Having got bored and even more bored with trying different Shampoo’s that are available in every high street shops, all promising to turn your wild locks into luscious, frizz free tresses I decided that I would go to my ever increasing favourite shop – Lush for those people who haven’t yet worked it out, in the hope of finding that wonder shampoo.

The problem with my hair is that whilst it is lovely and blonde it is thick (no comments, puns or remarks needed thank you) and I have a lot of hair on my head… so that can lead to a dry scalp making me look like one of those snowstorm ornament things you buy your Gran from holiday. Actually that is probably an over exaggeration, but I have a dry scalp which becomes irritating and now being sure that I have tried everything there is to try on the market, Lush becomes my last hope…. Well that’s my excuse and I am sticking to it.

So in Lush, what do they have to offer? Everything that is what… Lush products come in all shapes and sizes, different smells and there must be something for everything…and yes even Shampoo, but this is Shampoo with a difference!

Very rarely do you get pounced on by an over excited salesperson in Lush, they are usually happy to let you wander around sniffing at everything and trying out all their testers before asking whether or not you need any help. On this particular day I did want a bit of advice.

So I needed something for a dry scalp but also for medium length blonde hair, which does get greasy after a day or so… shouldn’t be too difficult and thankfully it wasn’t within a few seconds I am ready to buy Jumping Juniper the bar of Shampoo…. Yes that is right, a bar of Shampoo, not soap…. Shampoo!

So Jumping Juniper is a bright purple solidified bar of shampoo which is made with Juniperberry oil, Lavender, Lemon and Lime. After a little research I have found that Juniperberry oil has a lot of uses such as - its ability to treat pain and inflammation or arthritis, rheumatism, and varicose veins by warming and relaxing the muscles. Increases circulation and helps to release fluid retention during PMS. Used in cosmetics for acne and eczema and in shampoos for oily hair and dandruff. Use in closets and drawers to repel wool moths. May cause irritation of sensitive skin. Will over stimulate the kidneys and should be avoided by those with kidney disease, inflamed or infected kidneys. (all of which can be found at http://www.essential7.com/essentialoils/juniperber ry.html) and finally Lavender is used for its ability to balance sebum production then we have lemon and lime to tone and refresh a greasy scalp of which all the details of the ingredients can be found on the Lush website.

So having found a perfect shampoo which is shaped like a bar of soap, I am intrigued enough to buy it. You can buy Shampoo Bars from Lush in all kinds of different colours for around £3 or £4; this particular Shampoo Bar retails at £3.75 and weighs 55kg. It comes packaged in the usual Lush see through packaging with the Logo clearly marked.

To use your shampoo Bar you pretty much have to mimic the actions of using a bar of soap – wet it with water whilst in the bath or shower and rub it between your hands to form a lather and then as you would be shampoo put it in your hair and mimic those actions. It is a bit weird at first I have to admit, never having washed my hair with a bar of shampoo and having something solidified rather than liquefied is a totally different experience but it does work.

The Shampoo Bar produces a lot of lather and left my hair not only smelling wonderful produces a lemon and lime type of smell which lingered for a good few hours after use. My hair was also softer than I expected it to be and also very shiny and healthy looking when dry. Now the question is did it work? Well yes it did, since using this product my hair is much less greasier than it has been in a long time, instead of washing my hair every other day I can now wash it every two days and my scalp is no longer dry. Success at last!

Overall this product has proved to be very cost worthy because I bought it well over a month ago now and I use it possibly every other day on average, living and working in London your hair is never going to be clean for long with all the pollutants so I tend to wash it every other day, and I would estimate that it has the life expectancy of a life of soap, which in my house would last perhaps two or three months maximum and for £3.75 I am not going to complain.

Do I recommend this product? Well if your hair is like mine then absolutely without a doubt, but if you hair isn’t like mine and you would still like to try a similar product then log onto the Lush website and have a look around, there are a lot of options to choose from.

**Extra Information**

Lush packaging on single objects is relatively simple, they are wrapped tightly in some see-through packaging and upon opening, the first thing you notice is the smell

If anyone wants to investigate Lush further to see what ingredients are used for this or any other products then you simply go to www.lush.co.uk which will give you the UK version of their website.

Lush products are not tested on animals, in fact they are vehemently against products being tested on animals and to test their own products they do tests on humans to ensure they are safe for general sale to the public and they will not buy ingredients from companies who use testing on animals as one of their protocols.

Lush first officially launched their products in 1995, although they had been around for many years previous and their name was decided upon in a competition after many years of working under the name 'Cosmetics to go' as a mail order company and so to Poole in Dorset the firm grew and became globally known. The one thing that I found really interesting when I read up about Lush as a company is that in most of their products they use real Jasmine Absolute Perfume, which I am told it is more expensive than gold, yet Lush products are sold at affordable prices so that the everyday person can treat themselves to such luxuries.