Review: Lush Charity Pot (Plus a comment on the use of SLS)

This product was provided to me by my best friend because she forgot for a moment that she doesn't like foodie smells. I'm certainly not complaining.

Lush's Charity Pot is an all over hand and body lotion made with lots of goodies. There's almond oil, cocoa butter, and a long list of other things that are known for having great skin benefits. This product combines all of that with a smell that is reminiscent of chocolate dipped flowers. Heavy on the chocolate (cocoa chocolate, not saccharine chocolate), the smell is guaranteed to stick with you for quite a while.

Let me start by saying that I have a love/hate relationship with Lush. And that's putting it mildly. Most of their lotions, deodorants, and massage bars are amazing. The smells are delicious and the ingredients are something I can get behind. The same goes for their message: to fight animal testing and provide good, clean, freshly made beauty products.

What I don't like is that sometimes, their front for sustainable, all natural beauty is just that: a front. 

Many of their products, particularly their shampoos and bath bombs, have ingredients that are really bad for the environment and for the human body. Their shampoos, for instance, all contain sodium lauryl sulfate or sodium laureth sulfate. Both of these ingredients are terrible for your skin, and research is beginning to surface that they may be carcinogenic. In addition, SLS is really terrible for the environment, especially when high concentrations go down your drain and into the water and soil. It's pollution on a global scale, and a lot of people don't know about it. 

The problem is that a couple of months ago, I went to Lush to look for an all natural shampoo. Mine had run out and I was looking for something new. Something SLS free. But when I looked at the containers, SLS was sometimes listed as the first ingredient. Not even mass market shampoos are that bad. 

When I brought it up to a salesperson, she stated that they had tried to take out the SLS a couple years ago, but customers had complained because the product didn't suds and they didn't think it was as effect. Never mind the fact that I have several SLS-free products that suds up just fine, but customers are being taught that if it doesn't suds, it's not working. And that's just wrong. 

I really and truly believe that Lush needs to work on this, because as more and more research about SLS floats to the surface of the beauty industry, several companies are hopping on the bandwagon to make their products as good for people and the planet as humanly possible. But Lush continues to simply state that they make "all natural" products. And the fact that their products contain SLS is kind of pushed under the rug a lot of the time by them saying the product contains "fair trade honey" and "organic cocoa butter." 

Lush has some issues. Especially with me. 

Still, their lotions are generally pretty good. There are still some preservatives I'm iffy about, but that's relatively unavoidable when you consider that their products are made on site. 

This lotion is no different. It's smooth, thick, and creamy, without being greasy. After shaving, it makes my dry-as-a-bone legs soft and supple. Really, nothing beats it. 

The smell can be a little overpowering at first, especially if you don't like chocolate and florals, and the smell tends to stick around all day. But I like the way it smells, and I like the way it makes my skin feel. 

So for this wonderful little pot of lotion, Lush wins a point in my book. Now let's see how they react to the rising statements against their use of SLS. 

Thanks for reading!