Neal’s Yard Remedies

If you like your beauty products organic and healthy, Neal’s Yard is you place — in a similar vein as Park Street’s Culpeper shop. This chain started life in the early 80s in London’s Covent Garden, where the first shop started selling a line of skincare products that railed against the prevailing synthetic chemical approach.
Bristol’s little Neal’s Yard shop manages to squeeze in the full range of beauty products and tinctures, as well as having therapy rooms upstairs where you can enjoy all sorts of treatments ranging from acupuncture to nutritional therapy — at really reasonable prices. Different practitioners are there on different days, and you can pick up a timetable telling you when each one is available. Some of the therapists have loyal customers, so it’s well worth booking in advance as they don’t always have appointments available at the last minute.
The skincare products here aren’t cheap, but since they all use premium ingredients — most of them certified organic — you know you’re only putting good stuff on your skin. And if you’re swotting for exams, they have some natural remedies that are supposed to help you concentrate and keep you calm. Has to be worth a go!

Tucked away unassumingly on a corner of Whiteladies Road is the very cute looking Neal’s Yard. Not to be spelt Neil’s Yard. As well as selling the staples of all Neal’s Yard stores, herbs, tinctures and ethical beauty products, this branch has a team of therapists in rooms upstairs which will give you a very good deal on massages, reflexology and nutritional advice. They are all recent graduates in their field and as a result offer extremely competitive rates for their services. I went to see the nutritional therapist there who advised me what to cut out to tackle my allergies and how to boost weight loss with certain food groups. Meanwhile my friend got a very relaxing reflexology massage (that’s feet) which targeted muscle problems she had elsewhere in her body. When we went in you were given a discount voucher for the Neal’s Yard shop if you had any treatment upstairs so hopefully they are still running that offer.

If you like Culpeper’s you’ll L-​O-​V-​E Neal’s Yard Remedies. Filled with every lotion and potion from every living plant you’ll be sure to find a herbal remedy to any ailment you may have. If I’m having a bad week, or simply if my bank balance allows, this shop acts as a great mood lifter.
The sales assistants are welcoming and friendly, but sometimes they go for the hard sell if you ask them a question. So if you don’t want to hear chapter and verse on the benefits of a herbal lifestyle I’d avoid asking too many questions.
Sadly I can’t afford to shop here often but I certainly love a visit once in a while to stock up of thick luxurious foot balms and ultra sweet smelling shampoo.

Organic-​smellies-​tastic. I want to decorate my bathroom with their delightful blue glass bottles of love. I want to bathe in the orange blossom and geranium bath oil, scrub my scalp with seaweed shampoo and slather my face with the rose day cream. Oh, that’s right, I already do, because aside from the cheap chain-​store-​y naturalness of The Body Shop (which I also love, but not reviewing here) this is my ultimate treat for when I’m treating my body like a temple.
There’re several shops around the UK — the Whiteladies rd shop is a tiny example, but well-​stocked and ultra-​attractive to the wealthy women of Clifton.
Ask the staff anything about the products and they’ll spout forth herbl knowledge of the highest order. Scented oils, soaps, flannels sit alongside all the usual creams and potions. To me, it’s like wandering into an ancient apocethary shop and finding a cure, it brings out the witchy side, for sure.
All the herbs are organically and ethically sourced, and upstairs is a workshop-​slash-​clinic, running such beauties as ‘Boost Your Immune System Naturally’, ‘Stay Happy & Healthy’ and Alexander Technique classes (a bit like Pilates I think). The extensive list of therapies includes acupuncture, aromatheraphy through to Shiatsu and ‘Zero Balancing.‘
All I can say is, prepare to be cleansed — body and soul.

This is a lovely shop to go to for good quality natural and organic products. They do everything from moisturisers to shaving creams, bath & shower to herbal remedies, supplements to remedies, all packaged beautifully.
The Bristol shop has therapy rooms for reflexology, massage and aromatherapy, treatments are £25 an hour.

This place is so calming, I love to pop in and browse, and test all the gorgeous selling lotions and potions. Really good range of natural and organic beauty products, the products are really effective too, and the staff very knowlegeable. They have the exact right balance of being helpful without being pushy.