This time around I was feeling the need for sensual selfishness of the highest order, so I was overjoyed to get a bath time toy like Bath Therapy from System JO. Marketed as an aromatherapy bathing experience, Bath Therapy comes in a variety of three different scents that can perk you up or put you down after a weary day, depending on which you choose.
As lavender makes me sneeze and I can’t see lemon as being soothing or perking (though it might have induced me to try gobbling large quantities of soap), I chose peppermint. Unfortunately other than the scent, I don’t have much more to say about the ingredients contained in System JO’s products. While I know the company professes to use natural plant based ingredients and essential oils, I couldn’t find a list of them anywhere I looked - neither on the bottle nor online later. Apparently System JO has a habit of not listing their ingredients in any of their products, which I find troubling. Hopefully I haven’t been bathing in happy little skin mutating carcinogens.
Peppermint is most definitely an eye opener first thing in the morning. The scent isn’t so much like a soothing cup of tea as it is like a super strong oil extract that’s nearly 100% pure – strong to the point that the sweet notes in the scent are almost overtaken by the astringent qualities. Still, once slathered on with a little hot water this stuff really shine. The scent seems to burst on the skin, releasing more of the sweet notes while the astringent ones seem to clear your nasal passages and get fresh oxygen flowing to the brain and… it tingles!
It’s not an all over sensation, but you’ll definitely notice a distracting tingle on the nether bits that will linger and give a whole ‘nother perk to your morning routine. The lather from this stuff is fantastic and the bubbles are persistent, seeming to resist popping under the onslaught of the shower head and certainly stand up to the test as a pretty decent bubble bath, though for maximum bubble you’ll have to use a wash cloth to really work up a good lather.
Even though the bubbles are amazing and the tingle is an extra nice bonus, I think my favorite part of this body wash would have to be the way it rinses off. Those sweet pepperminty notes fade away under the water and the astringent notes transform from something of an eye-opener to a muted almost ozoney crispness; leaving you feeling like you’ve just stepped out a warm spring lightning storm instead of your morning shower. Refreshed and clean as Eve after a spring rain – and ready to slather on any other scents on the barest possible of olfactory canvases.
Except for the troubling “I have no idea what’s in it part,” it’s sheer awesomeness in a little plastic bottle.
