In September, beauty entrepreneur and Australia’s best friend Zoe Foster Blake launched her first kids skincare range Gro-To.
Having dominated bathroom cabinet shelves with her cult, peach coloured Go-To skincare products and their more masculine counterparts Bro-To, the mum-of-two saw a need for cute, uncomplicated kids skin and body products that are just as bright and fun as everything else in their worlds.
Hence, Gro-To was born.
The children’s bath and body range features four very adorable products: Sud Bud, Super Softy, Skin Wizard and Bad Dream Buster. Think soothing, calming and safe for young (and stinky) skin in playful packaging that doubles as fun characters for playtime.
But are Gro-To products worth the hype? Can they do anything for your child’s skin or will they simply look great in the bath?
Keep scrolling to find out.
According to the brand, “Gro-To makes gentle bath and body care products for squishy, whiffy little humans.”
The products are dermatologically tested to be non-irritating and hypoallergenic, and are free from silicones, parabens, PEGs, sulfates (SLS/SLES), synthetics and all the usual pests.
Plus, they look really, really fun.
There are four core products in the Gro-To range:
There are also some very cute bundles and gift sets:
Sure, the packaging is freaking cute and Zoe Foster Blake can do no wrong, but are Gro-To products any good and do your kids need them?
To find out, we asked two thirds of Mamamia's daily news podcast The Quicky, Claire Murphy and Elle Beattie, to put Gro-To products to the ultimate tests: bath time and bed time.
Here's what these mums and their kids thought.
My four-year-old Tilly stole the Gro-To bottles as soon as I took them out of my bag. She didn't relinquish them for 24 hours as they both looked very cool and therefore were given very important roles in her “play”.
We tried Skin Wizard by popping a bit in the bath. My daughter gets some dry skin on the back of her knees which can sometimes flare up with fragrances, but I was happy to smell just a nice, organic, almost non-fragrance with this one. Was also very happy to read it's dermatologically tested, non-irritating, hypoallergenic and free from the nasty stuff like silicones, parabens, PEG’s sulfates and the like.
Tilly already has lovely soft skin but this did help give those knee patches a bit of moisture. I also have very sensitive skin so tried it myself after I got out of the shower and it felt really nice on my skin.
BUT... we were VERY excited about trying the Bad Dream Buster. Tilly’s had some sleepless nights of late, waking up with bad dreams that sometimes take hours to recover from.
We sprayed some to test and it’s a gorgeous lavender smell, which we know helps with sleep… but even just having it next to her bed was enough to make her feel better about warding off bad dreams! Tilly also couldn’t wait to tell Grandad and Grandma that she had bad dream spray and that it was already ‘working’.
I imagine the bottles will stay in our house well after they’re empty for dramatic roles in her plays. Plus, a little secret... if you open up the boxes the bottles come in, there’s a face on the inside. They both went straight to the ‘making box’ to be included in future projects!
My toddler and I tried Super Softy and Sud Bud. The moisturiser is lovely - my son has just started swimming lessons and one of the downsides to that is the constant smell of chlorine on his skin, so giving him a massage with the lotion was the perfect way to mask the smell.
That said, the bubble bath was the star of the show. We absolutely loved it. We have 500 toys in the bath at night and this bubble bath was up to the task. The bubbles lasted beyond the plug being pulled, which is good because it's very disappointing for all involved when bubbles disappear before whatever game we're playing that night is over.
The pump nozzle was easy to use, even my two-year-old could do the pumps, which he LOVED. Of course, this meant we exceeded the recommended five pumps (you can picture me trying to make him stop pumping his new toy!), but it was lots of fun for him to be in control.
The bubbles smelt so yummy, but not in a fake perfumed way, more organic and coconutty. It was an added bonus my son's head smelt a bit like a healthy Pina Colada afterwards. We also loved that the packaging doubled as characters to play with. Genius!
So, do you need Gro-To in your life? Not really, but also, yes.
There's no denying these products are more expensive than most things you'd find in the baby aisle of your local pharmacy. That said, between $15 and $32 is pretty reasonable compared to other brands ticking all the natural, cruelty-free, vegan, no-nasties boxes.
But with Gro-To, you're not just paying for what's in the bottles, but the packaging too. As Claire and Elle found, their kids adored playing with their own special products and will probably keep doing so long after they've used up the last drops.
This makes Gro-To a brilliant gift for the parents of little people in your life, or a treat you can enjoy with your own kids during bath time.
Plus, look at the darn things. If anything, they're just really bloody cute.
Gro-To is available at grotoskincare.com
Have you given Gro-To a go in your house yet? What did you think? Tell us in the comments!
Top Comments
hmmmm, this is making me reconsider my whole spraying with a garden hose regime.
Who can afford these?? Seriously annoying that a brand would only create products targeting to the top 1% who could ever afford it.