Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream Review

 

Gosh guys! I’m loving the feeling of blogging! No wonder it is so addictive. All I can do throughout the day is think of what to write next 🙂 Writing is something that I enjoyed since my childhood. But this got lost somewhere in the extremely cumbersome course of my Pharmacy studies. And then, I immediately started working, never really taking out time to do this venting out, which comes so naturally to me when I sit down with a pen and paper, or with an open blank word doc. And now that I have started, I can’t stop! With so many products lying around me, this is what I thought of covering today, as I have used it for a long time, not very regularly, but yes, it does remain in my handbag. Well, to tell the truth, I carry a lot of products with me all the time, but I’m mostly too occupied with work or thoughts that I don’t use these as often as I intend to.

Note to Self, and to the Reader: Start taking care of yourself more!! Life is too short to have dry hands and chapped lips on top of everything 😀

Now let’s get to the review.

This product has been around for years now, and is available easily throughout the world. In India, we only have the regular version, but in other countries, they also offer a ‘fragrance-free’ version of the same cream. They also apparently have a fast-absorbing formula, which I feel will not be launched in India.

Ingredients: Water, Glycerin, Cetearyl Alcohol, Stearic Acid, Sodium Cetearyl Sulfate, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Dilauryl Thiodipropionate, Sodium Sulfate, Fragrance

Packaging: This tube came housed in a cardboard case, which I don’t have now, hence no photos. The tube is a sturdy plastic one, which has retained its shape over time. It mostly remains in my handbag or laptop bag, and never once it has leaked, so very travel friendly. I really like that Neutrogena mentions ‘Norwegian Formula’ on their packs, with a Norway flag to go with it, I find it kinda cute. In our case, where this cream is actually imported from Korea, and sold in India, they have a sticker on the back of the tube mentioning the ingredients, date of manufacturing and expiry, the price and a Johnson & Johnson Tollfree number for India. I find this a very handy reference, as the outer carton with these details are mostly thrown away. I’m not too sure about the presence of these stickers in International versions of the cream.

Shelf Life: 3 years (a good enough time for someone like me, who uses too little of too many products 🙂 )

Claims:

My Experience: I have this product for about a year now, and use it on and off. I however, remember the first time when I had applied it on my hands, they actually, really feel so super smooth. This is a ‘Concentrated’ formula, as they mention it on the tube, so we need very little product to sufficiently cover the hands. I’ll give a point wise analysis of the product on the basis of attributes:

Appearance: It is a clear cream, and on appearance may seem like a gel but it actually is a cream. (Studying pharmacy makes you so keen to analyze every aspect of the texture of a product, I must say!)

Texture and Feel: It is not runny or watery, it is quite firm even in hot weather months. This formula, being glycerin based, makes the feel of this product very smooth, smoothest of smooth. On slight touching, it may seem a bit sticky, but when you rub it in properly, there is absolutely no stickiness or greasiness at all, which makes it a wonderful hand cream, as you don’t have to worry about greasy hands spoiling your laptop or phones. It has no oils in it, so no oily marks and no oily sheen on the skin.

Usage and Effectiveness: I use this product mostly when my hands feel parched after a lot of harsh hand-washing or use of alcohol based sanitizer. You need just about the length of 2 cm of this cream on each hand. I have tried using it on slighty moist hands, and it seems even more effective when I use it this way. It leaves the skin velvety smooth. I can’t stop feeling my hands after using this! A word of caution against using too much of this product, as it can leave your hands really white, and the cream will not absorb properly. The feeling of smoothness remains even after washing my hands a couple of times, but not beyond that, and you will need to re-apply.

Ah! There comes the somewhat sad part.. while being a delight for my dry, frequently washed hands, this cream alone is not quite sufficient throughout the day. I mean, this product, while being great for daytime use, cannot substitute a regular greasy hand cream at night. One more thing is that it does not seem to effectively soften the skin around my nails, which is quite a problem area for me. So this, for me, makes it a successful office-use hand cream, but not my Holy Grail product for all-time use. I still have to turn to Nivea Creme or Body Shop Body Butters as night-time hand food.

But we are not over yet!! The tube also mentions that it can be used on any dry skin patch like lips, cheeks etc. I have used it on both these parts when I was travelling once, and it really relieves the skin. Glycerin, being a humectant, immediately soothes dryness, so this is a great all-purpose cream to have in your stash while travelling.

Rating: 3.8/5

Price: Rs 300 for 56g of product.

Value for money: I feel it is a good value for money, as this tube will last you really long, you really need just a dab per hand

Pros and Cons:

PROs:

1. Leaves hands really smooth, and I mean REALLY SMOOTH, trust me
2. It is a unisex product, so all the men out there, do keep this with you, it would come handy
3. No greasiness, so perfect for office-time use and on-the-go, when you don’t want oily, sticky creams irking you
4. Can be used on any area of the body when dryness bothers, and it is quite effective in this, so perfect as a travel companion like long flights and journeys
5. You need very little product, so one tube would last forever

CONs:

1. Not fit for night-time use, as it is not moisturizing enough, so not my ultimate product
2. Contains parabens (I personally don’t mind them, we are surrounded by worse level of chemicals, think smog, cigarette smoke…)

Repurchase: Yes, I love it 🙂 despite all, it does work.

So guys, until next time, take care of yourself!

And do keep reading fashionfoodsoul  🙂

Have you tried Neutrogena Hand Cream? How did you use it? Do drop me a line or two.