A solid shampoo - yes really! (Lush Reincarnate Solid Shampoo)

Member Name: UK1981_female

Product:	Lush Reincarnate Solid Shampoo
Date:	26/06/09 (109 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Smells divine

Disadvantages: A little pricey

This is the first ever Lush product that I have used and if I am honest I had never even heard of this brand until I joined DooYoo. When I spotted a Lush shop last weekend whilst out and about, I just knew I had to buy something, anything as I have heard so many good things about this brand.

As I understand Lush makes and sells hand-made cosmetics but if you want to know a bit more about them as I could probably not tell you a whole deal, they do have a website - www.lush.co.uk

When I actually walked in to the Lush store the very first thing I noticed was the smell. It was an absolute overpowering experience - the amount of fragrances mixed in the air was something that would not be unnoticed by anyone. Whilst I am sure these all smell lovely in lesser amounts and in individuality, I did find it a bit too much because there were 10's of different fragrances all mixed together as all the products are stacked up without packaging.

The very strong fragrances didn't put me off though because I was simply intrigued by all these hand-made items. I had read about solid shampoos on DooYoo before and was quite interested in the concept of it. I have never imagined shampoo to come in any form other than the liquid form which I have used all my life. In the end I went for the 'Reincarnate' shampoo because I fell in love with the way it smelt.

'Reincarnate' cost me £3.70 for a block of shampoo weighing 108 g. Everything in the store was priced this way - you pay for the weight of the product you buy and everything costs a certain amount per kilo - a bit like fruit or veg for a certain price/weight. There were bigger blocks available but I went for this size which is a bit on the small size because it was the first time I'd be trying something by Lush and also because I did feel it was a little expensive.

So 'Reincarnate' contains henna and rhassoul mud which are supposed to add shine to your hair. The shampoo definitely does have a hint of henna smell to it, and the colours are quite dark I suppose of the combination of the two main ingredients. Apart from the henna smell I feel there is quite a rustic, musky smell to this, perhaps even with a hint of mintyness. It's quite hard to describe the smell any better but I did love it and the smell of it did actually sell the product to me.

To use the shampoo it's really quite simple. You wet you hair in the shower, and then rub the bar over your head until it gets lathery and then massage as you would do with a normal liquid shampoo. It actually lathers up very well, better than I thought it would. I think it lathers because some of the other ingredients in this solid shampoo are the same as what you would find in a regular liquid one. Anyway, upon lathering, I noticed that the lovely fragrance was released a little more which was lovely.

Now I usually condition after shampooing but after using Reincarnate I thought I'd leave the conditioning step out as I wanted to see the real effects of my new shampoo. Admittedly I did find my hair a little hard to handle after shampooing alone with Reincarnate - upon drying my hair also felt a little dry and unloved. My own fault though - the guy in the shop did say I would need conditioner afterwards but I didn't buy any. As far as I know there are Lush conditioners too, so might get one the next opportunity I have!

One thing I was quite curious about was whether the henna in the shampoo would change my hair colour. I have natural dark brown hair anyway and do not really want copper tones as I don't think they complement my complexion! However I cannot yet answer this as I have only used the shampoo twice since buying it, so I am thinking if it does colour my hair it will take more than two washes.

Right I think I've covered everything...therefore to summarise, I really quite like the idea of a solid shampoo. It sits quite easily on my bathroom shelf (although it does need to be in an open or closed container of some sort as it can get quite messy!) and smells lovely. And it cleans my hair which it is supposed to do!

Summary: Lovely shampoo