Review: LUSH Caca Rouge Henna Hair Colour

It has officially been four months since I dyed my hair using Caca Rouge henna from LUSH, so it's about time I wrote up a full review on my findings and my whole experience with hennaed hair.

The instructions that came with the henna indicated to use a 'bain-marie' to melt the henna in. Now we had no idea what this was, so we instead used a pan of boiling water with a separate dish balanced over it. I put the henna block into a carrier bag and hit it with a hammer until it was in as small pieces as possible (powder is usually desired, but LUSH henna is far too bulky for that) then slowly added pieces to the bowl and kept stirring. We had to keep boiling the kettle and pouring more water into the bowl as our home-made henna pan wasn't working as well as it could have, but before long we had a lovely cowpat cooking nicely in the kitchen



As you can see from the above photo, it looked like a bowl of poo, and it smelled just as bad. It wasn't a horribly unpleasant smell (nowhere near as offensive as hair colour stripper) and I did eventually get used to the tea-leaves-and-wet-moss smell it gave off, but it gave me an awful headache for the first hour as it's just so incredibly strong.

One thing that the other reviews don't mention is just how heavy it is. the henna started to set almost as soon as it was applied, and it felt wet concrete caked into my hair. As it dried it became heavier still, and it really weighed my head down when my hair was piled up.

I sat in the bath watching films for a couple of hours, as when using henna it's best to keep it as warm as possible, then very carefully moved myself into my bedroom to spent the following hours reading and watching television. Even though I had wrapped my hair in a carrier bag, pieces of henna still flaked away and made a mess on the bathroom rug when I trod on them. It was overall a very messy process!

I was really worried that the henna would badly clog our old plumbing system when I rinsed my hair out, but it's been four months now and my dad has only bitched at me once regarding hairballs in the pipes.

4 Reasons Why Blogging May Be Causing Your Anxiety

If you suffer with anxiety, you'll know it's a horrible feeling. I'm in no way trying to invalidate anyone by saying that blogging is the root cause of all anxiety, but if you're already pre-disposed to feeling this way, blogging can often contribute to feeling worse.

Blogging can be a rewarding hobby, and in some cases the sole source of income for full-time bloggers, but it's not without it's negatives. I recently got thinking about how blogging can actually be a huge cause of anxiety, and the reasons why, and it just blossomed into this post.

Here's 4 reasons why blogging may be causing your anxiety.

'The Fear' (Of Not Being Good Enough)

@BeautyByTheBun mentioned this recently when she tweeted about 'the fear' she felt when she uploaded a new profile picture, and I knew exactly what she meant.

Anyone else get the fear when they change their profile pic?

— Beauty By The Bunny (@beautybythebun)

For us bloggers that don't feel photo-ready at any time of the day and can't afford professional shoots, uploading photos of ourselves really can cause a lot of anxiety. What if nobody likes it? What if I lose followers after posting it?

It's so easy just to stay comfortably behind the camera, uploading gorgeous flatlays and product pictures, but with the current trend of photo shoots growing more each day I often find myself feeling trapped. I really, really want to join in, but as I just feel so anxious posing and having photos taken, I feel like my photos will never be good enough.

Wanting To Fit In, But Still Stand Out

Since starting my new Instagram account, I've discovered loads of incredibly gorgeous accounts that I hadn't come across before. Emily from @AWhimsicalRose, Jordan at @HelloMissJordan and Freya with @FreyasFairytale are a few that instantly spring to mind.

Their feeds are so stunningly beautiful and we have so much in common that I desperately want to be friends with them, even be them, and it's a delicate balancing act between posting photos that mimic their loveliness, whilst staying true to my own style.

Spending hours carefully curating an Instagram feed can really take it's toll, especially when you fall into the trap of using apps such an UNUM to plan your feed in advance. It's important for it to flow, and look effortless, whilst still being perfectly arranged, and it can cause a huge amount of unnecessary anxiety.

The Threat Of Being Called Out

The current situation of the 'blogosphere' means that you genuinely can't say or do anything without someone finding a way to make you look like an awful person. Share something that you found funny, but others didn't? You're a horrible person. Tweet something unsavoury when you're mad or upset? Everyone hates you.

