I made a mistake of going into Lush and trying to buy...

[quote DdraigGoch]Fine for them to not segregate products into "men" and "women" but if asked "what would suit a teenage boy?" they should be able to respond "well this is quite popular at the moment". Giving a customer a lecture on the 'error of thy ways' is not the way to run a business.

To be honest though, for most men soap is soap. You may as well buy a tub of Swarfega.

And yet when it comes to 'torturing' scantily clad women in the window it is very much women only... how bizarre
veganfeministnetwork.com/lush/

The poor kids probably both worked there about two seconds and doubt they will want to stay two seconds more once they realise what the general public is like.

"What would suit a teenage boy" is asking the assistant to tell you what is popular with that demographic at the moment. It's not suggesting that all teenage boys like the same thing. Lots of cosmetics companies do a teen skin range too, so it's also a reasonable question from that point of view.

If LUSH are so desperate to be inclusive, maybe they should try being inclusive of people who want to browse in peace and don't want to be followed around the store, grabbed and have things rubbed on them without so much as a by-your-leave.

I actually love their products, but as someone with mild social anxiety who enjoys browsing but doesn't like to interact with sales staff (apart from asking questions if necessary, and paying) and DEFINITELY doesn't want strangers touching me to try and sell me something, I won't shop instore now. There's almost a cultish feel to the experience sometimes. Surely it must put a lot of people off.

I know I've veered off topic here, but the 'inclusive' claim does make me laugh. I seem to remember a post on here once by someone with autism who found the experience horrible.

most of the stuff comes in black tubs or brown paper packaging, I mean what different things would they make for guys?

what would suit a teenage boy?

Because all teenage boys are the same?

I have thick curly hair, so I generally buy their shampoos and conditioners that are aimed at people with thick curly hair. It really doesn't matter whether I have a penis or a vagina.

I think it's a really positive step that they aren't gendering their products anymore.

Just go in the website and look at the product ingredients then go back armed with the knowledge of what you want.

inclusivity and anti-jkr

So not inclusive then...

I got halfway up the shop and my knees gave way. My husband had to hold me up till we got to a bench further down the street. The assault on my senses had almost made me pass out.

I'm not sure if I've ever managed to reach the entrance through the surrounding anti-nasal defence zone. Our local one had the tactical advantage of being in an enclosed mall with less airflow, making breaching the perimeter even more challenging.

I think I might have made it in once, but my recollection is hazy. I'm not doing to do the À la recherche du temps perdu thing to try to find out what memories I've lost. It might be like Total Recall/We Will Remember it for you Wholesale, and it's better off I don't know...

Fine for them to not segregate products into "men" and "women" but if asked "what would suit a teenage boy?" they should be able to respond "well this is quite popular at the moment". Giving a customer a lecture on the 'error of thy ways' is not the way to run a business.

To be honest though, for most men soap is soap. You may as well buy a tub of Swarfega.

My experience of Lush is the overpowering aroma that hits you two streets away. It is bad enough trying to walk past the shop, I dread to imagine how bad it is inside.

I'm with pp - the fact that they used to have (pointlessly) gendered products is neither here nor there. They have seen the light. Halleluja.

I find that after smelling two products my nose goes on strike and there is no way I could identify a smell a male person would go for instead of one more florally when I would have to make my way through all their soaps or bath stuff.

Why not just labelling the main component?

I detest Lush now...the fake smiles and hard sell...its awful....they have few soaps now which i used to sometimes buy...i prefer to buy online or off ebay so i dont have to experience their awful pushy fake staff..yuk !

@CiaoForDiNiaoSaur

One of the benefits of losing my sense of smell is that I can walk past Lush without feeling ill

I got halfway up the shop and my knees gave way. My husband had to hold me up till we got to a bench further down the street. The assault on my senses had almost made me pass out.

I've avoided them ever since.

My issue was being LUSH-splained by two ladies old enough to be my kids who couldn't direct me to a few suitable products without a lecture

You asked and they explained their policy. You don’t agree with it. That’s all that happened.

It's bollocks to pretend though that some scents don't appeal more to one sex than the other - it's why perfumes aren't all marketed as unisex. Lush can pretend this isn't true but the most likely outcome is that the customer will conclude that shopping there is too much like hard work and go somewhere else instead.