The Big solid naked conditioner bar is available in-store at Lush or online here!
This is the second conditioner bar from Lush that I've tried. You can find my first review of the Lush American cream conditioner bar here.
Big is the cheapest solid conditioner bar from Lush, but not by much (only 50p). I was advised to try Big by an ex-Lush employee after telling them about my experience with the American cream bar. My issue with American cream was mainly that it didn't lather. To get the bar to work how I like I had to melt the bar down into a liquid with oil and water. I did run into the same problem with the Big solid conditioner bar, which I was kind of expecting. Although it definitely did come off the bar better than American cream, using it straight from the bar still didn't coat my hair in conditioner as much usually like. However, I think I have now mastered the best way to turn this conditioner bars into a liquid conditioner.
I used an empty plastic pot I have kept from a Morrocan Oil hair mask. I chop the conditioner bar up into the pot and then fill it with boiling water, so it is about three-quarters full. Then, add a couple of teaspoons of coconut oil, this can be as much or as little as you like really. Mix it all together and then microwaved it in 10 second periods until it has melted into one smooth consistency.
I think having my previous experience with the American Cream solid conditioner bar maybe made me have a more positive view of this one. I knew in advance that I might have to do a bit of DIY with it. This made it less of a hassle as I already knew what I needed to do. I do think this bar is definitely the best one out of the two that I've tried so far. It is cheaper, and I just prefer the results for my hair. It is supposed to produce "beachy waves" and "volume", this I'm not so convinced about. Still, it definitely felt more conditioned that it did with the previous bar.
Another good thing about this bar is it works with the Shrine - drop it hair dyes, for anyone interested. In all fairness, I didn't try the American cream bar with the hair dye, but I assume all the Lush bars would work if this one did? (EDIT: I tried the Lush golden cap solid conditioner bar with the drop it hair dyes and it works also!) I was worried that because the bar is coloured that it might affect the hair dye and change the colour of it. In some ways, I can see how this is stupid now. Although the mixture may not look like the colour you are dying your hair, the hair will still dye the colour you intended. In my case, the dye mixture was purple, because of the pink hair dye mixed with the blue conditioner bar, but the dye still came out pink.
As the second conditioner I've tried on my plastic-free journey, in some ways it was an improvement but I still don't believe that this is the best I will be able to find. Overall, I'd give this 3/5 stars. I liked it once I turned it into its liquid form, and it worked with my hair dye drops. I think if you ran out of conditioner suddenly and were able to get this quickly, it would work, but I wouldn't settle on this permanently as my go-to! I'd give this a mid-range price rating, at £8.50 it is not super affordable but its also not a luxury product. I don't think I'd recommend this for people with really damaged or bleached hair (me) as its just not nourishing enough in my opinion. However, I would gift this to my mum or boyfriend who don't bleach their hair, both have short hair and don't use lots of conditioner. Anyway, I think I can find better yet.
If anyone has any other suggestions of vegan conditioner bars or plastic-free conditioner for me to try and review, please do let me know and message me on Instagram!
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