Brun Henna

Intense indigo is the best natural ingredient for inky hair colour!

True indigo (Indigofera tinctoria) is a shrub from the bean family that is cultivated under tropical and subtropical climates. Indigo powder is obtained by finely grinding the little oval leaves of the beautiful plant after they’ve been dried. Activated by hot water, it imparts an inky black colour to the hair, and its intensity can be nuanced with an expertly balanced mix of ingredients. 

It colours the hair with chocolate, brown and black hues when mixed with other ingredients such as henna, coffee or noni fruits.

It helps obtain a wider range of natural hair colouring than just the red of henna. 

Indigo’s colouring power is activated by heat, so it is recommended to stay in a warm room in order to have the best results. Waiting in a steamy bath surely works even better!

With seven manufacturing sites across the globe, sourcing locations and methods may vary depending on where your Lush products are made. However, if you browse your Lush product’s list of ingredients and click on those related to indigo, you should be able to find more information on our suppliers.

Ready for a colour change? Have a look at our natural hair dye range.

Truly the ultimate hair treatment!

Henna is surrounded by legends, beliefs, and millennia of use on the hair and skin. It is a powder made from the dried leaves of a flowering plant called Lawsonia inermis or henna tree.

Henna can give the hair an auburn-red colour.

It protects and conditions the hair, makes it thicker, and gives shine.

It also treats the scalp with its antimicrobial properties. By cleansing the skin of bacteria, microbes and fungus, it can help limit dandruff.

Discovered in 1916, the active colouring ingredient of henna is called lawsone. It reacts with keratin, the protein that makes the hair, providing a long-lasting dye that coats the entire hair shaft. Lawsone acts as a varnish, which explains why the result of a henna colouring depends on the hair colour it’s applied on. Where chemical dyes tend to damage the hair by breaking into it, changing its natural colour, henna and its coating effect help protect, condition and give a lot of shine.

Lush purchases red henna from a German company that sources the finest powder from the Sistan and Baluchestan province in Iran. Learn more about these dedicated, expert suppliers here, as well as the challenges they face.

Any question this page doesn’t cover should be answered in this very comprehensive FAQ or in the gripping story of Lush's journey with henna. You can find this high-quality ingredient in our natural hair dye range. 

A key ingredient in chocolate making, cocoa is also a staple on Lush shelves for its amazing effect on the skin, body and mind.

The cacao tree (Theobroma cacao) grows in warm, humid forests near the Equator. It yields large dark red or yellow pods containing up to 50 seeds each, coated in soft, edible flesh. The seeds, also called cocoa beans, are covered to ferment and then dried. During this process, they lose their acidic taste and develop their familiar chocolate scent. 

To obtain cocoa butter, the prepared beans are cleaned, dried and roasted and then ground into a thick, oily paste called chocolate liquor. The liquor can be used as such for chocolate-making or subjected to high pressure to separate the cocoa powder from the butter. An additional step can be carried out to deodorise the butter. This often happens for its use in cosmetics as it could interfere with the other scents of a product. The powder, which contains almost all of the scent and flavour of cocoa, can be used pure or put through solvent extraction to obtain a fragrant absolute.

The butter is an excellent emollient that moisturises the skin and hair. It also plays an essential role in product formulation, helping to achieve stable blends with longer shelf life or to create solid products that do not require packaging.

The powder gives products a natural tint and a delicious scent and taste.

The absolute delights the senses and uplifts the mood. Cocoa’s scent is also said to be a great aphrodisiac!

In 2017, a new type of chocolate was patented, called ruby cocoa. It has a dark pinkish colour, due to a special variety of cocoa trees that produce ruby-coloured beans.

The sources will vary depending on the ingredient, but we make sure that they never involve child labour. The Lush buying team always tries to make purchases that contribute to the well-being of people and the planet’s regeneration. To find out more about each of the cocoa suppliers, browse your Lush product’s list of ingredients and click on the ones you are interested in. This should take you to a page full of details!

Spill the beans, or should we say seeds

Did you know that coffee beans aren’t beans at all? They’re actually the seeds of small spherical fruits grown on the Coffea plant, which ripen to a bright red or pink colour. Ex-seed-ingly interesting! 

The coffee tree is an evergreen member of the Rubiaceae plant family. The tree’s cycle of producing coffee beans starts with little fragrant, star-shaped white flowers, which turn into round berries. Nestled within each fruit are two seeds, which are harvested and then roasted, resulting in the punchy coffee beans most cafe frequenters know and love. The taste and caffeine content of coffee beans change dramatically after roasting and can also vary between different types of coffee plants. Lush uses coffee from the two most popular varieties of coffee plant - Coffea arabica and Coffea robusta. 

Coffea arabica is the most widely produced type of coffee, often favoured by coffee shops. The main reason for this is that the oval-shaped beans generally possess a more aromatic, sweet and almost fruity flavour. They have a lower caffeine content than Coffea robusta, and are usually oilier too.  

Coffea robusta (also known as Coffea canephora) has smaller, more rounded coffee beans. When consumed, the flavour profile tends to be earthier and much stronger, with a more bitter taste. They have a higher caffeine content and are easier to grow in different environments thanks to their hardy nature.

Revives the skin.

May stimulate blood circulation. 

May promote healthy hair growth.

Softly exfoliates when rubbed on the skin.

Helps achieve chocolate undertones in natural hair colouring.

Lush* sources coffee from a few suppliers. One supplier in the Netherlands uses coffee waste to produce sustainably upcycled coffee byproducts. We also purchase coffee beans from a producer in Brazil, who grow coffee using an agroforestry system. We then work with a local roastery based close to our manufacturing sites in Poole, Dorset who roast and grind these Brazillian Coffee beans for us. Find more information in the description of the main coffee ingredients we use:

Coffee Oil
Ground Coffee
Caffeine Powder

*With several manufacturing sites across the globe, sourcing information may vary depending on where your Lush products were made.

The compound coffee is most famous for! In recent years, caffeine has made a bit of a buzz (pun intended) in the cosmetics world. But what are the advantages of caffeine for the skin? Topical application may be beneficial, as it is believed that caffeine can be absorbed through the skin. Caffeine may have some positive short-term effects on encouraging hair growth and minimising hair loss, though further research is needed in this area. It is also thought to be useful in temporarily tightening, smoothing, and firming the skin. Caffeine also has antioxidant properties. Antioxidants protect our cells from oxidative stress caused by pollution and UV rays, which can lead to signs of premature ageing.  

How much caffeine is actually in coffee? Coffee is renowned for its naturally high caffeine content; however, the exact amount of caffeine can vary depending on the type of coffee plant and how it is processed. 

The popularity of coffee dates back centuries. Some of the earliest records suggest that it originated in Ethiopia and spread throughout the Middle East first via Somali merchants and then, later, under the influence of the Ottomans, who continued to trade coffee westwards into Europe. It was favoured across cultures for its rich flavour and the stimulating effects it was thought to have on the mind, nervous system and digestive system. 

Your order will be expertly protected against impact during transit by biodegradable Eco-Pops, compostable packaging nuggets made from potato starch! They're easily dissolvable in water or soil.

Fresh cosmetic ingredients are more effective on skin, hair, and mind than heavily preserved beauty products. 65% of our raw material spend is on natural ingredients.

All of our products are made by hand, fresh, every day, across 6 manufacturing sites all over the world. We believe in happy people making happy soap, putting our faces on our products and making our mums proud.