Seaweed, salt, lemon, lime and some vanilla for good measure... (Lush Big Natural Shampoo)

Member Name: flyingpenguin

Product:	Lush Big Natural Shampoo
Date:	03/06/09 (15 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Effective - it cleans, creates shine and volume, only requires a little

Disadvantages: Costly - Big price for this Big product

A lumpy concoction is the best way to describe this product. I went into Lush with a friend and paused to check out the various shampoos available. An assistant chose this moment to pounce and after having a good look at my hair, advised me to try BIG - for added volume, shine and smoothness. The price immediately put me off (£9.60!!) however the assistant told me it lasted a long time as only a little was needed, so would work out as good value for money in the long term.

The product comes in a nice black lush container, with a screw cap - easy to undo, but after I had used it a few times I found the salty bits in the shampoo had a tendancy to creep into the ridges and around the edge of the lid.

The product felt pretty odd to be putting in your hair - the mixture is 50% salt: white and lumpy! It somehow seemed wrong to be applying it to my head, as well as letting so much salt come so close to my eyes. However, even on that first wash, I could feel a difference in my hair as I washed it out - it was squeaky clean! The product goes on surprisingly smoothly and produces a good lather. I was worried when washing it out that I would end up with little blobs of salt left, however it came out really easily, leaving my hair feeling clean.

Lush claim that after use you will want to "rush up to strangers calling out invitingly, 'Feel my lovely soft hair!'" It certainly did feel softer and cleaner, and noticeably had more shine (though I did not harrass strangers to clarify this!) There was a slight increase in volume, however not as much as i would've expected from this product.

Although mostly salt, Lush highlights the other (more appealing) ingredients: lime, lemon, vanilla and iris.
The official list of ingredients is:
Coarse Sea Salt, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Fresh Organic Lemon Infusion (Citrus limonum), Fresh Sea Water, Toothed Wrack Seaweed Infusion (Fucus serratus), Cocamide DEA, Lauryl Betaine, Fresh Organic Lime Juice (Citrus aurantifolia), Extra Virgin Coconut Oil (Cocos nucifera), Neroli Oil (Citrus Aurantium amara), Mandarin Oil (Citrus nobilis), Vanilla Absolute (Vanilla planifolia), Orange Flower Absolute (Citrus Aurantium amara), *Limonene, Perfume
* Occurs naturally in Essential Oils

Overall, I found the shampoo did work well and produced good quality hair, though not especially volumous. It does cost a lot, so for me it isn't the shampoo of choice everytime.

Summary: Gives clean hair, but at a cost