Therapy? Massage Bar

I've been trying my best over the last few months, to work my way through a mound of massage bars that have sat, collecting dust, on my book shelf. When Lush were threatening to overhaul their entire range a couple of years ago, I worried that some products would be removed for good before I'd had a chance to test them out. For this reason, I ended up buying every single massage bar that they were currently selling, which have ever since been patiently waiting for me to use them up.

Therapy? is one of Lush's earliest massage bars, and boasts only a handful of organic ingredients which make up it's body. Designed to soften the skin and soothe the mind, this bar contains a mixture of cocoa butter, shea butter, orange, lavender and neroli oil - all natural elements that give this solid body lotion it's moisturising properties.  

Weighing in at only 50g, your initial thoughts might be that this solid product is rather small for it's £6.50 price tag - a qualm that came to mind when I first began using these bars. Although Therapy isn't one of my favourites, Lush's range of solid massage bars do have a long life and will often last for weeks if you're using it as a moisturiser. I think that if you find a great one, they're definitely worth investing in.

So why a massage bar? Firstly, by keeping the ingredients in their solid form, as opposed to a liquid state, it means that Lush don't have to include specific chemicals and preservatives to get the product to remain liquid at room temperature. Secondly, because there are only natural ingredients present in the bars, these products are great for people with sensitive skin and those that don't bode well with heavy moisturisers. Finally, keeping it in it's solid form means it is easier and more cost-effective for the company and consumer, as it requires less packaging to store. 

To use the massage bar, you can do one of two things. I tend to warm my hands up a little before carefully rubbing the bar all over my body. Once I've smeared enough on my skin, I then use my hands to massage it all over evenly. You can also use the warmth of your hands to melt the massage bar somewhat, before using this to smother it all over your skin like you would a normal lotion. 

With Therapy, I found that this massage bar was a little stubborn to melt on contact with my skin and I had to rub it between my palms for a while before it did so. Furthermore, once this product did start to melt onto my skin, I found that it left my body rather greasy and wasn't the most effective at absorbing into the skin. This was rather disappointing as, with all of Lush's other massage bars, this one has been carefully designed to work in many ways with your body.

Firstly, lavender oil has been added to not only give it a wonderful fragrance, but because it possesses properties that soothe the skin whilst relaxing the mind; shea and cocoa butter make up the majority of it's composition, allowing the bar to remain solid whilst moisturising the skin like a body lotion; neroli oil has been shown to increase serotonin levels in the brain and improves the tone and texture of the skin whilst sweet wild orange oil lifts the mood. Together, all of these ingredients supposedly help to heal damaged skin and reduce the appearance of stretch marks whilst improving your overall mood. 

Much like Bewitched and Hottie, this massage bar has also been designed to help massage and exfoliate your skin. On the upper side of this product, there is a rounded lump that protrudes out from the surface. I can imagine this being very useful and sensual during a massage, as it really helps to transfer the oils from the bar to your skin.

Unfortunately, I found that although I appreciated the wonderful sweet, floral scent, the massage bar left me sticky and not very moisturised at all. Once I had applied this to my skin, I had to leave myself to 'air out' for a good 20-30 minutes before I could put my clothes on and even then I should have probably left it a little longer.

Because of this, my mood certainly didn't improve and I was left rather disappointed by the whole experience. All I can assume, is that this particular concoction was not suited to my skin, as my flatmate had very different results when she tried it. 

However, once the oils had finally settled into my skin, I was left with very radiant looking skin - it felt silky smooth and very nourished and it seemed to bring the colour back into my skin. The gentle smell does remain on your skin for a few hours afterwards and because it's not very overpowering, it is quite a comforting smell. 

While it's not one of my favourite massage bars, it does do a good job for your skin, and as long as you have time to let it work it's magic, you can yield some rather fantastic results from this. It's a great accompaniment in the Lush Spa Gift Set that you can currently buy online at lush.co.uk.

Quantitative Ingredients: Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Shea Butter, Organic Sweet Orange Oil, Organic Lavender Oil, Organic Neroli Oil, Citral, Geraniol, Farnesol, Limonene, Linalool.

Vegan?: Yes.

2014 Price: £6.50.