Review: LUSH Angel Hair Shampoo Bar

Angel Hair is one of six solid shampoo bars invented for the October 2018 Lush Labs release. Described as being 'angelically gentle', I was intrigued to try this one out on my newly-bleached locks, and popped one in for myself when I placed a group order for my work.

I’ve always been interested in using the solid haircare products, however after accidentally melting my Jason and The Argan Oil, falling in love with Wash Behind Your Ears only to see it never return again, and having a disastrous experience with Big conditioner, I’d pretty much decided that bottled was the way forwards.

Flash forwards to last month’s Lush Labs release, where we were all surprised with the decision to release solid shampoo bars (instead of the perfumes we’d been hoping for, or the hair marshmallows we’d been expecting.) Each of the shampoo bars had been meticulously designed to cater for six different hair types, including bald or super short hair, and included a huge range of different ingredients.

The main ingredients in the Angel Hair shampoo bar consist of Rose Water, Ylang Ylang oil, Witch Hazel, Aquafaba. Despite not sharing many of the same ingredients except for Ylang Ylang oil and ‘Synthetic Musk’ (whatever that is), I am absolutely convinced that Angel Hair is Butterball scented. Even though it doesn’t actually contain any Cocoa Butter, the dusty chocolate scent of this shampoo bar completely hides any traces of Rose Water or Witch Hazel.

An interesting development in the October Lush Labs batch of solid shampoo bars is that they contain Sodium Coco Sulphate (SCS) as the foaming agent, as opposed to Sodium Laurel Sulphate (SLS). A lot of people are choosing to avoid SLS and have been questioning LUSH’s continued use of it in their products, so I love that LUSH has listened to our concerns and made the decision to trial alternatives instead.

Despite not using SLS, the Angel Hair shampoo bar foams up beautifully, resulting in a soft lather that gently cleanses the hair. This is not a shampoo bar that leaves hair squeaky clean, but rather a gentle removal of built up dirt and oils on the hair.

This kind of cleansing effect is exactly what I was looking for when choosing a new shampoo. As much as I adore the scent of Big and the weightless feeling it gives my thick hair, it does strip my hair of colour incredibly fast and leaves it feeling dry on the ends (which is often over—corrected with really greasy roots.)

After using Angel Hair a few times, I'm very pleased to report that my hair looks and feels absolutely fabulous. It's very soft and lightweight, without being static or flyaway. The gentle cleansing has worked wonders for my oily roots, as my scalp is no longer needing to over-compensate for dryness by producing excess oils. The ends of my hair feel conditioned and hydrated, no longer brittle and dry.

I've been teaming Angel Hair shampoo bar with my main babe American Cream conditioner and they are literally a match made in heaven. My hair smells and feels incredible, very silky and soft to the touch, even after being bleached and chemically coloured for the first time in just under 12 months.

I genuinely can’t think of many negatives when it comes to Angel Hair shampoo bar, with my only minor irritants being purely cosmetic. Firstly, the sprig of… lavender? or whatever it is either gets crushed and falls off during shipping, or gets stuck in my hair if I use it the wrong-side down. Secondly, this shampoo bar is bright pink, and when wet can slightly stain the edges of sinks and bath tubs.

I think Angel Hair shampoo bar would work amazingly on almost every hair type, but especially so if your hair is in need of a little extra love and gentle treatment. If this shampoo bar could speak, it would whisper.

Did you try any of the Lush Labs shampoo bars?