I have four of my five a day first thing! (Lush Jungle Conditioning Bar)

Member Name: nursie_nursie

Product:	Lush Jungle Conditioning Bar
Date:	09/06/08 (132 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Light. Silky hair, not tested on animals, rather cheap.

Disadvantages: Takes slightly longer to use, breaks up when smaller, hard to use up completely.

I am a Lush addict as my other reviews prove but I was rather sceptical about their shampoo and conditioners. So tried one of each of the body shops products, as I thought they would just be like 'normal' (I hate using that word!) shampoos and conditioners that I am used to but it was a disastrous error of judgement. I turned to Lush in the hope that they would do better.

I looked on the website and picked out what I liked and there were two shampoos that I liked the sound of, BIG and I LOVE JUICY and two conditioners I fancied trying VEGANESE and JUNGLE CONDITIONER. I decided that I would try a combination of BIG and JUNGLE CONDITIONER.

I sent my other half off to work with a list in his pocket and the money so he could pop in and pick up my chosen articles on his lunch break. They had an offer on of a free 100 gram bar of soap with every purchase so he brought home a bar of sexy peel soap which the shop assistant that helped him find everything recommended, a nice added bonus I must say! He was also given a tester of sea vegetable soap, only a small chunk but something free is always welcome!

We all know about Lush so I wont go into it too much but will just point out that they do not test on animals, use as few unnatural ingredients as they can and use as little packaging as possible, so buying from them is good for you conscience as well as your hair and skin. They aren't too bad on your purse either.

Jungle conditioner comes in bar form, not the usual liquid we all associate with conditioner at all. It is gorgeous green, the same colour as the flesh of a kiwi fruit, as that is one of the ingredients it makes sense.

When buying in store you can chose how big a piece you want, anything more than the minimum 100grams that is. Jungle costs £3.75 per 100grams, not so bad. The only packaging is that they wrap it up in greaseproof paper with the lush logo printed all over it and stick that up with a label printed with the Lush logo, jungle conditioner, ingredients list, price and date. Simple, and goes along with their minimum packaging policy.

It looks just like soap. Should it be in your bathroom and you haven't told someone using your shower then they are likely to try washing with it! As with soap you need to keep it as dry as possible. If it were to sit in water it would go soft and disintegrate.

It contains loads of fresh fruit, figs, passion fruit, bananas and kumquats. There is avocado oil in there and cocoa butter, which are both to help moisturise and soften your hair and your scalp. This is even suitable for vegans as there are no animal products used at all in this conditioner!

My hair is very long, just past the bottoms of my shoulder blades and very thick. Until may last year I used conventional home colourants and had put in highlights at home. Because of the abuse, yes I said abuse, my hair is now very dry at the ends. I now use henna rather than 'normal' (yes that word again!) home colours. My roots tend to get oily and when I used 'normal' (is there no escape from that word!) conditioners I can only apply them to my roots as otherwise my hair feels horrible by midday. I have to wash my hair every day unless I just shove it back out the way.

The first time I used this conditioner I wasn't keen while putting it on. I thought it was a waste of money but I was happy to be proved wrong when I saw and felt the results!

After shampooing my hair with big (which I now also love and have reviewed), I rubbed the bar all over my hair roots as well. I concentrated most on my dry ends as they are the part which needs the most conditioning after all. It took quite a while so isn't ideal if you are in a hurry in the morning. It felt as though there was nothing coming off of the bar and onto my hair. These two reasons are why I thought that it had been a waste of money and time trying it.

I rinsed my hair well and after just one minute of rinsing I had new hope that this had worked! My hair felt less knotted than it did after shampooing so thought it must have done something.

I got out of the shower and bundled my hair up in a towel like I always do. After getting dressed and sorted out I unwrapped my hair and noticed that it wasn't as wet as usual. After using a conditioner my hair usually feels like it has soaked up a bath full of water and takes ages to dry naturally. I don't tend to blow dry my hair unless I am going out, as I work from home I don't have any need to.

I towel dried my hair and then started to brush it. It wasn't as easy to get the brush through as it can be after using a conditioner but it wasn't anywhere near as tangled as it is without using one at all. After brushing I just left it.

I was surprised just how quickly it dried, my hair usually takes three or four hours to be dry within two my hair was completely dry!

My hair was left smelling fantastic, looking shiny and feeling super smooth! It doesn't leave your hair feeling weighed down or coated, which is something I dislike about some conditioners. My hair has plenty of bounce and feels healthy without feeling like it has been conditioned passed the point of being like healthy hair. It feels like it doesn't need conditioner not that it has gotten rid of my dry ends but they don't seem to get tangled and knotted or look like straw.

The next morning I took my hair down, as I wear it in a ponytail in bed as I cant stand having it all over my face and getting tangled or pulled on while I am asleep. I found it looked just as good! The smell of fruitiness was still lingering in my soft shiny hair! My roots were nowhere near as greasy as they would have been if I had used any other conditioner on them in fact they were the same as when they have had no conditioner on them at all! I didn't have to wash my hair again.

My hair now gets washed and conditioned and I don't just mean on the ends like before but all over, every other day rather than every day and it looks just as good! I can leave it three days if I shove it up out of the way. I don't know if my hair can go longer between washes because of this conditioner or if it is down to the shampoo I would say it is a combination of the two.

The bar doesn't as yet look as though it has been used and that is after using on it about six washes I think I am up to now. It is going to last a long time so works out quite cheap in the long run.

It is NOT an intensive conditioner but a light and weightless conditioner that although it takes slightly longer than slapping some cream on your hair it is well worth a try.

I have found that just having this bar in the bathroom has made it smell in there, I love the smell so am very glad but should you not like it you may want to keep it enclosed in a tin or soap dish with a lid. So it doubles as a room fragrance!

I hold my hands up and admit that I was wrong to underestimate Lush's shampoos and conditioners! I will certainly try more from their ranges but surely nothing can beat this!

It is suitable for greasy hair but is actually suitable for all hair types according to Lush and I would agree but if you have very dry hair you might want something a little more intensive!




EDITED INFORMATION AFTER FINISHING THE BAR

I have edited this review to add that although to begin with I loved this conditioning bar and still do, I am not as impressed now that I have finished using it.

I found that when the bar got down to being rather small it broke up a lot and that made it much more difficult to use. It was very hard to use up the whole bar and got more and more time consuming to use because of this.

It ended up lasting me three months so that is rather good!

I originally gave it five stars but because of the problems I have now had I am going to remove one of those. I still recommend it and will use it again at some point but I think this does go against it a little.


OVER A YEAR ON

I still use this and love it! When it gets down to a small bar I mould it onto the new one, waste not want not!

Summary: Give it a try, they say a change is as good as a rest!