Natural Hero Hot Ginger Muscle Soak

Natural Hero Hot Ginger Muscle Soak is a 100% natural bubble-free, pleasant smelling athletic version of a Radox bath. With a blend of premium grade ginger root, rosemary, and sweet fennel essential oils the soak is designed to be an indulgent, moisturising and natural experience to recharge and relax you, and also enable a little bit of, erm, massage in the bath.

In the Natural Hero box you get six little 18ml Muscle Soak bottles and each is sufficient for one bath. Pour the vial into the tub and you're denied any froth or bubbles but you do get a subtle scent of ginger which is warming, soft, soothing and a world away from the Arabian Dreams, Sensuous Kumquat or whatever clinically scented bathing concoction someone in a chemistry lab has mixed up for you to glop into the tub after a long day and sink into foamy dreams of a hunky man whisking you away on a white charger. Maybe.

The five essential oils in the Muscle Soak are designed to ease muscle tension and condition the skin, and the blend can also be used directly on to the skin to massage any knotty problem muscles. Ginger root, rosemary, sweet fennel and starflower combine to somehow be both uplifting and soothing.

It's nice stuff, and that's coming from someone that's not a fan of bathing potions as a genre, with their cloying artificial perfumes. To have something that smells natural and doesn't foam up into a candles and glass of Chardonnay bath-time scenario is a blessed relief. Hot Ginger Muscle Soak does encourage turning a post-ride bathe into more of a lengthy affair though with all those essential oils producing a relaxing aroma that promotes sinking in and lingering. An accompanying pint of tea might be allowed.

While the claims of the Hot Ginger Soak's ability to recharge muscles weren't particularly noticeable and somewhat hard to quantify, any extended bathing can only be good to relax tired muscles and help recovery. Save a little dribble of the gingery fluid in the bottle and use it to help rub at any muscles that might need some extra attention after a tough ride: it makes an effective massage oil.

All those essential oils do a very good job of moisturising your skin, so you definitely feel all sleek and soft after a prolonged ginger soak. An advantageous consequence of this is that if you're partial to a leg shave in the bath then your warmed and softened pins will enjoy a really close and satisfying shave. Probably not the bath-time benefit Natural Hero intended, but hey. Be careful when standing up to do the bit round the back of the knee though as the slightly oily character of the Muscle Soak can make the bath surface a bit slippery.

Verdict

Pleasant smelling froth-free bath soak that can relax and help with muscle recovery if you give your legs a bit of a rub. Also handily helps with a cyclist's shave.