Earth

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!

Waxes give cosmetic products a pleasant texture and feel while protecting the skin and hair.

Initially, wax is a substance that resembles beeswax. It’s usually a thick and oily substance, sometimes solid at room temperature, sometimes spreadable. There are many types of waxes, which can be of animal, mineral or plant origin. Here, we’ll focus on the many vegetable waxes that Lush uses, such as rapeseed, rose, sunflower or candelilla wax, to name a few. 

The processes for obtaining vegetable wax are quite different depending on the plant's species and the desired texture and properties. Here are some examples:

Acids - Candelilla wax is infamous for being extracted from a succulent plant with sulfuric acid, a very dangerous material. Luckily, Lush creative buyers have found a supplier that has pioneered a new technique with the less harmful citric acid.

Hydrogenation - This process is frequently used in the vegetable oil industry, improving textures and shelf life. The transformation can range from the slight thickening of an oil, to its solidification into a wax. Soy wax is a good example of this.

Solvents - Take rose absolute. Like all absolutes, it is produced by soaking the raw material (rose petals) in a solvent such as ethanol. This results in a waxy paste called concrete which is ‘washed’ again with solvents to separate the wax from the fragrant rose oil. The oil is called absolute and is sold separately. The remaining wax has a faint scent and retains some of the plant’s properties, which is ideal for cosmetic use.

Benefits will depend on the type of wax but, as a general rule, they give our products a nice texture and shine. They sit lightly on the skin and hair to protect them, giving lustre and softness. Some waxes will be very fine to the touch and hardly felt, others will provide a strong conditioning sensation.

Each wax has its very own story! To find out more, 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.

Let castor oil put a nice soothing spell on your skin and scalp!

The evergreen castor bean shrub (Ricinus communis) is considered native to eastern Africa. Castor oil is produced by cold-pressing the seeds and goes through a clarification process by heating before use. The oil is a colourless, odourless and tasteless pale yellow liquid. 

Castor oil is both antibacterial and soothing.

It takes care of the scalp so well that it allows hair follicles to develop strong and healthy hair.

It has been used medicinally around the world for thousands of years, mostly to treat skin conditions such as eczema or psoriasis, as well as burns or acne.

It can be mixed with sodium hydroxide along with other vegetable oils to create a thick and stable soap base.

‘Castor’ means beaver in French!

To find out more about our suppliers, browse your Lush product’s list of ingredients and click on castor oil. This should take you to a page full of details!