How can they do this?

[samirish]

So after my recent trip to Lush, I am now looking at all their other products besides soap.

I was looking at their "Fresh Face Masks" they advertise as having "garlic, tea tree, fresh green grapes and eggs".

Here is the ingredient list:

kaolien, grape, egg, honey, corn seed flour, glycerin, garlic, tea tree oil, limonene, fragrance

I dont see a preservative in there. Am I missing it? If not, how can they do this and not have the grapes and egg go bad?

 

[lsg]

My guess is that they use powdered eggs and that they are not being truthful about the preservative. Is the product supposed to be refrigerated? What shelf life is listed on the product?

 

[samirish]

I went to the lush site and read more about the face masks...your right lsg, they need to be refrigerated at all times. It didn't mention anything about that in the handout they gave me but it does say that on their web site.

mystery solved!

Thanks

 

[lsg]

I wouldn't want to keep them over a week after opened, even if refrigerated unless you added a preservative yourself.

 

[bodhi]

I dont think they are quite honest either but that seemed so bizarre I had to look at their site. This is the one i looked at: http://www.lushusa.com/Ayesha/06090,en_US,pd.html?start=1&cgid=fresh-face-masks This might be a typo on their part, but under quantitative ingredients, the asparagus, kiwi, elderflower vinegar, and a couple others are all listed in black!

Per their descriptive key, Black ingredients = Safe synthetics :-?

 

[mgelsimino]

I'm not surprised. Lush also tries to pass off their shampoo bars as actual soap, when in reality, they're just solid bottled shampoo with sulfate and cones and all the things people who want to use shampoo bars are trying to avoid.


Sent from my iPad using Soap Making

 

[Lindy]

They sometimes hide their preservatives under fragrance

 

[Triquetra]

I know that if a product doesnt have water in it, that oils can take 3 to 12 months to spoil - so if you add Vitamin E T50 or another natural oil (rosemary, etc) it slows the oxidize time down. BUT if Lush is not using a perservative, once you open that bottle its going to go down hill quickly for that product.

I guess I dont understand - either they aren't listing the full set of ingredients or they aren't really using something to protect the product and the customer?

 

[100%Natural]

I was in a Lush over the weekend and gave them a run for their money with questions and they were not at all impressed with me...lol. All of their products that I looked at had parabens listed. Can someone tell me how a paraben is considered safe? I asked the guy if their products are so fresh then why do they need parabens at all? No answer to that one.

They also went on to tell me that they put SLS in products because that's what their customers want. I'm thinking to myself they want SLS in their products because they have NO idea how nasty that stuff is. What if they educated their customers on the choices they're making instead of pushing chemicals on them? Again, no answer.

Another point was made about the 'fragrance' listing on their products. The guy said that they quite often use 'fragrance' to protect their EO blends. I laughed in his face and said any company that is actually usually EO's will put it on the label, not hide it.

The conversation went on for quite some time and then one of the girls snapped at me and asked what chemical is it that I'm trying to avoid. My answer - ALL OF THEM! Well, that didn't go over well at all and she huffed off..lol.

 

[dagmar88]

I was in a Lush over the weekend and gave them a run for their money with questions and they were not at all impressed with me...lol. All of their products that I looked at had parabens listed. Can someone tell me how a paraben is considered safe? I asked the guy if their products are so fresh then why do they need parabens at all? No answer to that one.

The products are not produced, transported and sold on the same they, so they do need a broad spectrum preservative. Even if they where, I wouldn't be comfortable using them.
So far, there is no scientific evidence proving parabens aren't safe.
Preserving with parabens is, according to safety assessments, far safer than using no preservative at all.

There's an alarming number of posts concerning 'fresh' masks that have spoiled way before the expiration date (sometimes even before the first use/opening of the product) and fresh farmacy growing mold.

 

[JaimeM]

I used to work for a soap company that was started by one of the founders of Lush to be a direct competitor with them. Our store looked the same, the packaging and labeling was the same, and we sold very similar products.
We sold fresh facial masks in our store too. No preservatives. We made them twice a week, and kept them refrigerated or on ice in the store.
I don't know for sure, but it's likely the masks are made in the stores at Lush as well.