It has been a while now since I have used a Lush hair treatment or product and whilst I love to try out different types of shampoo to keep my locks in good condition, the using of a hair dryer and my GHDs often lead to dry ends and a dry scalp in parts and there is nothing worse than walking around with white flaky bit on your lovely black top or sitting in your office repeatedly scratching your head like you have lice making your scalp sore and in even worse condition than before. Usually I buy Bain Gommage from Kerastase which is an anti-dandruff shampoo to deal with the problem, even though it isnt dandruff which is causing the actual problem, so the sale rep in Lush suggested I tried Recon for 2 weeks to see if there was any change in my scalp and hair condition.

When buying a product for your scalp it is always a good idea to find out whether you do suffer from dandruff or a dry scalp because a lot of people confuse the two and use the wrong products to deal with the problem. So what is the difference between a dry scalp and dandruff, wellwith both problems visible flakes of skin are present. However, dandruff is usually associated with small white flakes in the hair and upon clothes but the scalp itself is not generally itchy, red or inflamed.

Dandruff is also usually cleared quite effectively by using an anti-dandruff product daily for two weeks. But If your scalp feels tight, itchy, irritated, inflamed or dry and the dandruff product you have bought and used has limited effect in treating the condition, it is likely that you suffer from a sensitive or dry scalp. If this is the case then you need to change your shampoo and conditioner to one which is highly moisturising with aloe vera to help soothe the itching and irritation and possibly find a hypoallergenic shampoo at the same time or ask your hairdresser to recommend a brand to you.

Lush Recon is sold in the lovely black pots like those the face masks, body lotions and other hair products are sold in and for the 255g pot you will be asked to part with £12.75 of your hard earned money, so whilst it is expensive for the small amount you get for me it is cheaper than Bain Gommage and therefore should it prove its worth, a saving.

To look at Recon to me reembles a tub of Cocoa Butter, the colour is very similar, although in my own opinion the aroma of this is far better, inside the tub, the hair and scalp treatment looks like it could be a solid but when you dip your finger in you find that it is slightly thicker than your average condition, but not as thick as it looks. So a slightly creamy orange looking colour, Recon has a slightly minty to smell to it but as you apply it to your dry hair there is a mix of smells and aromas which come to life.

When it comes to using Recon, you use it like a pre-wash treatment, I was assured that this was the best way to use it. So I ran a hot bubble filled bath, grabbed my pot of Recon along with the book I am currently reading (Frankie Boyles Biography for those of you who are interested) and the first thing I did was dip my fingers into the tub and scoop out a small blob of Recon and liberally applied it to my hair making sur that I massaged it well into my scalp, as I would do any other scalp treatment that I have used in the past and then you leave it on your hair and scalp for up to15 minutes to give the oils and other scalp mending products a chance to work. Then once those alloted 15 minutes have passed you simply wash it from your hair using warm (not hot) water and you might need to repeat this process a few times to ensure you have managed to remove all trace of Recon from your hair, I have found that this can be quite difficult to remove from your hair the first time you attempt to wash it out, but once you have completed your shampooing it has by this time been completely washed out.

The aroma as I previously mentioned has a slightly minty to smell to it, which to me is divine, I do like mint smelling products as long as they are not too overpowering like Tee Tree products. Within Recon there is as expected a whole long list of ingredients and they start with Almond Oil which is used to help relieve irritation, inflammation and itching whilst being kind to the skin and acting as a moisturiser. Peppermint Oil which gives this product the slightly minty smell that I mentioned is
used because it helps to cool the skin and llike the Almond oil it reduces redness, relives itching and calms irritations. Lavendar oil has soothing and anti-inflammatory benefits and is used to treat skin problems such as dermatitis, eczema and psoriasis to name but a few. Juniper comes next and like the other ingredients mentioned so far it also hosts anti-itching, inflammatory and soothing benefits on the skin and is especially useful to people suffering with scalp problems such as dandruff. The final ingredient is Nettle Leaf which conjures up all kinds of images of stinging my scalp as I used to my legs as a child, but surprisingly because of its anti-inflammatory properties it helps boost hair growth, so it works in a similar way to all of the other ingreidents Lush have chosen to include within this product.

Adding all of those together for me the Peppermint and Almond oil are the two most dominant fragrances and both of them an absolute delight to smell as you use this product on your hair. However, once you have managed to remove Recon from your hair how does it feel? My scalp was feeling cool and not as hot as it does feel when the dryness of the scalp is really irritating me, so for that I already feel quite blessed, I am not wanting to grab ice cubes from the freezer to cool down my head after using this. Instead my hair is soft and smooth which I wasn't expecting and after two weeks of using this product my scalp is completely clean and clear of any sign of dryness and white bits on my clothes and gone is the wanting to scratch my scalp thus making it sore and me miserable, infact it is absolutley brilliant and I am totally delighted with the outcome. So much so that I would go as far to say that should the problem flare up again, which I am in doubt it will, its only been 4 weeks now since I stopped using Recon, more because I ran out than anything, but I suspect the problem with raise its ugly head soon but in the meantime I am flake free, scratching free, irritation free but soft smooth hair which is a delight to deal with left instead.

Also paying £12.75 for 225g in a black pot might put you off buying it intially but that post lasted me four whole weeks and I used to every day for two weeks as Lush state that you should and then every other day if you think there is a need to. As it was my first time of using it, I was determind to get rid of this problem which had been annoying me for a month and therefore I did use it for two weeks every day, then every other day for the third week and then twice a week and even now there is still over a third of the tub left for a quick blast if I think my hair and scalp need it. For storage purposes it goes in the fridge to keep it cool and as fresh as possible.

As a product, although slightly expensive for some people, I do recommend trying this is like me you have tried so many products over the years which either dont work at all or if you are lucky they work for a short period of time because this is a brilliant product and I love it.