Some more Old Favourites in our bathrooms

Actually, we all know, that in the end we do not need too many products in our bathrooms.
They clutter the shelves with half used bottles piling up around the bathtub, spoiling the view and chic of our bathrooms. And when it has to be quick and reliable at 6.30 in the morning, we always turn to the same few things which are tried and tested and do work for us.
All you need is a bottle of oil, some good soap, a flannel and enough warm water - if we boil it down to the very very basic. Just remember those impromptu weekendtravels, where you had hardly time to pack, ergo had almost no luggage and on the run grabbed the toothbrush+ paste, some cleanser and a cream, a lipstick, some mascara and, if you were lucky, a small sample of a scent.
(If you were lucky, it turned out to be your next favourite scent - but on scent and make up favourites more later. They deserve a post of their own!)

So, back to more old favourites!! Often not needed (see above) but much much loved and needed in the sense that it makes us feel more confident, more pulled together and more presentable to the world around us  -  and to ourselves. And with every product we bring home from a hunt and gathering spree in town, we bring home some more hope for making us more happy, beautiful and therefore lovable. (Yes, gentlemen, we know: it is all in our head....)
 Not really very different from the odd neandertal ladies, who went out and came back with with a dead fish hanging around their neck for prestige and selfconfidence. Ok, perhaps not a fish.


An old, dear favourite with me is soap, a nice big piece of soap.
I always come back to Blenheim Bouquet from Penghalions - it just smells wonderful until the last bit and makes a very fine and creamy foam. I even use it for the face in the shower - quicker in the mornings. The smell is very agreable, without being to present. I have tried to use the scent too, but this was then too masculine for me. Another much beloved soap is CD - childhood memories here -  but I think it is only available in Germany? Have seen it sometimes here in the drugstores, but it has disappeared again. 
From soap it is only a little step to douche gels or bathoils - once again here Penghalions scores pretty high.

Every year, when I have a right to a  "Mom´s Holiday", some 4 days with good old friends from the golden Munich times, we do a major shopping and piling up of Fragonard products in Grasse. Their shower gels are simply divine and pretty to look at - my favourite is Vetiver. Another favourite is the "Pure" range they produce. Especially the bodypeeling - a paste made of sugar and argan oil: Rub it all over, get a shower and you have the skin of a baby. And the wonderful wonderful wonderful Argan Body Oil, which smells very lightly of lemons. Recently I found a Fragonard shop in the Rue St. Honoré in Paris, so no need to go down to the South of France any longer - not that we would need an excuse...

A comb made of wood, with wide teeth, does not ruin the hair - much better than made of plastic. Unfortunately the combs made of horn nowadays are mostly produced by machines and therefore can also damage your hair, as they are pretty sharp.

A great classic for haircare are the products of Leonor Greyl. Her cult product is the famous "Huile de Palme" - as a mask left in a couple of hours before washing your hair nothing can beat it - the trick is to take some conditioner,  mix it with this oil  and make a mess on your head. Put a warmed towel around your head and forget about it.
The shampoo specially for fine hair at Leonor Greyl works also very well I have been told. As for shampoo in generell less is always more and if you use a good shampoo, you do not really need some other products too. Invest in a good quality product - because here quality counts and more expensive is normally, for once, really better; you need less and the scalp is not so easily reacting nervously.

My favourite handcream, if I not forget to use some, which I normally do, is the Argan Handcream made by Galenic - widely available in farmacies around here. It sinks in in a moment and you do not have greasy hands at all. But it works wonders for those washing up hands of old moms. In an emergency the odd dab of olive oil does it also - just a bit more smelly!!

And I could go on and on - already making up in my mind another list of "necessary but not really needed things". I will keep you posted.... But now the sun is out, for once, and off I am with the dogs. Have a nice sunday!