Answer me this: Say you could buy a face scrub you have to mix with another product to make work properly — or a scrub that works well on its own. Which would you pick?

If you’re like me, you’d pick the latter — which is why I won’t be getting more of the Almond Oat Facial Scrub (right) from Brittanie’s Thyme, even if it is organic certified. Despite the instructions on the packaging that says the product can simply be mixed with water, the public relations rep very helpfully suggested mixing the scrub with aloe vera or “your personal cleanser” for a creamier scrub. Which made me ask — Why wouldn’t I just buy a creamier scrub in the first place?

The great thing about Brittanie’s Thyme is that all its products are 95% organic or higher and all are expected to be USDA-organic certified soon. Which is to say that on the one hand, Brittanie’s Thyme sounds like an exciting product line, since most personal care products haven’t achieved anything close to organic status. On the other hand, Brittanie’s Thyme’s achievements seem hardly an extraordinary one because its ingredients are so crunchily simple. The facial scrub, for example, is composed of just 2 ingredients — organic oatmeal and ground almonds.

Reading Brittanie’s Thyme’s ingredient lists brings 2 thoughts to mind: 1. Why don’t I just mix organic oatmeal and ground almonds for myself and save myself a whole buncha money? and 2. Brittanie’s Thyme is just too hippie for me. Basically, Brittanie’s Thyme’s selling those home remedies you read about once in a while in women’s mags (Make a face mask out of avocado! Bleach hair with lemon juice!) that only semi-work compared to the conventional face masks and such.

The oatmeal-almond concoction, for example, doesn’t make that great a scrub. The ingredients create a sort of gummy paste that doesn’t provide the nice scrubbiness of any apricot scrub I’ve tried — much less the fresh cleansing effect of the Cranberry Gommage from Arcona that I usually use.

The one benefit of Brittanie’s Thyme’s face scrub is that I could just eat it as a rather expensive breakfast….

Brittanie’s Thyme does, of course, have products that work well — simply because some personal care products are best made with a few basic ingredients. Brittanie’s Thyme’s Organic Hair Silk (left) — made of organic oils — works just as well as, say, The Body Shop’s Glossing Serum, which I used to use until I discovered I could just use organic essential oils to do as good a job while avoiding strange chemicals and fragrances. I’m also guessing that Brittanie’s Thyme’s sea salt scrubs will work as well as regular sea salt scrubs — except Brittanie’s Thyme products will have the extra benefit of being made of organic ingredients.

Brittanie’s Thyme also offers a cute organic sweet dreams pillow scented with organic lavender and organic lavender essential oil, and cold comfort crystals made of dead sea salt crystals with essential oils that emit a strong, soothing Vicks-esque scent but are a lot more natural and less chemical-filled than Vicks itself.

But Brittanie’s Thyme won’t be my go-to company for those products that seem to require more than 2-5 ingredients. While I’m vaguely curious how Brittanie’s Thyme’s Organic Facial Cleanser and French Green Clay with White Tea work, I’m a little wary of trying them out after my Facial Scrub experience. But if you’ve tried out these products please do share your thoughts on them with the rest of us.

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