LUSH Hair Treatments

No – it’s not candy and cheese – it’s the new LUSH hair treatments! I am a huge fan of LUSH and a regular user of their products. In fact, I am beyond addicted to the Angels on Bare Skin face wash and the Imperials moisturizer. So when the opportunity arose for me to try some of their new hair care products I couldn’t wait to take them for a spin.

My hair is very thick and has a substantial wave to it—in fact my hair is borderline curly depending on how I let it dry. I’m a morning hair washer, and a typical hair day consists of shampoo, conditioner, and leave-in conditioner followed by a defining serum to tame frizz. I usually throw it in a ponytail and let air dry for about four hours if I really want to encourage my hair to curl.

For the first round I wanted to maintain the same routine using only the LUSH products to see what kind of a difference they made. I started by using the Avocado Co-Wash and Jungle conditioning bar. The Avocado Co-Wash smelled amazing and was super soft to break off, but it took quite a bit of rubbing before I could work up a lather of any sort. Plus, the lather kind of disappeared when I started working it into my hair, so I was really worried I wasn’t getting a proper cleanse, and made the mistake of adding more. I think I ended up using too much product and had a hard time rinsing it out properly. Same for the Jungle conditioning bar. The directions said to focus more on the scalp and to just run the entire bar against your head, but I like to condition my ends because my hair is so thick it can definitely stand to be weighed down a bit. So to maneuver the bar to get the ends of my hair was rather complicated. I kept thinking both bars would probably work much better for someone with short hair, so I also made my husband give it a whirl. Things went much better for him, especially with the conditioning bar, but he also noticed the co-wash had lather issues.

I went ahead and skipped my usual leave-in conditioner and used the Queen Bee Styling Balm in lieu of a defining serum. I really liked the product itself – it has a great smell and feels like butter in the palm of your hand. You are supposed to rub your hands together to melt it down before you apply and it melted like a dream. But again, I think I used too much product. I pulled my hair back into its usual ponytail to air dry and encourage the curl, but by the end of my experience my hair felt heavy, greasy, and very weighed down.

I also ended up trying the Hot Oil Treatments and since my hair is thick and frizzy the Kinky Hot Oil Treatment jumped out at me immediately. Talk about doing a favor to your hair! Once again, there was a bit of trial and error associated with this one—you start by boiling some water and melting the treatment into a heat resistant container (in my case an old Cinderella coffee mug), but I wasn’t sure how much water I should be using. I ended up filling the cup halfway with hot water and dunking the treatment. However, when treatment melted in the cup I noticed most of the product floated to the top and separated out from the water below – kind of like the foam on a latte. The result was a consistency much thinner than I expected, closer to oatmeal. I probably should have only poured enough water to cover the spoon end of the stick, but like I said, trial and error. You are supposed to leave it in your hair for about 20 minutes, and even though I felt I used too much water it stayed in my hair nicely without dripping all over the place. I went ahead and washed it out with the Avocado Co-Wash to give it another chance and used much less product. This time I put it in a bun to give it a softer wave, and when I took it out after several hours my hair felt amazingly light, clean, and fresh. I couldn’t stop touching it.

My biggest takeaway with these products is that you really have to learn how to use them and put in the time if you want the best results because they are so different than anything else out there. I liked the Avocado Co-Wash much more when I accepted it wasn’t going to lather like a bottle shampoo and that the tiniest amount of product went a long way. I still think it would work much better for someone with less hair than mine, in both thickness and length. The Queen Bee Styling Balm probably works better on coarse hair, but I think it was way too much for my curly hair. My favorite hands down was the Hot Oil Treatment. It smelled great, left my hair feeling very silky, and I would definitely buy more for special occasions or for a monthly hair treat.

All LUSH products are cruelty free. LUSH is one of the very few beauty brands that is actively fighting animal testing. LUSH also puts its money where its mouth is! Have you heard of the LUSH Prize? Now in its fifth year, the Lush Prize has awarded £1.2 million in prizes, aiming to bring forward the day when safety testing takes place without the use of animals. After a record number of nominations, 53 projects and scientists from 20 countries have been shortlisted for 2016. They go through to the next round of judging in September. The winners will be announced at a prize ceremony in November.

Many LUSH products are also vegan – each vegan product is labeled on the LUSH website with a V.

April is a beauty junkie who enjoys long walks through Sephora aisles and splurging on all things Tarte. She lives with her husband and 4 year old boss (AKA daughter) who shares her love for the makeup store and all things princess. This works out quite well as April makes her money by selling Disney music to the masses.