin problems like itching, chapped skin on the face and lips and even things like dry/cracked skin on hands, feet, etc. I think the fact that it contains calendula makes it that much more soothing. Just to give an example, after piddling around in my flower garden, two itchy red patches broke out on my right arm and right leg. After applying the Reese and Luke balm, the redness and itching completely vanished within 15 minutes.
Reese and Luke has very generously offered to send one of my readers that same two products reviewed – a 3.5 ounce jar and a 1.3 ounce tin of their wonderful balm!
UPDATE: Reese and Luke is going to send two more readers each a 1.3 ounce tin!
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GIVEAWAY CLOSED
I am having a hard time with pimples in my DD’s hair. She is 7 months and has lost most of her baby hair and new hair is grown in really thick. I just don’t know what is causing the pimples. They come in sets of three.
Christi, I think when they get pimples on their scalp, it’s not exactly the same as the usual “baby acne,” however the remedy is similar. Just keep using as mild a shampoo as you can to cleanse her hair, and avoid the temptation to put ointments/oils into it. She should outgrow it. Some babies just take more time than others. One of my 7 children had this persist just past 8 months. The cause (I’ve heard) is most likely maternal hormones that are passed on to your baby, and it takes a while for their system to process and eliminate them. ~Anne
Hi Christi,
Have you spoken to your pediatrician about ingrown hairs or clogged hair follicles as a potential source for the pimples on your daughters head? I used to get these kinds of “pimples” when I was younger and was told by my doctors that the likely culprit was from shaving. Maybe the fact that her hair is growing out super thick could be the answer.
Cassandra.
My baby has very sensitive skin and eczema so typically a cloth diaper safe rash cream is uses all over.
Jessi,
Our products are perfect for people with sensitive skin. As we all know babies are notorious for having sensitive skin and all of the issues that can stem from trying to keep it soft, healthy and blemish free. We kept that in mind specifically because we were going to make these formulas into products for children since we use it on our own daughter at home.
The Reese and Luke product are a great addition to anyone’s cloth diaper routine as all of the ingredients in the balm are able to wash out of the diapers, leaving no trace behind. Unlike zinc oxide creams there are no chemicals in our balms therefore no chance to staining, no residue, no need to strip your diaper after every change, etc.
If you would like anymore information or have any questions about our products, you can reach me directly at info@reeseandluke.com or cs@reeseandluke.com.
Cassandra.
My daughter has issues with her skin. She has super oily skin.
Hi Rebecca,
I read an interesting article recently that said to use oil to combat oily skin. With that in mind our baby balm would be a great addition to your baby care regime. It contains EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) which is ideal because it is one of the purest forms of olive oil and encounters the least amount of processing while being produced, like the shea butter that also goes into our products.
You can contact me by email at info@reeseandluke.com or cs@reeseandluke.com if you have any questions of would like more information about our products.
Cassandra.
I like these because they are not only good for baby but for everyone.
YB,
Yes it is an all around product. It can be used for a wide variety of things in addition to keeping diaper rash at bay. At home we use it for dry skin, skin irritations, itchy skin, scrapes and cuts, etc for both adults and our daughter. We’ve even had a couple of customers tell us that they use it instead of hair styling products in their hair. If you would like more information you can visit our website: http://www.reeseandluke.com or contact us at info@reeseandluke.com.
Thank you for commenting, Cassandra! ~Anne
Cassandra,
Thank you for sharing that information. If I win, I will definitely try using it as a styling product. Great idea! Definitely a multipurpose product…
My grandsons have eczema and I think it might be caused by the soap my daughter uses. Can soap or diet cause eczema?
HI Cheryl,
My sister has eczema and she uses our Reese and Luke products for her face. I know that the soap you use can effect eczema as it can dry out the skin. I haven’t heard much about diet being a big issue with eczema. It’s more about external stressors (soap, clothing, etc) and the environment (weather, humidity in the air, pollution, cigarette smoke exposure). The Reese and Luke baby balm would be a perfect addition to your eczema arsenal as it contains ingredients that are designed to help heal and reduce inflammation. The shea butter and olive oil are good for moisturizing the skin (eczema is normally at it’s worst when it’s cold and dry outside) and dealing with the rough patches that occur in conjunction to the disorders. If you would like more information you can reach me at cs@reeseandluke.com.
