Lush Solid Shampoo Bars [4 reviews]

Before finding Lush, my favorite shampoo brand used to be Herbal Essences. It wasn't until I started using Lush's bath products that I discovered the solid shampoo bars. Before this discovery, I did not know that solid shampoo bars existed! See, when I examined these shampoo bars, I was wondering how would these tiny bars could last for months. They aren't cheap either! Meh, so I decided to pass since I still had bottles of unused shampoo at home, and let me tell you, bottled shampoo lasts a long long time.

Then came the discovery of the infamous shampoo that smelled like Butterball Bath Bomb. I love the smell of Butterball, and what's even better, a shampoo that would fragrance my hair this lovely sweet vanilla scent. Too bad this product is only available online as a Retro product. I don't know why they always discontinue the good stuff! So I ordered it online during one of the chat parties in May 2009. I couldn't wait for its arrival, and when it came, I sniffed it, and wow it smells almost exactly like Butterball! Oh, Gentle Lentil, where have you been all my life!

Lush says: "There's not a great deal to tell you about Gentle Lentil that isn't completely obvious from its name. It's gentle and we make it with lentils because that's what Indian women traditionally use to keep their long hair in good condition. Lentils are very rich in iron and protein. Great for fine hair, it's also very good for children because it's so mild. You can even use it to wash the dog because it's so much easier when you don't have to close a lid on a bottle."

My chunk of Gentle Lentil did not look like this picture. It was more round-shaped and a lighter color. It also had tiny pieces of brown stuff in it, which is probably the beans. I have really long, thin, fine hair and by Lush's description I thought this shampoo was perfect for me. The first time I used it, my hair got so much volume! I loved it! I kept the bar in a container, and after about two weeks use, with the heat and condensation of the bar inside the closed container, the solid bar turned into a mushy paste. This was even better because it was easier to use. I just took a dollop of it and spread it in my hair. I wash my hair every day because my hair usually gets oily by the next day already and I found that washing my hair every day with Gentle Lentil made my hair oiler. Probably because of all its moisturizing properties. Some people say that they don't have to use conditioner with Gentle Lentil because it's so moisturizing but I found that I still needed to. I would definitely buy this again, but I might need to alternate shampoos with this one because it made my hair too moisturized. However, for some people this may be a good thing. I was sad when I finished this bar.

After using Gentle Lentil I was intrigued into trying the shampoo bars from their regular line. With Lush's buy 2 shampoo bars, get 1 free shampoo bar tin offer, I had to buy 2, so I got Seanik and Godiva. I picked these two because 1) they smelled the best, and 2) I wanted volume in my hair and these two are notorious for giving volume.

Lush says that "Godiva's luscious blend of exotic oils and cocoa butter leaves tresses so beautifully conditioned, silk would be envious! Though the legendary beauty who rode naked through Coventry is the inspiration for this bar, please exercise restraint if you find yourself a bit carried away and tempted to give a similar performance. (Though, a naked horseback ride would be quite a novel and somewhat environmentally-friendly way to dry your hair...) Horse not included."

Godiva smells strongly of jasmine. It reminds me of these white flowers that used to be grown on the front yard of my old childhood house. The bar pretty much looks exactly as it does in the picture, with all the colorful chunks in there. There's also chunks of cocoa butter in there that surprisingly lathers too. I really wanted this to make my hair more volumized, but I found that Gentle Lentil volumized my hair more than Godiva did. Even though it smells lovely, the bar is used up pretty quickly. Luckily, the brown stuff inside this bar does not get stuck to my hair. Once I run out of shampoo again, I may try Godiva again.

As for Seanik, I got off to a rough start with it. Why? Because it got stuck in the shampoo bar tin! The darn shampoo tin was so hard to open too! Once I pryed open the tin, I found that the bottom of Seanik had melted and was stuck, so I had to use my finger and dig it out, while denting the bar in the process. Now Seanik became dark blue and gooey. Yuck. Besides that darn tin, I actually like Seanik. It didn't give me the big hair I wanted, but I still like it because it makes my hair look nice. Seanik smells a bit like coconut, with lime and sea salt. It also has pieces of seaweed in it, and be careful because they can end up in the corners of your tub, and when you find them you hope they're not some kind of bug, like I thought. Then I looked closely and saw that they were pieces of seaweed. After the shampoo tin nightmare, I stored this in an empty Dreamwash container, and it lasted pretty darn long. I just finished using up Seanik last week, and now that I am out of shampoo, I had to dig through my stash and look for that small sample of shampoo I received from the UK as I am waiting for a shampoo bar I just ordered from Tval.

Lush says: The excessive chamomile packed into The Blonde keeps natural blondes blonde naturally. It also makes bottle blondes feel like they grew it themselves. If you want everyone to say, "Wow, you've just gone blonde!" this is not for you. But if you want "I know I haven't seen you for a few months but wasn't your hair darker?" then buy a bar and wash daily. Chamomile flowers have many lovely properties and one is that it will slowly but surely lighten your hair.

Let me make one thing clear first: I am not blond. And guess what? I like The Blonde. I naturally have black hair, but it's dyed light brown. My hair has grown out a lot, so from my ear up, my hair is black and from my ear down, it's brown. I was a bit unsure whether I should use this shampoo bar or not. When I received it as a sample from my UK order, I protested by saying, "But I'm not blond!" Now that I'm out of shampoo and I finally took this sample out to use, I found that it makes my hair look and smell good. It actually smells like Big shampoo, but better. I've only used this for two days so far, and I'm not seeing my hair getting any lighter, but we'll see after I finish using this small piece, but I bet this small slice will last a long time. If I end up liking the results from this bar, I actually may buy it even though I'm not blond!