Rachel, the name behind the Beautiful Adventures blog, and her thoughts on her YUYU Bottle

Rachel uses a Pure Cotton Waffle in White

Many times I have found myself (or my husband usually) reaching for my hot water bottle or wheat bag wishing it worked better or was bigger to help target my larger areas of pain. This exact thought was present with a particularly chilly creator called Richard Yu, the inventor of the YUYU Bottle, Richard had this exact thought but he acted upon it and created something truly remarkable and effective. The YUYU Bottle. The world's first original long hot/cold water bottle.

“Yu” – Means hot water in Japanese (i don't know about you but I am obsessed with japan and Japanese culture to me this is just the coolest thing)

As many of my readers will know I suffer from what I can only describe is a long and tiresome list of pain in the backside medical conditions and disabilities. This results in constant and on going wide spread body pain, sometimes constantly and other times intermittent. I absolutely hate the idea of strong painkillers ( which irritates the hell out of all of my specialists) and prefer to use my own means to manage my pain the best that I can, be it hot water bottles, essential oils, salt baths, massage and so on. I stumbled across the YUYU Bottle while attempting to find pain relief ideas online and immediately fell in love with not only the product but the brand, so stick with me while I explain a little about this brand to you because if you, like me suffer from pain and are looking for a relief then this is a game changer.

I took my time in reading up about this brand before taking the plunge to try a YUYU Bottle and I wanted to share the information that caught my eye as I hope it catches yours too.

The YUYU Bottle has a completely biodegradable life cycle. We know traditional hot water bottles will simply be added onto the ever overflowing mountain in landfill continuing to damage our planet. YUYU Bottles simply biodegrade and return into mother earth from where it originally came. The materials used to create each YUYU Bottle come from materials that are sustainably sourced and YUYU are so confident with the materials they use, that they give each bottle a 2 year manufacturer's guarantee which for me is so reassuring to know. Sustainability is a big thing now and to know this company takes that seriously makes a world of difference.

Each YUYU Bottle measures 81cm which is super long hence its ability to be worn in so many comfortable ways to help ease pain in larger areas of the body unlike a standard hot water bottle. The bottle and material that encapsulates it is so soft (mine is 100% Japanese cotton), flexible, and lightweight making wearing the YUYU super easy. Every YUYU has a 1.2m drawstring which can be adjusted dependant on how you wear it. The way the bottle is designed means heat is trapped on the bumps of the bottle, holding heat for 4-6 hours which i think is brilliant especially if like me, you travel to a lot of hospital for appointments, diagnostics and treatment. It keeps you comfortable for the journey.

YUYU have a cashmere, luxury fleece and tartan range of designs to chose from plus playful and colourful children's designs in a happy snuggly little character that your children can carry around with ease and comfort. YUYU have also recently announced and developed a licensed range of bottles specifically for GB Olympians to use in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics – so keep an eye out for the YUYU Bottles.

I prefer using my YUYU Bottle for heated pain relief however if you prefer a cold pack or even switching it up with hot and cold then you can easily use your YUYU as a cold pack to help with pain relief.

YUYU care so much about the environment and our planet that they pledge the following “ by late 2020 25% of their rubber will be sourced from The Air Rubber Association who's main aim is to improve the living and working conditions of workers and ensure production is as respectful to the environment as possible furthermore by 2021 we are on track to be 80% plastic free.”

And finally YUYU give any unsold or unused bottles to the homeless community in central London while working behind the scenes they're attempting to arrange water filling stations in the capital for the homeless to fill their donated bottles to keep them warm/cool whenever they require. When I read this I was absolutely blown away that not only is this brand mindful and making conscious steps to source sustainable materials, but they are attempting to recycle, reuse and give back to the community that needs the most help especially during the colder months. These kinds of acts speaks volumes about the working ethics of a brand and the heart behind them and this won me over completely.

I received a YUYU recently from this amazing company and wanted to put it to the test and see if the claims of flexibility, comfort etc where true. I wanted to use it surrounding the arthritic pain I get but in true chronic illness style, shortly after receiving the YUYU I went into a flare up of my gastroparesis. This meant I was in a tonne of pain, feeling severely nauseated and unable to move from my bed, unable to eat, drink or take any medication. My husband filled my YUYU and helped me to apply it to my stomach area.

One thing I can say is the length of the YUYU is fantastic, the coverage achieved was great, as I said my pain can be widespread and hard to chose one focus area but I didn't need to worry about that with the YUYU as all of my painful areas in my abdomen where covered. The bottle stayed warm for hours and it was a comfortable warm that meant I didn't suffer from over heating or my skin becoming irritated. The 100% Japanese cotton is soft and delicate to the skin and I found the design very comfortable to work a thing around my body. I am not going to lie, my old conventional hot water bottles are not something I will be going back to because I couldn't be more happy with this bottle. It is everything that it promises to be and offers me the pain relief i require during some of my most painful days/nights.

If like me you didn't know about The YUYU Bottle then please go and look it up for yourself and read up on the company and make your own mind up, I'm not here to convince you in anyway I'm here to simply offer you a genuine and real review of this product from someone who spends every day of their life in pain. I wouldn't say it worked unless it did. I hope you give this brand a go as they are truly wonderful with the mindfulness towards our planet that we wish many others had too. I will pop the website and social link below for you guys.

Thanks for stopping by and reading about the YUYU bottle. Take care everyone & most importantly stay safe.

Read Rachel's blog post here and follow her on instagram at @beautiful_adventures_x

See what's new at YUYU here 

Interested in sharing your story with us? Send us an email to marketing@yuyubottle.com