Noir 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!

Spicy, sweet-scented cloves add warmth to perfumes and stimulate the blood flow. 

Cloves are the dried aromatic flower buds of a tropical evergreen tree of the Myrtle family. When drying, the buds change colour from rose to brown. They can then be sold raw or put through a process of steam distillation to obtain an essential oil with a warm, rich and spicy aroma.

Cloves are known to have antiseptic properties that are beneficial for soothing skin irritations.

They offer a helping hand with boosting circulation and blood flow.

Their unique spicy yet sweet fragrance also has an uplifting and stimulating effect on the mind.

Cloves are used in herbal medicine. They were first mentioned in Chinese medicine in about AD600. Particularly known for their soothing effect on toothaches, it is said that the ancient Chinese also used to hold a clove in the mouth to perfume their breath when speaking to the emperor.

At Lush, we buy an oil distilled from clove buds and one obtained from the plant's leaves. Depending on the part used, the scent will be subtly different. We also use a lot of dried cloves, especially for our exclusive winter festive products. Each of these materials will be purchased from another source. To find out more about them, 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!

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.