Review: Lush Hair Doctor

I've made no secret of my love for Lush of late, and the more products I try, the more in love with Lush I become!

Haircare is always something I have been a bit lazy about - generally I just shampoo my hair, rough dry it and let it do it's own (crazy) thing - but recently i've made a resolution to be kinder to my tresses and hopefully make it look a bit healthier!

My scalp has been particularly dry and itchy, and therefore the idea of putting something heavily based with chemicals did not seem like a good idea at all, hence why the preservative-free hair masks offered by Lush appealed.

Hair Doctor (£6.75 for 95g both online and instore) is a preservative free pre-shampoo hair and scalp treatment based on seaweeds and muds (but includes tons of other yummy ingredients such as coconut oil, jojoba oil and peppermint) to sooth the scalp and condition, strengthen and moisturise the hair.

Key ingedients as highlighted on the Lush website are red henna and rosemary absolute to add shine, fullers earth (basically Bentonite Clay which contains a load of essential healing minerals and is very efficient at drawing oils and toxins from the skin/scalp) to absorb grease, and peppermint to stimulate blood flow (and make it smell immense!)

 If like me you are curious as to what the chemical-sounding ingredients are (in italics), Cetrimonium Bromide is a compound capable of being absorbed by the hair cortex and also works as an anti-septic, Propylene Glycol is a chemical made by reaction of propylene oxide with water and acts as an emulsifier, and Glyceryl Stearate is an ester of stearoc acid and glycerin, used as humectant (moisture retainer), skin conditioner, and moisturizer.

As there is no preservatives in Hair Doctor, it has a use-by date and needs to be kept in the fridge otherwise it is in danger of going off (just treat like a dairy product!).

It is an incredibly thick, almost paste-like mask (actually not dissimilar to Playdoh!), that is very muddy (unsurprisingly) in texture, and doesn't look the most appealing colour wise, but it definitely smells amazing: largely minty, with traces of herbs and 'earthy'-ness!

The girl in the shop advised me to use the entire tub's worth of product on my head (I had thought I could get away with two uses, even with my amount of hair!), which I did.

You apply to dry hair, which took me a good 10 minutes or so to do given that you use from cold and so it is more solid than you would expect - I think there must be a technique to putting it on! - massage it in then leave for around 20 minutes.

Your hair definitely feels very 'heavy' with it on, and as it dries you do look like you've been mud wrestling or something, but the amazing tingle on your scalp tells you it's working, and it leaves your hair smelling amazing for literally days afterwords.

I did worry that washing Hair Doctor out my hair could be a nightmare given how thick it is (both the treatment and my hair!), but it actually washes out really easily - although I would advise you spend an extra few minutes rinsing then deeply shampooing your hair to be on the safe side.

To be honest I don't think it makes my hair particualrly soft, but it makes it shinier, and definitely soothes my scalp, as well as giving your hair that deep-down clean feeling.

A few people online have complained that the scalp tingle is more like scalp fire with this and HATE it, but I personally love it (it must depend on scalp sensitivity).

I've since used another tub of this up, and think I will use it as a monthly treat for my hair and scalp.

Do you use any hair/scalp treatments?