The Lush effect

My name's Steph and I'm a Lush addict. It has been 3 hours since I last used a Lush product. This is my story.

It all began several years ago. I've always struggled with problems with my scalp. The doctor diagnosed it as eczema and prescribed me some shampoo. The problem? It was made out of tar and smelt... well... horrible. And while it just about kept things under control, it didn't really make the situation any better.

Eventually, on the advice of a friend that perhaps I should try a shampoo with less chemicals in it, I wandered into Lush. A bit overwhelmed by the smell and the intensely attentive staff, I explained the problem and was recommended one of their solid shampoos, which is specifically for people with sensitive scalps. I parted with five pounds and left, unconvinced it was going to work.

But within about a month, my scalp was so much better that I no longer had to use the dreaded tar shampoo. By the time I finished that bar, I was able to switch to a different (and nicer smelling!) Lush shampoo.

And until I started this project, that's as deep as I went down the Lush path.

At the start of this year, toiletries were on my radar to tackle. I'd always used whatever shampoo, conditioner, soap etc that I wanted to, mostly picking things on how much they cost and how nice they smelt. And then I realised that a lot of this stuff had quite a significant environmental impact, and maybe I should look into alternatives.

At a similar time, one of my closest friends got a job at Lush. I didn’t think much about it first, but then she started to come up with all kinds of information about how green Lush were. I’d always focused on my slight dislike to the shop – the overpowering smell, the slightly-too-attentive staff – and not thought much about the products themselves. It was an education. Over the months, I learnt about the natural base of their products, why some of them cost more, why a lot of things in our traditional toiletries are bad, and most of all, their policy on packaging.

It also helped that I got to try out a lot of products. When I moved house in March, I moved in with this friend, and one of our other housemates was also a Lush employee. They constantly came home with odds and ends of products and so I got to try out some different things and see how they suited me. Some were instant wins – a lovely coconut shampoo, almond oil based face wash that improved my skin massively, a hand cream that could cope with my eczema (and actually helped it) – others were nice but not things I’d buy myself – the face masks for example.

And then something happened, and I started buying the stuff myself. I bought some conditioner, some dry shampoo, some deodorant...

Suddenly my toiletry collection has suddenly become quite Lush heavy. My shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, face wash, hand moisturiser, styling cream, perfume and dry shampoo is now Lush. I like the products – they work well, smell nice, are much better for the planet, and best of all, come in minimal or recycling packaging. My shampoo comes in a block, wrapped in a bit of waxed paper (recyclable) rather than a plastic bottle. My face wash come in tubs, that are really useful for other things, or can be returned to the shop for recycling. And the things that come in bottles come in bottles that are either recyclable or can be returned to the shop for reuse. The only thing I’m not sure can be recycled is the perfume bottles – they do offer it in a solid block form, so maybe I’ll try that next time and see how I get on with it.

I have noticed a difference too – my skin is noticeably better – both on my face (from the face wash) and on my hands (where I always get eczema). Added to that, my hair gets less greasy, and I can now sometimes go a third day between washing it, rather than the two days I managed before. So big ticks for performance. The situation also seems to have escalated even further. I'm now finding that I'm a Lush advocate - singing the praises of a lot of their products to people around me. I also don't really find the products any more expensive to use - they may seem expensive when you buy them, but most of them really last - a large £14 bottle of conditioner lasts 2 or 3 times longer than a regular £5ish bottle of conditioner, so I'm not any worse off at the end of the day. Some of the luxury products cost more, but that's not really the kind of thing I'm likely to use.

I should point out that not everything has been an instant resounding success. I tried the solid deodorant but turned out to be allergic to it (incidentally, they refunded me for this when I went back to the shop and said I had reacted to it). And it took me a couple of goes to find the right conditioner for me, with the first couple really not suiting my hair at all.

There's also some things that I'm not sure I'll end up getting from there. I'm not convinced by their "toothy tabs" toothpaste replacement. I appear to be allergic to the deodorant. And I don't particularly like the colour of the henna that they sell (more on hair dye adventures in the upcoming weeks). So there's still quite a lot of things to address and work on.

But for the time being, that's my Lush story.