Lust After Lush: Liquefy Your Solid Conditioner

Hey all,

Have you all heard of Lush? It's a handmade cosmetics chain that make their products with organic and fresh fruits and vegetables, high quality essential oils, and safe synthetics. They use very little to no preservatives and packaging and always telling you exactly what is in each product and where it was made (and who made it!). All of their products are cruelty free and most are vegan. I am a big fan and my all-time favorite product is their Big shampoo. Now, I have lots and lots of thick hair, however it is very fine and oily. So even though this miraculous product is a "volumizing" shampoo, it works wonders on my hair. It makes it feel light, bouncy and smells ah-mazing!

I've used this product for years and have always followed it up with a generic conditioner (as I mentioned, dryness is not my problem). However, on a recent visit to my local Lush location, I noticed they had a Big conditioner! (Apparently it has been around for a while, but I usually just purchase my shampoo on their website, so I hadn't seen it) Their conditioner came as a solid, which I honestly, wasn't sure about. I had tried a solid shampoo in the past and I never felt that I was getting enough product for my hair. I also hated the way it melted in the shower and stuck to the metal tin I bought. You are supposed to keep those things out of the shower in between uses to dry, but who remembers to grab their shampoo from the linen closet each day for a shower?

Anyway, I decided to try this conditioner, as it was a different texture (smoother and more "gelatinous" I guess) and, I mean, it's Big. I placed it on my shower caddy, unwrapped and ready to go. While I enjoyed the texture of the bar, it melted ALL.OVER.THE.PLACE. It dripped down the caddy grates all over my other products. I was wasting my new conditioner chunks at a time! Plus, I found it difficult (though not as much as my prior experience with solid hair products) to use enough product. I love the idea of the limited packaging, but it was too difficult for me to use regularly.

Then, I had an idea.

Liquefy!

If you want to know how, check out the steps below (in pictures):

Boil some water. Not precise I know, but you will be adding the water to the conditioner, so there aren't exact measurements. How much water you need depends how much product you have, so err on the side of boiling more than you think you need.

Chop up your solid conditioner bar (see how floppy it is!)

Throw the pieces in a new pot or bowl (that can withstand boiling temperatures!).

Start pouring your boiling water and mixing. Don't dump it all in, just a little at a time while it starts to liquefy.

Mix and stir until smooth.

Once it's smooth, add to a container. Be careful because it's hot! I used an old Big shampoo pot.

This looks lumpy like tapioca pudding but it's not. The contents separate in the heating process, which results in this look. 

I labeled my new product using Washi tape reinforced with clear packing tape. This step is really only necessary if your pots look identical, but it's always fun to use fun printed tape :)

Tada!

Are you a Lush fan? What is your favorite product?