Thanks for posting the helpful tips about eczema, Cassandra! ~Anne
My sons both suffer from eczema and my daughter and I both have extremely dry skin.
Hi Tandi,
If you and your family have dry skin issues than Reese and Luke baby balm is definitely for you. The Shea butter and olive oil are great for moisturizing the skin and are great for adults and children alike. My mother in law, sisters in law and husband all use the product for dry skin and have had great results. We use it on our daughter for all dry skin, irritations, small cuts and scrapes in addition to on her bum and it works like a charm. It’s really a great all round balm that can be used for pretty much anything.
With regards to the eczema issue, as I said to Cheryl, the previous poster, the Reese and Luke products would be a great addition your current arsenal to battle against eczema. It contains all natural, organic ingredients that are designed by nature to provide healing properties and less itching, inflammation, redness and provide comfort with the application to troubled spots. It can be used in hair, if the scalp is an issue and it washes out of clothes and off the body very easily. If you have any other questions or would like anymore information, you can reach me at cs@reeseandluke.com.
Dry skin and diaper rash. 🙁
Amber,
Dry skin, no problem! Our balm will help with that for sure. As I mentioned in another post we use is a lot around here for dry patches on our kid and adults. I would also give it ago on the diaper rash. We use it here for every diaper change which helps to keep diaper rash at bay but the product can also help to reduce the inflammation and redness which will help with the healing process (assuming that it isn’t a code 5 diaper rash).
You can email me directly at info@reeseandluke.com or cs@reeseandluke.com if you have any questions or would like more information about the products.
Cassandra
I have pretty dry skin and chapped lips. I would love to try this brand.
Holly,
We are actually looking into possibly manufacturing a lip balm version of our current product offering (but that is in the future). For now using the Lavender baby balm is a great alternative because it contains all of the same great ingredients that a lip balm would offer. My husband loves using this when he has dry lips and it goes a long way unlike most other cosmetic lip brands. Plus it is all natural and USDA certified organic, which means that it only has the good stuff in it – no chemicals and is okay to ingest if you take a drink after applying the product. An added bonus is that the tin is food grade (meaning it’s used in the food industry so no rusting or leaking of material ingredients into the product) and portable so you can put it in your favourite bag and take it on the go.
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about the products, you can reach me directly at info@reeseandluke.com or cs@reeseandluke.com.
Cassandra.
My little one has eczema and sensitive skin. I don’t like how some treatments feel very greasy on the skin. I like how these balms look more creamy in texture.
Rebecca,
Grease isn’t necessarily a bad thing when it comes to treating dry skin conditions like eczema, dermatitis or psoriasis.
Our products are greasy per say but they do contain extra virgin olive oil and Shea butter, which creates the creamy look and feel when at room temperature and also get absorbed really easily into the skin when they are heated between your fingers and on skin.
You can read some of my other comment replies for more information concerning eczema and the ingredients in our products.
If you would like more information about our products you can reach me by email.
Cassandra.
My grandson has eczema that seems to be the worst on his hands and feet. We have to be very careful what we use on him so as to not irritate and make it worse. I would really like to try the Reese and Luke products.
Hi Diane,
Eczema can be a very hard condition to work with. If your grandson’s condition isn’t effected by contact with fragrances generated by flowers then it would be a great addition to your current treatment regime. You can reference my replies to several other comments here to read about all of the ingredients that are in our products specifically for reducing inflammation, etc.
If you would like to purchase our products you can do so at Amazon.com.
If you would like anymore information about our products you can contact me by email.
Cassandra.
This looks like a great natural product!! I like that it’s super smooth, too!
Hi Claira,
Thanks for the props on the products! We like to their they’re awesome, we use them everyday on our daughter.
The products are truly super smooth and one of the reasons is due to the fact that we use unrefined Shea butter. Once Shea butter is refined (heated above a certain temperature or treated with one or more chemical technique) is becomes grainy and loses a lot of it’s healing properties. Another reason is because of the presence of beeswax in the products. Normally beeswax is hard at room temperature but when mixed with the Shea butter and olive oil it becomes creamy and a paste like substance.
If you would like anymore information you can contact me by email.
Cassandra.
My middle child has horrible eczema that never seems to clear up.
