How Green are Lush products?

1jim

Hi All
My wife has been asking/nagging me to change all of our personal hygine products to more ethical/healthy alternatives, she has suggested Lush as a source of soaps/bathbombs/toothpaste/shampoo and shaving oil/cream etc, have had a quick look on their website and a lot of the products still seem to contain a whole range of ingredients with chemical sounding names. Can anyone tell me if generally the lush products/lush brand is more green/ethical/health than the traditional alternatives or is there another supplier that is generally regarded as better?
thanks
Jim

SaverSarah_2

Ooh, really good question! I saw a programme presented by Sarah Beeny the other day called How Toxic Are Your Kids and was shocked at all the chemicals in products from, for example, The Body Shop, who I've always thought were really natural/chemical free.

I'll keep an eye on this thread to see what you find out.

f1re_cr4cker

perhaps its worth taking a trip over to the lushforum on their website?

Gingham_Ribbon

I don't think either Lush or The Body Shop ever claimed to be chemical free. Lush say they don't test on animals and use organically grown natural products WITH 'safe synthetics' too. The Body Shop used to claim to be ethical but they're now linked to Nestle through a takeover by L'Oreal. But they use chemicals in their products. Lush don't test their products on animals. They have people who volunteer.

Gingham_Ribbon

http://www.lush.co.uk/LushLife/WeBelieve.aspx

Prudent

Gingham_Ribbon wrote: »

http://www.lush.co.uk/LushLife/WeBelieve.aspx

Goodness that writing is hard to read. :rolleyes: But thanks for the link .

miss_phish

It is a tough one but if you look at the ingredient list from a Lush product and then at a similar item from the supermarket the difference is huge.

The other option, if you have the time and the inclination is to make your own products, I make my own body oil, face oil, bath bombs, bath soak etc and I know exactly how good the ingredients are. There are plenty of books & websites on this subject, one of my favourites for sourcing ingredients is http://www.aromantic.co.uk/

PS I even tried to make my own lipsalve once (tinted with beetroot juice) but thats another story....!

morg_monster

I think you have to decide what part of the "green/ethical" thing you are most interested in. eg less packaging, fair trade or organic ingredients, UK-made, lack of "chemicals", etcetera etcetera.

For me, it is packaging. It bugs me that I can't buy shower gel - "natural" or not - that isn't in a smallish (250ml-500ml) plastic bottle. I use enough of it, it doesn't go off, why can't they sell it in a bigger bottle which I am sure would be more energy efficient? Anyway now I use lush soap and their solid shampoo bars, it comes just wrapped in a small square of paper which I can recycle. For me, that is great. I'm not bothered about the chemicals in my toiletries - and when I am it is more from the point of view of the impact they have on the earth rather than on my body - its the plastic bottles overflowing my recycling that bother me!

There aren't as many "chemicals " in Lush stuff as your average bottle of Boots shower gel, but also there are more than in the "natural" stuff you can buy. If you are bothered about these chemicals, then you can buy chemical-free stuff. But- they still come in the plastic bottles - that bugs me!!!
Also - a lot of the "chemical-free" stuff has exotic ingredients that are shipped to the UK from abroad, even if they final product is put together here. SO again, if you are worried about "soap-miles" (haha) then something from Boots made in Nottingham from UK-made chemicals and other bits and bobs might be better on your conscience. But if you it is important to you to give employment to the women in Togo who pick the whatnots that go in your body butter, maybe you're better off buying something with foreign ingredients.

There are so many things to think about aren't there!!! Why can't someone make a perfect product please that fulfills all the green/ethical criteria!

1jim

Thanks everyone for your input, there is so much to consider with all of this, it would be great if someone somewhere made a product that ticked all of the boxes, how hard can it be for Mr Lush to launch a product range of fairtrade/organic/chemical free hygine products..all supplied in very little or no packaging and made in the uk
After some thought...and a bit of nagging from the wife it seems that we are after products which are as "natural" as possible and contain no or very few chemicals, we dont really have that much time to make our own products with 2 little ones at home so if anyone can reccomend any soap/shampoo/shower gels and shaving products (gel/cream/oil etc) that meet this criteria it would be appreciated
thanks
jim

callansdad

This may help you http://www.akamuti.co.uk/

Pandora123_2

You are right to be concerned:

"Dependence on cosmetics and toiletries means that a cocktail of 4lb 6oz of chemicals a year is absorbed into the body through the skin.


"Some synthetic compounds involved have been linked to side effects ranging from skin irritation to premature ageing and cancer."

(Source: Telegraph)

Aubrey Organics have all-natural ingredients.* Unfortunately, they are expensive as they're imported from the US. I find the best price can usually be had by ordering from somewhere like iHerb and keeping the value under £17 (to avoid paying VAT) and the weight under 3 lbs (so it can be shipped by USPS and not courier). Because of the cost, I don't buy it that often. I have seen special offers here (eg buy-one-get-one-free) on Aubrey Organics that make it cheaper than ordering from abroad.

My usual shampoo and conditioner is Faith in Nature, which are UK-based. DH uses the conditioner as shaving cream. He says it works as well as shaving cream and much better than soap, though "it takes a little longer to rinse off than shaving cream".

For toothpaste, this is the one I use; again, much cheaper by ordering from abroad rather than here in rip-off Britain, though it is available in health shops here.

For soap, there is an olive oil based one that I buy at Holland & Barrett for 75p. A health shop I visited in Wales had big blocks of the same soap for around £1.50; great deal but I've not seen them elsewhere.

Hope that helps.

*eg. Aubrey Organics Rosa Mosqueta Hand & Body Lotion: Coconut fatty acid cream base, vegetable glycerin, sweet almond oil, organic aloe vera, linoleic acid (vitamin F), white camellia oil, organic sunflower oil, organic rosa mosqueta rose hip seed oil, organic jojoba oil, macadamia nut oil, St. John's Wort Oil, Rosewater, organic geranium oil, organic lavender oil, essential oil blend (lavender oil, essential oil blend (lavender oil, bergamot oil, ylang ylang), Aubrey's preservative (citrus seed extract), vitamins A, C and E).

:A