One of my fellow Aldi Reviewer writers, Elizabeth, enjoys using Trader Joe’s beauty care products. She has clued me in to some of the hidden gems that Trader Joe’s, which is a cousin to Aldi, stocks in its personal care and toiletry aisle. Whenever I get out to TJ’s, I always make sure to take a glance at this aisle, and I usually come home with a couple of things to try, including a hair mask, facial sunscreen, face and body sunscreen, and Formula No. 3 Shampoo, Conditioner, and Body Wash.
When Trader Joe’s announced the winners of its Annual Customer Choice Awards not long ago, one of the runners up in the health and beauty category was Trader Joe’s Ultra Moisturizing Hand Cream. I’m always up for trying new Trader Joe’s products, so I bought a tube to try.
Trader Joe’s Ultra Moisturizing Hand Cream cost $4.99 for a 3-ounce tube at the time of publication. This is sold in a box, which Trader Joe’s says is “easily giftable.” Inside the box is a flexible metal tube of hand cream. That’s right, this comes in a metal tube rather than a plastic tube or bottle. (The metal tube says to “please recycle.”)
The package states this is made with coconut oil, hemp oil, and 20% shea butter. It’s paraben free and cruelty free. TJ’s describes it as “the perfect predecessor to your next greeting,” with an illustration of two hands shaking. Trader Joe’s website adds that this also includes sunflower seed oil, sweet almond oil, and linseed extract, which are good for smoothing and softening kids.
The back of box, including ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)
The back of the package states:
Coconut oil is long known as an amazing moisturizer due to its rich oil content. Hemp seed oil has essential fatty acids as well as skin friendly antioxidant vitamins C & E. We combined this with 20% pure shea butter to create a rich cream that leaves your hands smooth, silky and soft — yet never oily.
The directions indicate to apply day and night as needed.
This is a thick and creamy lotion, and a little goes a long way. It keeps my hands smooth and soft for quite a while after rubbing it in, and I have to massage my hands a lot to get it all absorbed, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
It has a clean, lightly floral scent that would work for any gender. The scent is not overly strong, but it is noticeable, so if you don’t like scented hand creams or lotions, you may want to keep looking.
Some people compare this to the L’Occitane brand, which is sold in some malls in my area and features beauty products made in France. Specifically, this Trader Joe’s hand cream is like L’Occitane’s shea butter hand cream, which contains many of the same ingredients and is also sold in a metal tube. The L’Occitane hand cream retailed for $30 for a 5.1-ounce tube at the time of writing. That makes the TJ’s hand cream at $4.99 for 3 ounces a comparatively good deal.
The Verdict:
Trader Joe’s Ultra Moisturizing Hand Cream features coconut oil, hemp oil, and 20% shea butter. It’s paraben free, cruelty free, and comes in an attractive metal tube. This looks like a dupe of the pricey L’Occitane brand hand cream made in France, with many of the same ingredients and similar packaging. This TJ’s hand cream goes on thick and smooth. It does have some noticeable fragrance that not everyone may like, but otherwise this is a solid choice if you need to moisturize your dry hands.
I love this hand cream but find the tube very wasteful unless you are very disciplined about squeezing always from the bottom and rolling it up. If you squeeze from the middle (like I do, with one hand being arthritic) the tube ends up crumpled with lots of lotion trapped inside. Unlike a plastic toothpaste tube, it’s very difficult to use a squeezing apparatus to smooth it out and get all the product out. Having said that, again, I do love the cream for face and hands.