My LUSH Hits & Misses: The NEW Shampoo Bars

Happy (Makeup) Monday!  Recently, LUSH Cosmetics released 6 all-new shampoo bars, so I went down, bought four of the six, and tried them.  The shampoo bars, from left to right, are:

Top Row:  Jason and the Argan Oil, Copperhead, Honey I Washed My Hair

Bottom Row:  Lullaby, Brazilliant, Montalbano.  

Image courtesy of lush.com and swatchandreview.com

Shampoo Bars (new)	Hit	Okay	Miss
Brazilliant		x
Honey I Washed My Hair	x
Montalbano	x
Copperhead	x

Brazilliant

Brazilliant, prior to use, is strong of ylang-ylang with a hint of orange.  When I used it in the shower, I expected my bathroom to fill up with those scents, and yet it did not.  Once out of the shower, I normally use a leave-in conditioner, but I wanted to see how this shampoo bar acted on its own.  I carefully brushed through my hair and let it air dry.  Taking the towel off, there was no scent of oranges and just the tiniest hint of ylang-ylang, which didn’t last.  I was reading the comments, and other users had said the same thing.  Once my hair dried it was softer but dull.  I asked the opinion of my family, and they said the same thing.  After reading the reviews, I had expected quite a bit of shine, so I was disappointed.  Brazilliant is supposed to condition and shine up your ‘do, as well as, “…leave your hair with an intoxicating citrus scent” (lushusa.com, 2015).  It did condition, but did not provide shine.  Perhaps you will have different results.  If you are looking for a conditioning bar that doesn’t leave your hair scented, this may be for you.  I suppose it’s a good thing, too, if you use other perfumes/fragrances.  Mixing scents is not always a good thing.

Honey I Washed My Hair

Honey I Washed My Hair is loaded with one of my favorite scents!  It smells just like It’s Raining Men and Honey I Washed The Kids.  If you’re not using the shower gel or soap as shampoo, this will complete your set.  This bar is supposed to be moisturizing as it contains a ton of real, fair trade honey (it’s the second ingredient on the list!).  The first thing I noticed was my hair’s texture in the shower and after rinsing.  It was significantly less stringy.  My hair was also far more perfumed, which isn’t saying much.  I have used the It’s Raining Men shower gel as a shampoo.  If you’re looking for perfumed hair that is the way to go.  I was able to brush through my hair easier with the use of this bar over the others, and I noticed a good amount of shine.  The shine was comparable to Montalbano.    

Montalbano

As we all know, lemons are amazing.  They are good for us on the inside as well as the outside.  Montalbano contains a lot of lemon:  juice, peel, peel powder, and oil, along with other ingredients such as green olives and popping candy.  Yes, popping candy (anyone up for some Pop Rocks?)!  It smells just like, the now discontinued, Lemslip with a hint of gardenia.  Montalbano should clarify and add shine and simultaneously soothe irritated scalps (lushusa.com, 2015).  I found Montalbano to lather just as well as the others.  At first, it filled my senses with lemon and a hint of custard, but the scent did not linger for long.  Like the other shampoo bars, once my hair dried, it smelled like absolutely nothing.  My hair, once it dried, was soft and shiny, more so than after using the others.   

Copperhead

I used to love Reincarnate, which has been discontinued, because it brought out all of the tones in my hair.  My hair is a light-medium brown with red and gold natural highlights.  These highlights are more pronounced when I spend a day in the sun, and it lightens up.  Since I don’t like being in the sun, I bought this.  It has one of the worst scents, but as others have commented, it does not last and doesn’t attach to hair.  It smells of henna, earthy cologne, and a hint of coffee.  My gripe is that this bar is so much more fragile than the others.  After swirling Copperhead around my hair, I put the bar down, and noticed a considerable amount of bar particles in my hand.  This makes me think that the bar will not yield 80 washes.  If you store it in a tin, definitely wait for it to dry completely, or it will fall apart.  Copperhead is supposed to be great for color treated hair since it contains red henna (lushusa.com, 2015).  It is also supposed to condition and provide loads of shine, without adding color; the henna will not alter your hair color, treated or otherwise (lushusa.com, 2015).  Now, on to my results:  My hair had a bit more shine than with Brazilliant.  I think it may take some time before I really start to see results from the henna.  Out of the four, this has (ironically) been my favorite thus far, simply because of the results. 

Overall Impressions

The new shampoo bars are fun to try out if you are into changing up your routine.  They may not have perfumed my hair, but there were definitely some hits.  Effectiveness trumps the fragrance part, and I am excited to see how these bars work over time.  Since I can have a problematic scalp, especially when the weather changes, it is important to note that I always used a Selsun Blue equivalent on my scalp.  I rinsed that off thoroughly and then applied the shampoo bar all over.  My hair is over 12 inches long, and it literally only took THREE swirls for a great lather on all of the shampoo bars.  I also love the fact that they are travel-friendly, and won’t take up space in my liquids bag.  Admittedly, I did not purchase Lullaby, which smelled of fresh lavender, nor did I purchase Jason and the Argan Oil, simply because (1) it was out of stock and (2) I don’t care for the Rose Jam scent…or anything like it for that matter.  Should you purchase the shampoo bar tins, you ought to know that (1) they may not fit perfectly because of the compressing process and (2) the shampoo bar is likely to stick after you put it in.  I recommend letting the bar dry, otherwise you might end up with a gooey mess.  The bar might stick, and it can be hell trying to pry it out. 

Have you tried any?  If you have, I would love to know which bar is your favorite go-to.

Stay beautiful! 

Reference

Lushusa.com.  (2015).  Shampoo bars.  Retrieved from http://www.lushusa.com/Shampoo-Bars/shampoo-bars,en_US,sc.html