Product Review: Lush Cosmetics "Cacas" Hair Dye - A Slightly Dirty Name for a Very Clean Product

For those of you who are already Lush devotees, it will come as no surprise that they have created an innovative line of henna and botanical dyes. Henna, particularly premixed compounds, often get a bad rap for safety and ease of use. Lush addresses many of those concerns with Les Cacas.

The Product

Unlike most henna hair colours, Caca dyes (yes, that is the not so polite French word) come in a solid brick. While Lush claims the bricks of dye are meant to resemble Russian tea, you can't help but see them as similar in appearance to baker's chocolate. You can choose from bright red (Caca Rouge), chestnut (Caca Marron), brown (Caca Brun), or black (Caca Noir).

Each brick is divided into six sections. You may need a full block for very thick and long hair, but for shorter, thinner hair, or hair that has already been henna dyed, you may be able to get two colourings out of the single brick. Lush employees can usually advise you on the amount you will need for your head of hair. The brick itself is a bit oily to the touch and, being a fully fledged Lush product, is very strongly scented. But instead of the grassy, earthy smell of most powdered hennas, these dyes smell strongly of the other botanicals and essential oils used in addition to henna in the mixture.

Also unlike most powdered premixed henna dyes, the ingredients are clearly listed both on the Lush website and in the hair dye's instructions. To achieve the different shades, Lush uses different plants and natural colour enhancers rather than relying upon salts or chemical dyes. True henna dyes things red so it takes other ingredients to make variations on that colour.

The Method

In many ways, Lush's Cacas are similar to traditional methods of applying henna hair colours. They involve heat, wrapping, and a longer wait time than chemical hair dyes. But the paste made from the Lush dyes appears less messy than the powdered hennas and the scent is far superior than the hours of "hay head" most of us who use henna experience with other products.

The Results

Like most henna, Lush's Cacas will probably not turn your hair a uniform colour, but will work with your highlights and change in intensity according to the light. The colouring process doesn't usually stop after the henna is washed out, but usually subtly changes over the next few days as the colours deepen and develop complexity.

Your hair should be in as good condition (if not better) than when you dyed it. Henna has natural conditioning, antifungal, and antibacterial properties, and many people use it not only to dye their hair, but for chronic scalp irritation and to soften dry, dull hair.

The Assessment

Using henna is always going to be a more difficult, longer process than conventional chemical dyes. It really helps if you have someone assisting you to make sure that you get the henna mixture everywhere it needs to be and to help clean up any drips. But for henna, Lush's henna is relatively easy to use.

Washing the dye out can be a bit problematic, especially for those with curly hair. Curls like to hold onto the little bits of plant matter. Lush seems to have compounded this problem with copious amounts of cocoa butter. While it might leave your hair soft and shiny, cocoa butter is really hard to get out of hair.

There will be people out there who want more control over the colour produced and the ingredients used in their henna dyes. Lush uses vegan products in their Cacas and has good quality controls over their supplies of raw materials, but some will still want to seek out the raw ingredients to develop their own henna dyes.

As an option for those not wanting to experiment with natural dyes, Lush provides a good product line with their Cacas. They somehow managed to figure out how to make the complicated slightly less so and fulfilled the need for wonderful smelling, safe, conscientious, natural dyes in the world of hair colours.