An Indian ingredient for your hair (Lush Okra)

Member Name: emmaglet

Product:	Lush Okra
Date:	25/01/09 (250 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nourishes hair, makes hair soft, keeps style

Disadvantages: Pricey

Lush are a company who make handmade beauty products. The products are vegan, no ingredients tested on animals and they use a variety of natural ingredients. Yum! You can buy Lush in store, online at www.lush.co.uk and by mail order by ringing them on 01202 668545. You can't buy Okra in stores though, because it is a retro product (which I will explain below).

Okra conditioner is not something I would have ever considered, but it came through my door by mistake from Lush, so curiosity got the better of me and I ended up buying a bottle. It is part of the "Retro Lush" collection, where Lush bring back popular products, most of the time a bit more expensive than they were originally, since they don't make as many of them. It costs £10.78 for a 500g bottle, so by far it is the most expensive conditioner I have ever bought.

I'd never heard of okra, the vegetable, before. It is also known as ladies finger, and used in a lot of Indian cooking, stir-frys and similar. If you saw this in the shops (I know it isn't available in shops though) you would probably walk straight past it. It is a light browny/greeny colour, and quite frankly, looks a bit gross. When you read the ingredients, containing a number of vegetables and even nettles, you will probably walk away again. I expected a disgusting smell almost of rotten vegetables, but how wrong I was! It has an amazing scent, that I honestly cannot describe. I suppose it smells of okra and nettles, but having never smelt okra or nettles, it is hard to liken the scent to anything I have ever smelt. It is a sweet smell, with a slight hint of lavender oil, but not an overpowering lavender scent.

So onto the good stuff, does it work? Yes, yes and a million times yes. I honestly wish this wasn't so pricey (or that I had more money) so I wouldn't feel guilty using it every day. This conditions my hair so well, leaving it silky smooth and very nourished. It isn't a thick conditioner, so you might not think it is very intensive, but it gives better results that a lot of the so called intensive conditioners I have used in the past.

Okra also handles humidity and hair very well. It is so annoying to painstakingly wash, dry and style your hair, only for rain or humidity to wreck it. I am sure a heavy down pour would wreck your hard work, but after using Okra and going outside in a light rain, my hair still remains styled.

The scent stays on my hair for a few days, which doesn't ordinarily happen with other shampoos that are strong smelling. The results also last until my next wash, and don't go away when I restyle or re-straighten my hair. It gives impressive results on very damaged hair, so I can't imagine the results on hair in good condition. I still can't justify using it every time I wash my hair, despite the results being amazing, because I would get through a bottle every month, and at £10.78, it can be pricey!

Summary: Okra isn't just for eating