Updated October 2023
Produits de Maya Liniment has been a revelation for me. Where was this moisturizing cleansing milk when I had my first baby? Probably still where all the cool things are: in France. Luckily, Marie and Yannick discovered oleo-calcareous ointment in speaking to friends from their native country, and decided to start making it themselves in their new home of Quebec.
What is oleo-calcareous ointment (also called “liniment”)?
Our ointment is a natural and creamy mixture based on an ancestral recipe from Southern France. We use only high-quality organic ingredients: organic extra-virgin olive oil from the first cold pressing, organic coconut oil, organic yellow carnauba wax, organic shea butter and limewater. We add natural conservation agents, such as grapefruit seed extract and Vitamin E. Its soothing and protective properties make it a product specifically recommended for hydrating baby’s skin at diaper changes. Perfect for use at every diaper change to protect your baby’s skin against wetness and irritants that cause diaper rash caused by humidity or acidic urine and bowel movements. The ointment’s base (limewater) restores the skin’s natural appearance while the oil protects the skin. ~Les Produits de MaYa
How do you use liniment? I can think of eight ways I use it!
1- Cleansing bums at diaper time
So yes, the primary use of oleo-calcareous liniment is for diaper changes. You squirt a bit on a cloth wipe—no water required—and wipe. It is absolutely delightful to clean a bum with liniment. (As delightful as cleaning a bum can be, in any case.) I honestly and truly do not clean poop with anything but liniment. Even though Cub’s poop ends up in the toilet (most days), I still use our Produits de MaYa to clean him up afterwards. As for Little Miss, she’s in the phase of sticky, peanut butter poop, and nothing cleans it away better than liniment. When we’re out and about, I have the travel size bottle with me, meaning I don’t need to be near a sink to change a diaper. At home, I love that Produits de MaYa has a pump format! I use liniment at wet diaper changes too, it removes any trace of urine and leaves baby fresh and hydrated.
Here’s a video of liniment in action on my nephew:
Is it too much to share that I also use our Produits de MaYa on myself in the bathroom some times? Hey, they sell “wet wipes” for the bathroom for grown ups, so it’s a legit thing! Sometimes dry toilet paper doesn’t cut it!
Liniment was also AMAZING for newborn meconium… it’s all I used at the hospital.
2- Removing makeup
But Lindsay! You don’t wear make up! True. True. I don’t even own a wand of mascara. However, I have it on good authority that Produits de MaYa liniment is an excellent makeup remover. My pal, The Monarch Mommy, has tested it, and I made my Mom try it too. My Mom usually uses straight coconut oil to remove her eye makeup, and she definitely liked using liniment, which is, naturally, less oily.
Update, 2023: I do now wear mascara when I go to work or if I want to look somewhat fancy. And what I love about using Produits de MaYa to remove it is that it doesn’t sting my eyes but I can still get it nice and close to my eyes to get all the mascara off!
As for me, I’ve used it to remove face paint from Cub’s face, which is even tougher to take off than make up! Stefanie, my mom and I all apply our liniment with Öko Creations reusable makeup removal pads!
You can see it in action here on some face/body paint:
3- After waxing
Every so often, I sit down in my kitchen and wax my legs. Why in my kitchen? Because if I sneak into one particular corner, near the bathroom, I am out of view of the window but can still supervise my children while I tear strips off of my legs. If you’ve ever had your legs (or other bits) waxed professionally, you’ll know that they don’t clean the sticky residue off of you with water: they use a cream or oil. I figured I’d see how liniment does on leftover wax. Turns out, it is the perfect post-wax finishing cream! It hydrates and removes all the stickiness, and you can skip the shower. (Because there is no shower in my kitchen, and I don’t want people walking past my front window to see me trying to hose my legs off in my kitchen sink.)
4- Cleaning crusty noses
I remember when they came out with facial tissue with “lotion” in them. I believe they were (and maybe still are) called “Puffs.” The idea was that these tissues would prevent your nose from turning red and raw from excessive wiping during cold and flu season. You might wonder why I have such a specific memory of this. It’s because my cousin’s hamster died after being given lotion-infused tissues to make her bedding. (Okay, we don’t know for sure that’s what it was, they’re pretty fragile creatures, but I’m sure it didn’t help.)
As usual, I digress. You know what’s way better that lotion-infused tissue? Soft, washable wipes with a bit of Produits de MaYa liniment. If Little Miss looks paler than usual here, this was in the midst of her rather unpleasant respiratory infection, which had us using lots of liniment on her little honker!
Babies’ (and little kids’) noses get totally gross when they’re sick. If it’s just snotty and runny, the dollop of liniment on the wipe whisks away the slime and ensures that even with days and days of chasing after a runny nose, said nose doesn’t become raw. If the nasal situation is of the dry, crusty variety, I actually apply a smear of liniment directly to the nose, thus lubricating the sticky bits, then I wipe. Seriously, it’s the only way to clean a nasty nose.
5- Belly buttons
I have an outtie. My belly button is enormous, and surrounded by a deep moat in which all sorts of grime seems to get stuck. A cotton swab and some liniment cleans it out like a dream! I do the same on Little Miss Cub every so often after her bath. She doesn’t have an outtie, but her innie has many folds that need cleaning. Come to think of it, I also used liniment to clean around her umbilical stump!
6- Behind the ears
I always notice my kids’ ears are dirty at the most inopportune moments. (IE: not at bath time.) The dirt that gathers behind the ears is sticky and icky, and is wiped away easily and without water by using some liniment and a wipe. I also use it to gently clean the inside of their ears at random times, like when Cub is totally distracted by the television.
7- Goop from bandages
Have you ever used cooking oil to remove the sticky residue of a label from a jar? It works great! The same principle applies to using Produits de MaYa liniment to wipe away that sticky gunk that a bandage leaves behind.
8- Removing temporary tattoos
Cub goes in and out of phases where he insists upon being tatted up to the extreme. When a tattoo is starting to flake off, I can wipe the remnants away with liniment, and it’s a lot more effective than scrubbing at it with soap.
BONUS USAGE! My brother has discovered it is a lovely aftershave:
Other awesome stuff about Les Produits de MaYa Oleo-Calcaerous Ointment
Les Produits de MaYa supplies participating brick & mortar retailers with their liniment in bulk quantities, allowing customers to come in and pay to refill their bottles rather than buying new ones every time they run out. I wish every beauty and food product I used could be purchased this way. It just makes so much sense. (And… cents!)
There are four varieties of Les Produits de MaYa: plain liniment, liniment with coconut oil, liniment with shea and liniment with shea and coconut oil. I love them all, and I simply use whichever one is handy. The respective moisturizing properties of shea butter and coconut oil may lead you to choose one of those varieties, or you might keep it simple with plain liniment, but whatever you choose, I suspect you’ll wonder how you’re only just finding out about liniment today!
Find a Les Produits de MaYa retailer near you
Available online at Lagoon Baby
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