I don't quite understand why this culture of 'calling out' others began, but it seems like quite a cut-throat way to get ahead and play a part in the downfall of others. I've been on both ends of this multiple times, and it's not a pleasant experience for anyone.

Which leads to the anxiety. Should you tweet that? Shouldn't you? Can you really trust that the person you're talking to isn't going to screenshot each message and out you to the world? Is that blogger really trying to be your friend, or are they just trying to get the next piece of gossip before it goes public.

The Pressure To Post Quality Content Constantly

When I first started blogging, I thought it was the end of the world if I didn't post every single day. I would stay up late at night, and wake up in a panic in the mornings if I didn't have a post planned and written for the next day. And it couldn't just be any post, it had to be a well-written piece with good quality images, that provoked discussion in the comments. It was exhausting.

I'd find myself taking my laptop to work and spending my dinner half-hour trying to type as fast as I could, feverishly messaging other bloggers asking if I could temporarily use their photos as I hadn't had a chance to take mine yet. It was as if I was constantly working to a 24 hour deadline that I'd set myself.

I know a lot of others struggle with this too, sending out tweets apologising that the day's post was up late, or that they haven't finished editing their most recent video.


As I mentioned at the start, blogging is incredibly rewarding, but also a lot of pressure sometimes! Maybe you'd never even thought about it until now, but if after reading this post you're thinking "this is me", then it may be time to take a rest and change your blogging habits.

What do you think?

Does blogging contribute to your anxiety?

Why Everyone Should Be Talking About Fracking

This past weekend, the LUSH store in Meadowhall managed to raise a massive £200 from the sales of their gorgeous Charity Pot hand and body lotion, with 100% of the proceeds going towards a frack-free future.

This feat was achieved with the help of the Misson Springs Protection Camp, an anti-fracking group set up to protest against fracking within my home county of Nottinghamshire.

Anti-fracking is a big thing in my house, with my dad regularly going along to protests, meetings and demonstrations, so it's often a topic of discussion at the dinner table.

I can sense my fellow bloggers reading this are feeling a bit confused about the purpose of this post, so here's exactly why everyone should be talking about fracking.

Firstly, what is fracking?

Fracking is a new, more extreme form of fossil fuel exploitation, targeting much less permeable rock formations than previous conventional oil and gas extraction.

- Frack Off

In it's simplest form, fracking is the process of drilling deep underground, before water, sand and chemicals are injected into the rock at high pressure. The purpose of fracking is to extract oil and natural gas in order to use as sources of 'energy' (it's like year 7 science all over again!)

But... this isn't a beauty 'thing', so why am I writing about it? Well, that takes me to my next point.

How does it effect me?

It is well documented in over 1200 peer supported reports that fracking is
experimental and creates health risks such as cancer, respiratory disease, still births and miscarriages. Nobody knows how it will continue to effect our health or our planet in the long run, however proven links have already been found between fracking and earthquakes.

There is also the huge risk to our water. The fracking process involves potentially toxic chemicals at almost every stage. If things go wrong on the drilling site (or in transit) then contaminated water from fracking could spread into the environment, polluting ecosystems, and even end up back in our own water supply.

Call me cynical, but speaking as a beauty blogger I feel polluted water would totally wreck our carefully curated skincare routines. Can you imagine anything worse than washing your face in water containing chemicals including hydrochloric acid, chloride, and even traces of lead?

Who else is talking about it?

In short, not as many people as there should be, however I have noticed references to anti-fracking sneaking into pop culture recently. 

A main story arc in the second series of Santa Clarita Diet (released on Netflix this past March) revolved around the teen characters fighting against a fracking site which has been erected in their town. A pretty poignant storyline for a show based around Drew Barrymore becoming a zombie.

As mentioned at the start of this post, a huge supporter of anti-fracking is LUSH.
They have some great articles about it on their website, with a few of my favourites being Anti-fracking Nanas warn, “The oven gloves are off!” and Campaigners get on their bikes to break the fracking cycle. They're incredibly interesting articles that are well worth a read.

If this post has intrigued you, I would highly recommend reading more into the dangers of fracking, and searching Facebook for your local Anti Fracking groups to join the fight.

What causes do you support?