Lush has revealed a new lineup of packaging-free shampoo bars, solid shower gels, and limited-edition shower gummies, intended to tackle ’unnecessary’ packaging waste in the summer season.
Lush reports that it sold 37 million packaging-free products in 2025, comprising 58% of all individual products sold. Apparently, 45% of its all-year-round products are ‘naked’.
Since 2005, Lush claims to have saved over 15,000 tonnes of plastic by removing packaging from its products.
Now Lush is releasing five limited-edition shower gummies, four solid shower gels, and three shampoo bars without packaging – urging its customers to avoid excess packaging use during ‘festival season, summer holidays and weddings abroad’.
According to the company, solid shampoo bars consume less energy and water to produce than their liquid counterparts, but end up lighter to carry. Each bar is said to be the equivalent of three 250g bottles and endure an average of 50 washes – potentially up to 80, depending on the user’s hair length and the storage conditions.
Bottled cosmetics are said to contain a lot of water, but Lush asserts that its solid shower products can afford to contain more natural, organic, and Fairtrade ingredients – as well as oils, absolutes and concretes for higher-quality fragrances – by avoiding extra packaging costs.
“It may come as a surprise that around 40-50% of the cost of a product goes on its packaging,” explains David Campbell, cosmetic scientist and product inventor at Lush. “Taking away the packaging gives us room to put more nice things in.”
‘Naked’ products are also designed to be self-preserving and avoid the synthetic preservatives used to keep bottled liquids safe and fresh. The solid bars are set to prevent bacterial growth by replacing water content with ingredients that remain solid at room temperature, such as Fairtrade cocoa butter.
Additionally, the ‘naked’ format is anticipated to cut down on CO2 emissions by saving space in transit. Lush suggests that one truckload of shampoo bars equates to 800,000 washes – and that transporting the same amount of washes in liquid shampoo would require 15 trucks.
The company emphasizes that it provides ‘easily accessible signage’ in-store to provide the necessary information that would usually appear on the product packaging, including quantitative ingredient information. Consumers are also invited to take the information home on a scale label sticker, reportedly provided in recyclable paper bags or greaseproof paper.
Lush considers packaging waste to be ‘one of the biggest sustainability issues’ faced by the cosmetics industry, citing the figure that around 120 billion pieces of beauty packaging are thrown away annually.
Available in the UK and Ireland, the new products are set to align with Lush’s goals to tackle waste across the beauty industry.
“At Lush, we work in an industry where the packaging costs the customer more than the product,” says Mark Constantine, co-founder and product inventor at Lush. “Now, the customer needs to worry about how to recycle something they didn’t want to buy in the first place.
“Packaging is rubbish and for too long we have had to suffer excessive amounts of it. Now that the true financial and environmental costs are becoming obvious, customers are challenging manufacturers and retailers to cut the wrap.”
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