Ocean Salt Self-Preserving Scrub

Ask any one of my friends and they will tell you; if I had been asked a few weeks ago to name a Lush product that I wanted the company to veganise, the first words out of my mouth would have been American Cream, very quickly followed up with Ocean Salt! I can't tell you exactly what it is about the scrub that seems so appealing to me, but it's something I've wanted to try every since I first knew of the product's existence. 

Ocean Salt Self-Preserving Scrub is a cleverly developed face and body scrub that Lush have been working on for quite some time. Not happy with releasing highly natural, low-preservative products, the company wanted to take their innovative ideas that one step further, and produce a range that was completely preservative-free. In order to give their products their properties, as well as maintaining a long shelf life, Lush have carefully crafted each item so that the ingredients form a self-preserving formula. 

When it comes to Ocean Salt, the change of formula has not only made it better for your skin but also removed the sole ingredient that made this product non-vegan beforehand. Lanolin is a waxy residue that comes from the skin secretions of sheep, and is often used in cosmetics to help bind ingredients together as well as give them an oily consistency to soothe and heal skin. Lush have removed this animal derivative, and replaced it with far nicer sounding ingredients; silken tofu, Japan wax and mango butter.

One other change that this product has gone through, is that it's no longer marketed as simply a facial cleanser (or facial scrub as it was referred to). Instead, the new, improved product can now be used over the whole body. 

Despite my excitement about Ocean Salt, I'd never actually smelt or researched it in that much detail beforehand, so trying it for the first time was rather interesting. One of the key ingredients here is lime soaked in vodka - an ingredient that gives this scrub both it's crisp, uplifting scent and it's cooling properties once it's applied onto the skin. Then there's an array of different fruits; grapefruit, mango butter and lime oil, all rich in minerals that help to soften and hydrate the skin. Furthermore, the addition of avocado butter, coconut oil and seaweed leave it conditioned and smelling wonderful. 

The most prominent ingredient though is salt, which makes up most of the scrub's body as well as being sprinkled over the top for decoration. Sea salt is rich in minerals and excellent for scrubbing away dead skin as well as being a natural preservative; allowing the ingredients in Ocean Salt to remain as fresh as they can be. The salt adds to the citrus scent of the lime, giving this product an overall lovely refreshing fragrance.

To use in the shower, just scoop as much or as little out of the tub and lather it all over your body, rubbing it in a circular motion to really stimulate those pores and exfoliate tired skin. Although this is probably an obvious point to make, I would recommend that you don't use this on newly shaved areas. I made the mistake of slathering this all over my legs mere minutes after I taken a razor to them, and I was in a lot of pain afterwards.  

One thing I found off-putting when it comes to Ocean Salt was that the texture of the salt was a little harsh on my skin, and it scratched a lot when I was exfoliating myself in the shower. I was expecting it to be similar in consistency to Rub Rub Rub but I found that it was almost as rough as one of Lush's many solid sugar scrubs.

Furthermore, unlike the above body scrub, Ocean Salt was also a little difficult to spread over large areas. I found that each scoop would exfoliate the immediate area it had been applied to, but by the time I had spread it across my entire thigh or my right arm, it was nothing more than white foam and a few stray bits of salt. For this reason, my 250g tub went down very quickly, and if you're planning on using it as a full body scrub, you're likely to only get around 5/6 uses out of it, whereas a same sized pot of Rub Rub Rub will see me through a couple of months. 

Overall, I wasn't as enamoured by this product as I thought I was going to be. Whether it was my high expectations or something else, Ocean Salt is not a product I would rush out to buy again. Although the scent was highly refreshing, it did take some getting used to and the overall condition of my skin after use was not that different from how it was before use. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Fine Sea Salt, Hand Harvested Sea Salt, Fresh Grapefruit Infusion, Silken Tofu, Glycerine, Japan Wax, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, Fresh Organic Lime Extracted in Vodka, Mango Butter, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, Avocado Butter, Lime Oil, Seaweed Absolute, Violet Leaf Absolute, Limonene, Linalool, Perfume, Colour 42090.

Vegan?: Yes.

2015 Price: £7.75 for 120g, £13.95 for 250g.

Year Of Original Release: 2014. 

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight