Serpentine Hair for grate yay! and Lush...not so much.

My big discovery lately, body product wise, has been Serpentine Hair. I've been intrigued by the idea of sulfate free shampoos for a while. The sulfates (both sodium lauryl sulfate, or SLS, and ammonium lauryl sulfate) are put in shampoos to create lather because somewhere along the line, people became convinced that shampoo had to lather up big to get your hair clean. The problem is that in addition to getting rid of dirt, shampoo with sulfates strips your hair of all of its oil, which you then have to turn around and replace in the form of a conditioner.

Thanks to the evil_enabler community on LJ, I read about Serpentine and checked them out. Their shampoo bars are free of all sulfates and are similar to plain cold processed soap (made with lye and oils). They're pretty, they come in cool scents and they're reasonably priced, so I bought an Original Sin (bergamot, neroli, vanilla and a little musk) bar to try.

When I first used it, I wasn't sure it was really getting my hair clean. I thought it might be some residue, something they warn can happen, and used a vinegar/water solution to deal with it. My hair felt clean but it was also a little streaky, like it had too much oil in it. And then I got my hair cut and since my hair was so short, I switched over from using the bath puff method and just rubbed the bar right on my hair a couple times before working the resulting lather into my hair. And it works fabulously! I do it once per shower, not twice like you're supposed to with conventional shampoo, and I don't use conditioner at all. The bar is nice and hard, and because I use a wire soap dish and set it right next to the window in the sun, I'm losing very little of the bar to melting.

The whole experiment makes me happy for several reasons. One, fewer chemicals. Two, much less packaging--the bar comes wrapped in a single layer of shrink wrap as opposed to two plastic bottles. Three, I won't really know until I use the whole bar, but I suspect it's cheaper than the relatively inexpensive Clairol I was using. Four, it smells utterly fabulous--not enough to clash with my perfume, but just a little hint of yummy smell. Five, I'm patronizing a small, woman-owned business. Six, shorter showers mean using less water.

Seven, my hair feels and looks fantastic--soft and silky and shiney and much less frizzy than it was.

So yeah, this stuff is pure win all the way. The only people who might have problems with it are people with really oily hair, although I suspect that the vinegar/water rinse (a couple of tablespoons of vinegar for each cup of water; use lemon juice if you're a blonde of any sort) would help there.

Moving onto a company I'm less impressed with...Lush.

I know that a lot of people think of Lush as the second coming, and I'll admit that I like their style. They appeal to the hippie chick in me. The problem is...I'm not wild about the way their stuff smells.

My second Lush order arrived yesterday. It was just the large size tub of Ocean Salt this time, but with it I got two tiny samples of their "buttercream," a somewhat oiler than normal soap, that's supposed to be great on your skin. Both scents--one almond/citrus and one violets/clove-- should have been right up my alley, but they smell oddly chemically and to be honest, kinda gross.

I actually don't like the smell of the Ocean Salt much, although Nancy does. However, I'm willing to forgive a lot because it really is fabulous on my skin; my face has felt so much better lately. I use it about every other day; it's a little too rough to use daily.

I kind of liked the Sexy Peel soap I ordered from Lush last month, but it wasn't the best thing ever and at $5.40 for a 3.5 oz chunk, it just didn't cut it. If I want to spend that kind of money on soap, I'll patronize Villainess or Magic Hands or Arcana or one of the other small businesses whose products can be found at The Soap Box company. Or I'll just stick to my very nice oatmeal and almond bar that I pick up from the Natural Foods Co-Op for $2.50 a bar.

Perfume/Bath & Body Product Reviews -- Blooddrop & Lush

Blooddrop Clothing & Fineries -- Astrid is a corset maker and perfumer who looks to be very talented at both. I can't actually afford to pick up a corset from her, but I've purchased perfume and bath products from her and I will certainly purchase more.

Gel Moussant and Lotion de Soja in Delicieuse -- Thick and sultry honey and vanilla with a sassy kiss of peppermint.

I tired the Gel Moussant and it's lovely. It lathered up nicely on the bath pouf and smelled heavenly, like a candy cane dipped in honey. I'd picked that scent because I figured I could layer it with the lotion and then with either BPAL's Lick It or Possets' The Girls Love Vanilla.

Sadly, the lotion was a problem. I liked the lightness of it; my skin isn't really all that dry and so lighter lotions work perfectly well on me. This one sank in and left me feeling smooth but not greasy, unlike some of the butters I've tried. The problem was the scent and it's a me thing: sometimes vanillas smell like burned plastic on me and sometimes they don't. It's a little strange that this works in the bath gel and not in the lotion, but body chemistry is a weird thing.

Perfume Oil Blends

The (un)Poisoned Tea Cup -- Spring 08 LE -- Fortunately for the drinker, this cup of pomegranate black tea was left unscathed. This one is exactly as advertised, down to the faint tannin/bitter note of the black tea. The pomegranate is just the way it would be in a tea blend; it's not like sweetened juice or pomegranate syrup has been added to the tea. It does sweeten up a tad but never gets really sweet the way BPAL's Swank and Fruit of Paradise get. Sadly the tea eventually fades, as all tea notes do on me, but since it hung in there for about a half hour, I'm actually pretty impressed. I'm ordering more of this and some of the bath gel and maybe some lotion in the same scent.

L’Shana Tova -- General Catalog -- May you have a sweet new year! Apples and honey. At first something went really plastic on me with this one and I almost went and scrubbed it off. But then, someone was being wrong on the internet and after about ten minutes spent informing them of how wrong they were, I sniffed my wrist again and it smelled lovely, all sweet and appley (appleish? apple-like?). I'm learning that I really do like honey scents and this one is a lovely addition to the collection.

Lush -- The current champ in the innovative, handmade bath and body products market, Lush's stuff comes with a pretty hefty price tag for what you get. Fortunately, you can also shop through their amazon.com storefront and I had a gift certificate.

Sexy Peel Bar Soap -- No time for a nap? Take a shower with this glorious handmade soap replete with lemon, lime and grapefruit to invigoratingly rejuvenate your senses. ZOMG citrus! There's an odd undernote that's almost chemical smelling, but mostly this is a nice blast of citrus in a pretty yellow bar. I found it left my skin a little dryer than it is when I used my normal oatmeal and almond bar, but that's only to be expected with that much citrus oil mixed in.

Ocean Salt -- Generous portions of fine and coarse sea salt line the rim of an enriching facial scrub to wash away everyday grime. Ocean Salt refreshes, nourishes, and tones, all while smelling deliciously of violet and lime. Butters of the avocado and coconut variety take the edge off, moisturizing and softening your face to reveal a brighter you. The scent on this one really doesn't wow me at all, in fact I rather dislike it. On the other hand, I utterly love the way my face felt after just one use, all smooth and soft and clean. It's far better than I usually feel after my normal exfoliant, but I need to wait and see if I can use it daily or if it will be too harsh.