‘scuse the messy sink!

I’d like to start out this post by stating that I didn’t receive any free product or payment for writing this. We’ve been desperate to try out Gelli Baff for a long time, and have only just gotten our mitts on a packet now.

Now, with my partner’s petrochemical allergy, it was pretty important to us to find out what is actually in this stuff. We read the packet and were none the wiser. The listed ingredients on the box are: sodium polyacrylate, sodium chloride, parfum CI 17200.

Whatever the heck that means. It doesn’t sound as though it contains petrochemicals, but we decided to let the kids have a try of it just for fun. My man just wouldn’t bathe in it. Some of the warnings and instructions didn’t sound all that great, either:

‘we recommend the use of a moisturiser after use’

‘avoid contact with eyes, if contact occurs, rinse with plenty of cold water for 10 minutes; seek medical advice if any problems persist.’

‘Not recommended for children under 5 years of age.’ What?? Of course, I didn’t see this one, and had Mr 4 and Missy 2 in it. But then it goes on: ‘unless supervised by an adult’. Phew. At their ages, I do anyway.

By now, I was a bit miffed as to what sort of chemicals are in this stuff! Anyway, I figured one try for curiosity’s sake won’t hurt anyone if we’re careful.

First, I had to fill the bath to 6cm high of water. I planned to put all three kids in at once, and after forking out nine bucks for a box of this stuff that only makes one bath worth, I thought, this better be good. In all fairness though, it did expand quite a bit. Although, I won’t be taking their friendly tip to ‘make every night a Gelli Baff night’.

Next, I had to sprinkle the coloured crystals over the water and leave it for five minutes.

After this, you stir it, and that’s when it thickens and becomes heavy. It wasn’t actually ‘goo’, as the box describes.

It was very granular, much like the gel crystals in disposable nappies (diapers, for our foreign counterparts).

It felt pretty heavy, and quite amazing. I loved the feeling. I don’t think I’d like to sit in it though, it’d be like getting sand in your bum crack at the beach. It smelt overpoweringly synthetic.

The children, (who, for obvious reasons, won’t be in any photos for this post) loved it. Loved it, loved it, loved it. It was great in terms of sensory exploration, and discussing matter. We talked about the concepts of liquids and solids. How much heavier it is than water.

It was pretty obvious that this stuff won’t wash your children clean. In fact, because my kids were covered with lumps of jelly crystals, it had to be washed off before they could get out! The upside is that the dyes didn’t mark their skin, or the bath, for that matter.

Anyway, then I sprinkled the sachet to turn it back into water. This, my friends, as part of the nine bucks, one-time bath treat, was common salt! Mmm hmm…

You’re meant to mix it in well until the goo ‘magically turns back into water!’ My poor kids mixed and mixed, thankfully they had fun doing it, because although the substance did turn more liquid, we never quite got rid of the granular crud all over their bodies. It was all through the water, right until we finished up. The box says you can top up the bath with water and add bubbles. Ok, I thought, maybe by then all the granular bits might have dissolved. Nope. No magic there.

The kids were devastated to have to get out of the bath, this was, after all, the most fun bath they’d ever had in their lives. As my fiance dried off the two little ones, I set about cleaning the bath. Now, like I said, it didn’t stain. But we had those crystals smeared from here to kingdom come! I nearly broke my neck slipping on the crystal coated floor, and it was a bugger of a thing trying to rinse away all traces of this stuff.

So, my verdict? The most fun my kids have ever had in a bath, bar none. Even Mr 4 who is known to be a mess-a-phobe was thrilled with it. I love the whole concept of this stuff. The reality though? Not so much. I think it’s a rip-off, and the sound of the ingredients (with all the warnings, but no real explanation of what it is) really concerned me. Not that I think it did my kids any harm at all to try it out once.

I think the advertising and description on the box was very misleading as well. I would probably get it again, but not very often, and use it more for the kids to just dip their hands in, I think. All in all, my kids felt it lived up to the hype, I didn’t.

Have you tried Gelli Baff? What’s your opinion on it?