Shanna, you should check out some of Cassendra’s tips mentioned above! ~Anne
My little man has a sensitive bum in general, and I’ve found he needs a little something to keep a rash from forming. Have you tried this as a daily barrier cream? How long did you use this with your cloth diapers and in a thick layer or rubbed in?
Hi Michelle! For me it’s worked better as a balm/treatment than as a daily barrier cream, since it’s not thick like other formulations whose primary purposes is to block moisture while the skin heals. True barrier creams will usually contain ingredients like lanolin, zinc oxide or petrolatum. I’ve been using the Reese & Luke balm for several weeks now with our diapers and I apply a very thin layer of it on the skin; it sort of melts/disappears into the skin. ~Anne
Michelle,
We use this as an everyday/every diaper change balm and in the almost 2 years that we’ve been doing it we’ve had maybe a handful of occasions where there has been a bit of redness on her bum. We use it with cloth diapers and have no issue with residue and you don’t need to put a super thick layer as it works great with a thin application and gets absorbed into the skin once warmed on contact. Every child is different though so each experience with use of the balm will be different too.
Using the term “barrier cream” is a bit subjective. It could be applied to any number of products that are currently on the market, but none of them will be organic, all natural, etc. Many of the ingredients used in our products can provide “liquid repellant” support for your son’s bottom. Have you noticed how it takes soap to get rid of oil once it gets on your skin? Oil acts as a repellant in the sense that the molecules from the two separate liquids can’t penetrate each other therefore they sit along side each other. The Shea butter and extra virgin olive oil in our products provide that oily surface that in most cases helps to stave off redness to the area that is exposed to pee and poo. In addition our original formula also contains Tea Tree Oil which acts as an astringent to keep moisture of forming on the baby’s bottom therefore reducing the chances and instances where redness would be present.
If you have anymore questions or would like to know more about the products you can contact me by email.
Cassandra.
Cassandra and Zephyr Hill, that’s exactly what I was asking! It sounds like what I’ve been looking for–something CD safe, using natural ingredients, that can be used everyday, will keep the redness away without having to bust open my son’s piggy bank. I think I’d a barrier cream as something that “blocks the redness and rash” and is used for most diaper changes.
I like using handcrafted and organic natural skin care products as do some moms I know. I would use this for my dry chapped skin or as a gift for a new mom.
Hi Helga,
Giving our balms as a gift to a new mom is a great idea. As a matter of fact I just gifted two of these to my cousins that have baby boys. They have been raving about how much they love it.
As I have mentioned in other comments, our products work great for dry skin in adults.
If you would like to make a purchase you can do so on Amazon.com.
If you would like anymore information or have questions you can contact me by email.
Cassandra.
DS is mildly allergic to our cats so we put them outside (mild rash from the hair). But he still seems to randomly pop up with that little rash around his thighs and belly where the gussets of his covers sit. We have been using the same diapers for all two years of his life, and using CJ’s butter for rash cream. I did try plain coconut oil but that seem to break him out more, but getting rid of using any butt cream, stripping his diapers, changing the detergent many times, it helped for a bit and came back. Dry skin definitely seems to make it worse, so we really have to keep him moisturized. What else can we try? Does he just have sensitive skin? I have planned to bring him to the doctor, but it always goes away before we can make an appointment… haha
We put the cats out just a few months after he was born, and have moved twice since then, so I know its not the cat dander anymore.
My son (both sons actually) has pretty bad eczema…would love to try this product!
Hi Melissa,
Maybe you’ll be the winner for the giveaway 🙂 If not, you can always purchase our products on Amazon.com.
Cassandra.
My little guy has terrible eczema behind his knees 🙁 I bet this would help!
My poor LO has had a bad rash ever since shortly after she was born. It feels like we’ve tried everything – balms, oils, lotions, corn starch, prescriptions, HOURS of diaper free time and even disposables. I’m open to ideas! Fortunately, as her pooping is diminishing somewhat (even though she’s EBF, she still seems to go non-stop at 3 months!) we’re seeing some improvement, but it’s still not totally cleared up.
my daughter has the worst luck getting rashes with her cloth diapers. I would love to find a cream that is effective helping with that.
My baby does not, my six year old does! We buy all skin care stuff scent free and dye free.
Fortunately we don’t have any skin issues but the occasional rash or diaper irritation shows up sometimes.
Thank you or all of the comments and entries to the giveaway. Although there can only be one prize winner you can purchase our products at Amazon.com.