Had an interesting experience at Lush today...

[AshleyR]

I haven't really gone in Lush much before. The closest store is 4 hours away so I don't get to shop there very often! I do love how a lot of their stuff sounds, but never really bothered to purchase much due to the super high prices.

Anyway, I wandered in there today to sniff a few of the popular scents that people have been asking me to dupe. I learned a lot of things I didn't expect...

One of the sales reps was mumbling to her co-worker that she couldn't stand talking to people who had no idea what they were talking about (I guess the customer before me had frustrated her). When I told her I made soap, she immediately struck up a convo with me, because I "knew what I was talking about". Apparently a lot more than SHE knew what SHE was talking about. LOL. The girl didn't know what lye was! I noticed most (if not all?) of the soaps have SLS in them, and lanolin too! I asked her if she found that any customers objected to those ingredients in their "all natural soap" and she said no. Which brought me to asking her whether or not anyone questions the lye in the soap, and she looked at me with the most confused look and changed the subject. I thought it was funny! I really don't think she had any idea what lye was!

Anyway, Lush stuff is NOT all natural. One of the workers told me that they only use essential oils in their products. I said "Really? Wow, you get some really awesome scents using just EO's.... I thought some of them had to be fragranced!" and the lye-clueless girl piped in and said "Oh, we do use some fragrances, but we use the word "perfume" on our ingredient lists for everything scented with EO's and/or FO's, so there's no questions."

Hah! I was really amused with the conversation we had. Found out a lot of interesting things, and I caught the sales rep giving out misinformation a couple of times.

Oh - one of the sales reps also told me that even though there is SLS in almost everything "it is actually naturally derived, so it's not that bad." SLS is naturally derived? I'm no chemist, so maybe I'm missing something, but when I search up SLS it doesn't sound natural to me!

Anyway, just thought this was an interesting visit/conversation and had to share!

 

[Guest]

I had an almost identical conversation at LUSH, however I was told that of you look on the UK Lush site, there are videos (or maybe on youtube) that show how Lush products are made. One thing I've never notice is LUSH in any way implying they are all natural.

I do think they use a combo of cp and mp products. At one point someone said they were all mp, but i doubt it because I can almost duplicate the texture of most of their soaps by adding 1 tbs sls to my cp soaps

 

[Guest]

Lol that's funny Ashley , what would the difference be between "bad and not so bad".hmmm Poor clueless thang. Not her fault if they don't train people.

Kitn

 

[ChrissyB]

SLS is a natural derivative of coconut oil.

 

[AshleyR]

One thing I've never notice is LUSH in any way implying they are all natural.

I guess I just assumed they were. I have heard a lot of people (that don't work there) say and give off the impression that their products are all natural, so that's why I assumed I think! But - even the sales rep started off telling me "we only use essential oils" and then the other said they do use SOME fragrances, but call everything "perfume".

I dunno! I just didn't like it!

 

[AshleyR]

SLS is a natural derivative of coconut oil.

Thanks Chrissy! I've never used it and only did a couple of quick searches on it that told me it was a "detergent" and "surfactant".

 

[wonderland]

i contacted lush via email a while back asking if their soap was cp and was told they use m&p noodles as their soap base.

 

[ChrissyB]

Ash I wasn't trying to say that you had the wrong opinion of them, I knew that their soap was MP, and apparently people have had problems with their soaps going mouldy?
And just because sls can be made from coconut oil doesn't mean it's any less of a bad ingredient, I still don't like it.

 

[xraygrl]

Having worked at a Lush store and actually having used their stuff, I would have to say their soap is MP. I worked there for about 6 months...and this was after I had already been making soaps etc for several years.

The way they "teach" their employess about the products is a JOKE. Basically they teach them to spout off about a couple of "key ingredients" (which BTW are ususally way down on the list of ingred) in each product blah, blah. That's it. No REAL product knowledge training, they just want them to know what they want them to tell people and that's it. And they want their employees to be VERY AGGRESSIVE sales people, which has always been a turn off for me as a sales person and a customer.

Their big thing is "fresh handmade" . I really question their labeling etc as they don't list any kind of preservative on any of their lotions or creams. Don't get me wrong, I think they have some decent stuff, I just dont think they are completely on the level with their labeling practices.

