Big Solid Conditioner - Oxford Street Revamp

At times like these, I feel as if I'm the bearer of bad news. While this website is supposed to be my honest opinion, I never enjoy slating a product - especially when I know that there will be some consumers out there that will experience the exact opposite of what I have gone through. For this reason, I would still recommend that you give this item a go if you're unsure as you may just find it works for you. 

Big is a solid conditioner that has been around for a number of years. In fact, it was the first solid conditioner that I ever tried out in my hair - an experience that almost deterred me from going down the route of testing out Lush's entire solid hair care range altogether. Years later, Lush have reformulated and redesigned the product, and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try it out once more and see if there was any improvement in the way it worked with my hair. 

Containing a base of sea salt, seaweed infusion and coconut oil, this conditioner has been carefully crafted to soften and strengthen your locks while giving it a natural shine. The inclusion of both lemon and lime juice works towards conditioning your hair while helping to bring out your natural highlights - which helps to add a wonderful glow to your hair. 

Alongside the jasmine, tonka, vetivert and vanilla, this conditioner smells incredible - a light, creamy vanillary smell with elements of the lemon juice to sweeten and the jasmine to add a gentle floral touch. If I was just going on fragrance alone, this would win hands down as one of the best smelling conditioners that Lush currently offer. 

Unfortunately, where Big Solid Conditioner lets me down is in how it works with my hair - a problem that mirrored the struggles I faced when using the original bar to begin with. Firstly, I found it easier to use a combination of methods when using this - beginning with cupping a small amount of water in-between my hands and then massaging the bar between my fingers before applying the small amount of lather amassed into my hair. Once the bar was wet enough, I then found it easier to rub it directly onto my head - using a circular motion to stimulate the cream and regularly adding water to stop it being too harsh on my locks. 

What I found was that I had to use my judgement on when to stop applying the product because it's a conditioner that doesn't initially make its presence known on the hair. In fact, my hair still felt quite rough even after I had washed the product off under the shower. 

Once dry, I found that my hair still felt rather coarse and even after multiple uses, I didn't notice an improvement in either the condition or the look of my locks. As someone who dyes their hair regularly, I have to be very careful with what I use in order to keep my hair in as good a condition as possible. Having not dyed my hair in almost five months, my mane was beginning to improve quite dramatically, and I had started appreciating how soft and shiny it was looking. After a week using Big, my hair seemed dry, frizzy, flat and dull!

Much like the old version, this newer version hasn't altered my opinion on the conditioner at all. While I have now discovered that solid conditioners can work (Avocado Cowash and Sugar Daddy-O are two fine examples), this one just doesn't seem like it's designed for my hair type. And for this reason, it's not something that I will be buying again. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Glyceryl Stearate & PEG-100 Stearate, Fine Sea Salt, Cetearyl Alcohol & Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol, Toothed Wracked Seaweed Infusion, Fresh Organic Lemon Juice, Organic Jojoba Oil, Fresh Organic Lime Juice, Propylene Glycol, Perfume, Glycerine, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Fair Trade Vanilla Absolute,  Vetivert Oil, Jasmine Absolute, Bergamot Oil, Candelilla Wax, Titanium Dioxide, Alpha-Isomethyl ionone, Geraniol, Linalool, Coumarin, Limonene.

Vegan?: Yes

2015 Price: £5.95 each.

Year Of Original Release: 2015.