hive mind: Lush?

[anotheranon]

Over the years I've heard a lot of good things about Lush bath/body products - as in, people positively raving about them, collecting them, trading with friends.

And while I love good bath products and am charmed by their witty product names (Buffy the Backside Slayer), my only experience with Lush has been negative - I got some bath gel that smelled divine but that made me itch. For all I know the bath bombs that came with it are still lurking somewhere in my linen closet, but I'm reluctant to bother looking for them.

However, I'm not in love with my shampoo or conditioner and am looking for other options. Any reason I might give Lush a second look, or would that just be poking the stick in my eye again?

Comments

[flummoxicated.livejournal.com]

I get not wanting to try something after a bad experience, but I love the Cynthia Sylvia Stout shampoo. It's supposed to "help fluffy hair shine and behave like it should", I actually have oily straight hair with the remnants of an ill-advised body wave I'm trying to grow out, it is the best shampoo experience I've had since - I don't know when. Usually a shampoo will work for a while and then I have to move on, like my hair develops an immunity to it. Isn't that weird? This stuff smells neat too.

I can pick up an empty plastic travel bottle and decant a sample for you if you like. I can't mail it till next week though.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I know nothing about Lush. But I will recommend Althaea's Soaps and Herbals. Melanie makes excellent stuff. She's not quite local, being in Johnson City TN, but she's pretty close and she gets up this way sometimes.

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

A deeply blonde friend of mine swears by their shampoo bars. I got a couple for a birthday present and they stripped the color out of my hair awfully fast. They're awfully convenient for travel, though.

Is there a location anywhere near you? because you can bet a lot of the bars/soaps/solid things in teeny slivers to try out.

[jezzabel.livejournal.com]

I have never actually been in a lush shop because just walking by one makes me sneeze like crazy!

[seamstrix.livejournal.com]

I am by no means objective about this, but I love LUSH products. (I suspect I'm Wendyski's Deeply Blonde Friend).

While I have had itchy reactions from other specialty store products (Bath and Body Shop), I've never had an itch reaction from LUSH.

I have sampled a number of their products and I can say that I love the soild shampoos/shampoo bars but Wendy is right, they do strip atrificial color. They don't seem to harm natural color. I have used their 'Hard' shampoo bar for (what else) hard water areas. I have also used 'Ultimate Shine', 'Karma Komber', and of course 'The Blonde'. I like all of them and use them in an informal rotation. For a try-out I'd recommed 'Ultimate Shine' if you haven't colored your hair. I also have a paste type shampoo called 'Big' which I use when my hair is feeling very gunky. It cleans hair really, really well and since my hair is dry I don't like to use it too much but if your hair is on the oily side you might really like it. One quirk with 'Big' is that you use only a tiny bit of it- like just enough to cover your finger tips even for my almost waist length hair, but you need two sudsing. The first time it won't really suds at all (is that a verb?) but the second time you will get tons.

I also swear by their 'Jungle' solid conditioner. My hair loves it and I love the earthy-herbal smell although others might not. Jungle doesn't make your hair feel 'slick' when it's in like conventional conditioners but it sure does the trick.

For washing the rest of you, I like 'Avo-wash' which is very moisturizing but doesn't have a strong smell. I like it after shaving my legs. The gels I like include 'Tramp' which is very patchouli, 'Olive Branch' which has an earthy orange scent (not sweet), and 'Flying Fox' which has a honey/jasmine scent and is supposed to help with PMS. You might also like 'Sonic Death Monkey' which smells like orange chocolate with a leather undertone. If you are feeling a bit Victorian, you can use 'Daddy-O', a purple shampoo designed to tone down brassiness in blonde/grey hair, as a body wash which is scented with violets- very Victorian!

As you may have noticed, I am a big fan of LUSH. Come back to Chicago for a visit and you can sample anyhting in my bathroom!

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

Never heard of Lush ... must be one of those American things ***grin*** ... but can tell you that I'm very happy with the L'Oréal Professionnel that my hairdressers recommended. Costs more up front than store brands, but that balances out because you only use tiny amounts; commercial shampoos invariably give my hair the texture of used steel wool, while salon products keep it soft and cuddly (another lower-cost salon brand I've been pleased with in the past, and which is occasionally available on regular store shampoo shelves, is Biolage)

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

As it happens, there IS one near me, but it's in a shopping mall - I'll wait 'til the holidays are over to visit :)

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Big sounds like something I might actually need post-fence. I'll take a look at the ingredients and unless something puts up a red flag I'll take a look.

And yeah, it's been an age since we saw each other - CC200....4, right?

[seamstrix.livejournal.com]

Yep, I think the last time was CC in Atlanta. Girlfriend, you gotta come out and visit Bristol some summer!

[seamstrix.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's one of those British things. I first found LUSH in London at Covent Garden and was really peeved that they weren't in North America. Well, now they are! As a matter of fact, they are in Calgary!

Calgary
Market Mall #P054, 3625 Shaganappi Trail N.W.
T3A0E2
(403) 288-5870

Happy sniffing!
(The stores ARE very strong smelling so be aware if you are sensitive to smells.)

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the rapid research. :-) And, ah, that address explains why I've never seen Lush ... Market Mall is sorta the back of beyond in this city, and as the NW is primarily suburbs and strip malls, I never have any reason to go up there (I live in the SE quadrant).

There's supposed to be some little shops selling sari fabrics up in the NW someplace, so mebbe one day I'll mount an expedition (Calgary traffic planners are dedicated to making it as difficult as possible to travel from one city quadrant to another, so expedition is the correct term for it) ... however, as I loathe being bombarded with strong scents, I'll have to be sure to make it a day when my sinuses are stuffed up. :p

all back to mine in 2009....

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

I do, I really do!

Also, Costume Con is happening nearby (in Baltimore, anyway) in 2009!