LUSH HAIR

ZEST (15 EUR) - No Drought (8 EUR)

Lush has become pretty big for the past few years. Its bath, hair and even skincare products have been raved all over the Internet by YouTubers and Bloggers. Indeed, Lush is the best "green wash" brand I have ever came across because it sounds as fancy as a 100% natural cosmetics brand and its products actually work. Again, I have no prejudice against "green wash" or actual 100% natural organic brands. As long as the product works well, I am totally fine with its added "safety synthetics". Another disclaim is that I bought these two guys in Munich winter 2014, that explains the German labels and ZEST, the old name of ZESTE. 

ZEST

ZEST (or ZESTE) is a thick and yellow gel that is designed for medium to strong hold. The first thing you gonna notice about ZEST is its excessively overwhelming scent. Well, that is understandable when the product is packed with up to 3 synthetic scenting agents: Fragrance, Lilial and Hydroxycitronellal. That is not to mention a bunch of nature oils that contribute to ZEST's strong scent: Sweet Wild Orange Oil, Tagetes Oil, Viola Odorata, Citrus Aurantium Amara, etc. With 70% of the ingredients are scenting agents, we are left with a powerful refreshing lemony and floral aroma. The other 30% includes some holding agents (PVP and Orange Juice) and bulking agents. PVP works well keeping your hair in place while DRF Alcohol helps to evaporate the moisture from Orange Juice and those nature oils, creating the stickiness and firmness to the hair. 

The application can be tricky. Because it's so thick, a little does go a long way and overloading you hair with this will definitely weigh your hair down and make it greasy. In order to get the right amount out of the pot, you should tapping your fingers on to the gel, the product will gradually stick up to your skin and thus you will have better control of how much gel you using. I am not recommend the hard way of digging your finger in or spooning it out because ZEST's sticky and thick texture makes it so hard to be separated, and at the end, you most likely gonna end up with way too much gel. 

After testing out on Asian (medium, straight hair) and Caucasian hair (very fine, straight hair), I would say this works much better for medium to coarse hair. Fine hair tends to be weighed down by ZEST's texture. Again, because it so thick, applying it on damp hair will help to distribute the gel much more evenly. It also works better and becomes less stickier when you use heat after applying the product. About a year ago when I still curl my hair after every wash, I always put ZEST to the end of my hair and then curl it at 180 C degree. This extra step makes my hair feel so smooth and considerably soft (compare to spray or wax). Most importantly, the curl stay put well up to 4 days or until my next hair wash. 

Bottom line, I am totally recommend ZEST. It has a good holding power and will last you forever. It is especially good for ones who are adopting No Poo because all of its ingredients are water soluble, so you can totally remove ZEST with just water.  

NO DROUGHT

No Drought is a well-known dry shampoo from Lush with 3 absorbing agents of Cornflour, Magnesium Carbonate and Talc. They are all white powder that are relatively finely milled. No drought works quite well in absorbing the excess oil and doesn't leave white residue on your hair. You might wonder where the white powder goes after absorbing your hair's oil. Well it can either fly away from your hair or most of the time, settle down to your scalp. And because No Drought is not totally white, it's kind of beige white thanks to the Cornflour, it matches your scalp colour so well that you thought that white powder did actually disappear along with the grease. But you will see it again in your nails after accidentally scratching your head. In order to avoid that, you should blow your hair with a hair dryer at cool setting to distribute and clean up the product. It's important that the hair dryer is set at cool air because hot air can melt out the oil the powder absorbed.
Its packaging makes the application can be quite messy. On its website, Lush show the way in which you pour some of the product to your palm, slight rub your hands together to distribute the powder to your fingers, then massage it through to your hair. Or you can simply tap the product straight to hair where you get oily (around the hairline and the crown) and then scrunch your hair with your finger before blow it up with some cool air. Putting the powder to your hair brush normally doesn't work (at least for me) as the powder will right away fall to the bottom of the brush.
It is not very convenient to use or that good at absorbing oil when comparing to chemical dry shampoos like COLAB by Ruth Crilly (aka A Model Recommends). It also feels heavier on the hair because the powder is not that finely milled. However, it gives an insanely amount of volume to your hair. I have noticed that for all the dry shampoos I have tried, none of them works effectively on or after your 4th-day hair. They might show some results on second or third-day hair, but longer than that, you'd better go wash your hair as the grease now can be really hard to absorb. No Drought is also very No Poo friendly when you can completely remove it with water. Unlike ZEST, No Drought is packed with no synthetic fragrance. Its soft and refreshing scent is from Grapefruit and Lime Oil. I do really like this product although mostly for its amazing aroma. I would recommend this to people who wants a dry shampoo that also gives a bit of volume and to all the No Poo people out there because I know how hard it is to find a water-soluble dry shampoo.