You may have encountered Lush’s products at your local shopping mall. The fresh, sweet aroma tempts you to enter the shop, and friendly sales staff members help you to find items you like. Prices are reasonable, and the selection is awesome. 80 percent of the line is vegan. Everything is cruelty-free and vegetarian. Except for twelve items, which contain lanolin, such as their Curly Wurly Shampoo and Hair Custard Hair Dressing.
Wait, what?
If you’re unfamiliar with the process involved with lanolin extraction, you may be tempted to think this is no big deal. Lanolin is a wool byproduct. It is often harvested via a painful process known as mulesing, which involves the shearing of wool from the sheep’s buttocks. Often, skin is removed in the process, and tissue grows in its place. The tissue can attract flies, so the sheep continues to live in discomfort long after its wool is gone.
There are alternative methods of wool harvesting that don’t involve mulesing, but these procedures are not as commonly used. It’s impossible to know whether Lush gets its wool from places that use humane shearing methods. Also, there are vegan alternatives to lanolin, such as shea butter and rice bran oil. These substances have the same moisturizing properties, and don’t harm animals. So why does Lush insist upon hanging on to twelve products that contain lanolin? This is a mystery to us. We can only hope they change their minds.
That said, we’re unabashed fans of Lush’s many vegan products, which you can purchase from their stand-alone stores or from their website, www.lushusa.com. We’ve been enjoying their Veganese Conditioner ($9.95 for 3.3 ounces) for the past week, and couldn’t be more pleased with the results! The product manages to be both creamy and light at the same time, and our hair feels silky smooth for hours after we’ve used it. It’s great for fine-haired folk. You’ll love the combination of vitamin C-rich lemon juice, rosemary, and agar agar gel.
If you need a good exfoliating scrub, try the Magic Crystals Peppermint Potion ($17.95). This vegan product smells wonderful and will make your skin tingle! We’re delighted by its bewitching combination of sea and Epsom salts, peppermint, rosemary and sage! These salts ease tired muscles as they scrub away impurities from your skin. The peppermint scent is invigorating, and will linger in your nostrils long after your shower is over.
None of Lush’s products are tested on animals. In fact, Lush has fought against animal testing for years. So why the lanolin-based items? We love Lush’s many vegan (and vegetarian) offerings, and appreciate the fact that they’re fresh, handmade and mostly organic. We just wish they’d ditch that lanolin, and soon!
The bottom line is that Lush is an all-vegetarian company, and mostly vegan, and as they claim to be cruelty-free, we can hope that they only get their lanolin from humane shearing sources, but we have no real way of knowing.
