Saturday, January 2, 2010

Is Mr. Bubble really a killer in disguise?


While I completely agree that the reasoning, "well they did this when I was a kid and I didn't die" can be a bit dramatic (I mean, really, since when does not killing you mean it is good for you, anyway?), I have to say that I find even myself using it here and there since beginning on this journey through motherhood.

Now let me preface by saying that I consider myself a bit of a light green gal. A pale lime green, perhaps. I mean my son sleeps on organic bedding (it was on sale), he has an organic lined stroller, he eats in a sustainably grown wooden high chair, we take our own bags to the grocery, I don't use paper towels, and I  make all of his baby food myself using mostly organic produce. Oh, and I did buy him a really cute organic cotton onesie. ;) But bubble bath is where I draw the line.

So here is the story. Since day one I have used Target brand nighttime body wash. it smells fantastic and, well, it costs about $1.97 for a large bottle. On I went with the Target brand for months, not thinking anything of it. I would always see the cute "all natural, blah, blah free, organic" brands and think to myself that I was glad in this economy someone was making enough money to spend $14 on baby bath wash/bubble bath. So over time I read a couple of things here and there and listened to a few holier-than-thou mommies go on and on about how Johnson and Johnson put terrible things in their baby wash and it was a wonder we all did not turn out as inept mutants. (If Johnson and Johnson is that bad, can you imagine what my Target brand was like! I mean I am lucky Anderson's hair has not fallen out or that he has not grown a third nipple.) I digress. Anyway, Christmas was approaching and I decided that Santa could splurge and buy some $14 name brand bubble bath. And he(she) did. And because Santa could not wait to discover the true miracle of all natural, organic, blah, blah free bubble bath, we tried it a few weeks ago.

One would think that I would have known better upong reading the bold caveat on the bottle "due to the organic nature of this bubble bath...you must help the bubbling process by stimulating/agitating bubbles vigorously under running water...". What? I have to work to make my bubble bath bubble?  OK, fine. So I did it. I shook, I swished, I swirled, I agitated, I stimulated and still, no good bubbles. A fluke? Maybe. So I tried again with the same result. So what did I do? That's right- I went out and bought another $14 bottle of bubble bath. Guess what? Substandard bubbling once again. So I asked the lady at the store about it and do you know what she said? "Try Mr. Bubble. It's a classic. Marvelous bubbles and no baby has ever died from it." Good enough. $28 down the drain (literally) and my $1.78 bottle of Mr. Bubble proudly provides Anderson with a frothy lather night after night. And you know what, no baby ever died from it. It's true. I looked it up.