Lush Respect Your Elders Soap Review

And now a review of the recently  discontinued Respect Your Elders soap. I read a few reviews for it and a lot of people seemed to like it. Except the name. Lush named it that because it contains Elderberry. Which is an herb that has a lot of medicinal uses- hence Respect Your Elders. Some people seemed to think the soap was telling them to respect their elders as in "old people" and they didn't like that.A lot of reviews I read referenced Harry Potter as well. Which I didn't get at first. But when I really thought about it...Elderberry does sounds like an ingredient you would use in Potions class. Obviously.

Lush claims:

Black-berried elder. A tree of legend, but also a great way to describe this magical blackcurrant-scented soap. Elderflower infusion, elderberries and olibanum oil create a potent spell for warding off evil (niffs that is!) Respect Your Elders will leave your skin silky soft and beautifully scented. Everything you look at can be turned into a story, so we say cancel storytime and let this become a part of your daily ritual.

Lush use elderflowers in various forms to soothe and soften the skin but also for the lores and legend that surround it. Mabinogion, the book of stories based on Welsh mythology and folk tales, mentions a bathing ritual using elder leaves, or cowslip flowers and a few sweet scabious flowers

Price 5.50 Pounds (Lush UK)

Anyway...it's a dark berry scented soap. It's nice. But not very strong. Not very memorable. And not something I would go crazy over. I can smell it when using but barely. Some lush soaps will scent the whole bathroom. This is not one of them. 

On the plus side, the soap is huge. Or at least mine was. I didn't weigh my piece but I'm certain it was way more than the 120 gram listed weight. It was the lighter coloured soap that seemed to be put very generously in my bar.

And because of that or just the soap type...it has lasted quite a while. I would say you can easily get 2.5 weeks to 3 weeks if not more of use. Which I don't think is typical of Lush soaps whatsoever. Usually they melt just by looking at them. 

The first week or so of me using it I was getting enormous dry patches of skin. Not cute. And meant if my skin was showing...lotion was a must. My skin has adjusted to the soap and is not as dry as it was when I first switched to Respect Your Elders. 

I almost forgot to talk about the look of the soap..it's cool. It's a dark purple base with a cloudy looking soap embedded. It does have pieces of Elderberries, which I wasn't expecting and was surprised to see little bits in the shower. Honestly...I can do without the bits. They were ugly. And unnecessary. 

It's from Lushs typical soap base made with Coconut and Rapeseed Oil. It has elderflower infusion- I guess it's good for the skin. Uplifting and one of my favorites- bergamot oil. Buchu and Cypress oil are two other key ingredients. Some natural..and some synthetic. Not all natural by any means. 

Ingredients:

Rapeseed Oil, Coconut oil, Glycerin, Elderflower Infusion, Propylene Glycol, Water, Perfume, Elderberries, Salt, Bergamot Oil, Buchu Oil, Cypress Oil, Frankincense Oil, EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Sodium Hydroxide, Alpha Iso-methyl Ionone, Benzyl Salicylate, Hydroxycitronellal, Limonene, Linalool, Colour 

It would probably accompany some of Lush's other black currant products nicely like the Comforter (bath bomb and bubble bar).

Overall, not one I would repurchase. I think Lux Naturals Blackberry Sage soap is a good substitute, it's in the same scent family- darker berry, it is all natural, and still available. It's not elder based but it's a really nice soap.