I just picked up some Xlear "Soothing and Moisturizing" Nasal Wash with Xylitol at the local Whole Foods market; and for all you allergy suffers out there I am writing a review to let you know what I think of it. So far my first impression is that this stuff is really great!

I'm not exactly proud of it; but I suffer from perennial rhinitis; in layman's terms I have a known allergy to dust; which was confirmed by an allergy specialist using a scratch test. Dust is everywhere and there is really no way to avoid it completely; though that is what the allergist recommended. Avoid dust as much as possible they say?

The allergy specialist apparently didn't listen to me when I told them that I work in a theater; which is one of the dustiest places to work in my town! (I don't know whether they just are too cheap to change the filters; or they're just too cheap to purchase decent vacuum cleaners; but it might be both). Fortunately theater season is over; yet my allergies persist. It doesn't help that I live in a moist climate (dust mites thrive in humidity). Either way I'm looking for a better line of work that doesn't involve so much dust; in the meantime there's dust everywhere so I gotta deal with it somehow; my immune system goes haywire wherever there's dust!

My nose gets rather stuffy rather often even when I'm not at work; I've tried saline spray and that seems to work fairly well; but since I was at Whole Foods I decided to give Xlear a try. I've heard good things about grapefruit seed extract and it's reported to help allergy sufferers; though I have never tried it prior to using this product. I have used products with xylitol in them though and I like xylitol sweetened gum.

An interesting (active?) ingredient in this product is Xylitol. Xylitol is supposed to attract and then kill harmful bacteria, yeasts, etc. Great idea to incorporate xylitol into a nasal spray! Kudos to the person that invented this spray. As one other reviewer noted; I think the product might be a little bit overpriced; but I also think it still has some merit.

In case you are thinking to yourself; well what is xylitol and why would I want to put this substance in my nose? Well xylitol is apparently found naturally in some fruits; it's found in many sugar free gum formulations; and is marketed as safe for diabetics to use because it doesn't raise blood glucose levels like your regular polysaccarides (such as fructose or glucose).

Xylitol supposedly creates a nice cooling effect when used in gums; it seems to also cool irritated sinuses. One nice "side effect" is that your postnasal drip will now have a nice sweet taste to it; but the good "side effects" don't stop there. Apparently xylitol is moderately antibacterial and antifungal; though I'm not sure if it has any effect on viruses or not; I'm hoping it does!

In conclusion; I don't think there is anything to really dislike about this product other than the price. I think I paid about $12 for a 45mL or 1.5 FL OZ nasal spray. That's probably cheaper than corticosteroids; most likely safer; and the side effect are seemingly nonexistent; pretty sweet deal eh?

My recommendation is that you give this product a try and see what you think. I think my sinus headache might have just gone away at least temporarily. Xylitol is incorporated into gum because it does not promote tooth decay; perhaps this product really works; I will certainly continue to use what I already purchased and I might even purchase it again after I become more familiar with how well it works.

It may not be all about the xylitol; as it might have something to do with the grapefruit seed extract as well; which I have read is also supposed to be good for allergies.

The only other ingredient is saline (salt water); probably isotonic .9% saline; though the label fails to specify what percentage of sodium chloride (salt) is incorporated into the product.


Recommended: Yes