 

[topcat]

Just my two cents worth.....the Lush store near me has BIG signs in their store and on the windows saying "all natural" and "as natural as skincare gets". Love some of the scents they have come up with. I go in there just to sniff! Imho their soap is about the same quality as supermarket brands with a few added lovely extras. It was Lush soap which inspired me to start making MP. Now I am onto CP and the sky is the limit

Tanya

 

[artisan soaps]

..

 

[kittywings]

I always thought lush was supposed to be all natural. I had never seen it until visiting Victoria B.C. on a cruise ship I was working on. One of the other singers bought some stuff from there and I remember him saying that we had to use it soon or else it would go bad because they didn't use preservatives. Recently, when I started making my own stuff I researched their ingredients and was VERY surprised![/i]

 

[SimplyE]

Never been there. Never heard of Lush until here. Apparently, I don't get out much. (I live in BFE).

My only comment is:

Kittywings, THAT is an amazing AVATAR! I LOVE your cat!!!!

 

[Guest]

safe?

Lush's Web site lists some of their ingredients as "safe synthetics" to explain what isn't considered perfectly natural.

This is from their Web site..:

[b]
The two preservatives we do use (methylparaben and propylparaben) are the safest, mildest ones we can find, and have been used in cosmetics and skin care for 60 years. Using more, or stronger, synthetics would mean compromising the benefits to your skin. We'd be more profitable if we preserved a product to last three years and warehoused the goods, but we think you deserve better.

If you look at a non-LUSH product and it doesn’t have a label showing when it was made, it could be anything up to 3 years old. We only sell our preserved products for up to 4 months after they’re made, and their total shelf life is 14 months. .[/b]

 

[Jeremy]

It`s either man made or nature made, either way it`s man processed.

 

[LJA]

Never been there. Never heard of Lush until here. Apparently, I don't get out much. (I live in BFE).

My only comment is:

Kittywings, THAT is an amazing AVATAR! I LOVE your cat!!!!

How much do I love that you used the "term" BFE?! lol.

 

[DelightSociety]

SLS is a natural derivative of coconut oil.

I thought SLSa was a natural product and SLS was the synthetic version?

Does that mean SLS is safe and I'm not wasting my money buying the SLSa?

 

[topcat]

SLS is a natural derivative of coconut oil.

I thought SLSa was a natural product and SLS was the synthetic version?

Does that mean SLS is safe and I'm not wasting my money buying the SLSa?

Quoted from wikipedia:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_dodecyl_sulfate

"Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) is synthesized by reacting lauryl alcohol with sulphuric acid to produce hydrogen lauryl sulfate which is then neutralized through the addition of sodium carbonate[6]. Lauryl alcohol is in turn usually derived from either coconut or palm kernel oil by esterification of their fatty acids followed by reduction of the acid group to an alcohol.

SLS can be converted by ethoxylation to sodium laureth sulfate (sodium lauryl ether sulfate; SLES), which is less harsh on the skin due to its polarity.[7]"

So it is a synthesized derivative....combined with sulphuric acid to create SLS and then can be converted to SLES.

Tanya

 

[DelightSociety]

SLS is a natural derivative of coconut oil.

I thought SLSa was a natural product and SLS was the synthetic version?

Does that mean SLS is safe and I'm not wasting my money buying the SLSa?

Quoted from wikipedia:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_dodecyl_sulfate

"Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) is synthesized by reacting lauryl alcohol with sulphuric acid to produce hydrogen lauryl sulfate which is then neutralized through the addition of sodium carbonate[6]. Lauryl alcohol is in turn usually derived from either coconut or palm kernel oil by esterification of their fatty acids followed by reduction of the acid group to an alcohol.

SLS can be converted by ethoxylation to sodium laureth sulfate (sodium lauryl ether sulfate; SLES), which is less harsh on the skin due to its polarity.[7]"

So it is a synthesized derivative....combined with sulphuric acid to create SLS and then can be converted to SLES.

Tanya

Whoa! Slow down egg head. What did you write? Talk to me like I'm a Lush customer

 

[kittywings]

Never been there. Never heard of Lush until here. Apparently, I don't get out much. (I live in BFE).

My only comment is:

Kittywings, THAT is an amazing AVATAR! I LOVE your cat!!!!

LOL! I wish I could claim credit for the picture, but I found it somewhere and loved the fat cat (I do have 3 of my own, but they're not as funny as that one)... but I WOULD like to make sure that people know that is NOT my bathroom... EEW! Sorry, if anyone's bathroom here looks like that... I don't want to offend). I CAN claim these pics though: (sorry to hijack the thread)