I have been on the hunt for a conditioner that’s rich enough for my dry locks for what seems like an eternity. I have very thick, coarse, and naturally curly hair with a 3A curl pattern, that just begs for moisture. I have tried countless drugstore conditioners and a fair few salon conditioners, and nothing has really had much of a wow factor. Upon discovering Lush’s hair care, I saw they had a few items in their line up that I was pretty eager to try. Retread was first up.

Retread is certainly a very hydrating conditioner, but you may not believe it based on the way it looks in the pot or feels on the hair. When I first used it, I was a bit disappointed in how liquid the consistency was, and I still don’t think a black pot is the best packaging for this product. It’s a little messy to scoop out, and I found that decanting it into a shower gel bottle makes it so much easier to measure out the right amount.. not to mention it puts you one empty pot closer to a free face mask!

When applying this to the hair, it felt very strange. To be honest, I felt like I could’ve used half the pot and my hair would’ve just soaked it all in! You don’t get that slippery, detangling feeling with this conditioner, which makes it difficult to judge how much you need, and you will go through the tub quite quickly if you’re not careful. Also, without the traditional detangling effect it made it quite difficult for me to run my wide tooth comb through my hair, which is unfortunate because as someone with curls, the shower is the only opportunity I have to detangle my locks without disrupting my curl pattern. It does take some work, but it is possible to eventually get the brush through. I found that combing while rinsing tends to make it slightly easier, because in the water is where the conditioner seems to come to life.

During rinsing, your hair does begin to feel a little more slippery, and you can really feel the avocado oil, olive oil, soya yogurt, lanolin, and jojoba oil coating each strand to hydrate, protect, and add shine. I made the mistake of distributing the conditioner evenly from root to tip the first time I used this, and quickly realized this is probably better suited to just the lower 2/3 of my hair. My inital use found me rinsing my roots for quite a while, and I still ended up a bit greasy. But since adjusting to just the roots, my hair feels much more balanced. I am in desperate need of a hair cut to remove my split ends, but in the meantime, Retread has done a wonderful job keeping my frizz and unruly ends in check. I notice my hair has much more shine than It did with other conditioners, and in conjunction with Avocado Co Wash, my curls are beautifully defined and I don’t need any additional styling product! If I’m going to be straightening my hair, I’ll use a different shampoo, because the Co Wash has lots of oils, so on straight hair, it ends up looking a little greasy. I really liked pairing this with the Jumping Juniper Shampoo Bar when straightening my hair. 

So, while I didn’t exactly start off completely impressed by this, I have grown to love how it makes my hair feel with just a little trial and error. It probably wouldn’t give great results to those with fine or oily hair types, but for someone who requires a lot of moisture, this is a lifesaver. 

Rating: 4.5/5

Price: 

Status: Permanant

Vegan?: No, contains Lanolin

Would I repurchase? Yes

Ingredients: Agar Agar Gel, Propylene Glycol, Soya Milk, Cetearyl Alcohol & Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Fresh Cantaloupe Melon, Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Perfume, Organic Yoghurt, Organic Avocado Oil, Lanolin, Cetearyl Alcohol, Organic Jojoba Oil, Synthetic Musk, Violet Leaf Absolute, Orange Flower Absolute, Neroli Oil, Alpha Isomethyl Ionone, Cetrimonium Bromide, Methylparaben, Propylparaben