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

[Underthestairsbears]

Something for a guy...!!!

I just popped into my local Lush, they used to have a 'bloke section' so I kept wandering around looking for it...
Of course one of the helpful assistants came over and asked if she could help.
I said "oh I can't find your bloke section "

Poor young woman looked rather pale and launched into her "oh we don't have a men's section. It's all inclusive "
Lovely, so I asked where I might find something that might appeal to a teenage boy.

The only thing she could point me towards was a "beard cream" and I explained he didn't have a beard!

She then dragged another more senior young lady over... who then started on and on about being inclusive and how everything in LUSH us for everyone....it as I tried to escape....!

I tried to see if they had gift sets that might appeal to him....

Ok, it didn't need to be masculine per se but honestly it's like they've eradicated men from LUSH...

I'm not sure if that's the look they were going for...and also isn't it usually the other way round 🙄

Couldn't make head nor tail of it but I didn't escape easily.... literally had to hot foot it out of there quickly to avoid another encounter!

Does anyone else find it's getting harder to shop efficiently for what you want because things have to be so woke...

I won't enter or buy from Lush. Multiple reasons:

• harassment of everyone but in particular neuroatypical people
• plastering their crap on people without asking, including a child with eczema whose mother had explicitly told them not to slap the cream on her child's arm
• misogyny central - just look at their advertising
• coercive treatment of staff, many of whom are uncomfortable with the heavy duty sales pitches and being told to strip off in the shop but can't afford to walk out of a job

even clarks wont say girl or boy shoes

Clarks have traditionally been godawful for pushing utterly impractical footwear on girls, so this sounds like an improvement to me.

I'm pretty certain we used to have regular conversations in FWR about how this change was needed. I am still in FWR right?

I'm sure people can figure out what you mean by a bloke section. I got my brother, ages ago from lush, a gift box with beard cream, charcoal soap/mask, a woody scented moisturiser etc. Not sure if he would have appreciated a pink glittery bath bomb. And before the usual cry of "but anyone can like woody scented stuff/charcoal soap" and "I wouldn't like a pink glittery bath bomb" 🙄 you know what I mean. There are just certain things that would appeal more to men (and women of course) than other stuff.

I avoid lush with a vengeance now. You get pounced on as soon as you enter the store and pestered the entire time.

"Coercing their staff" into doing stuff like this:

I used to like their products but the salespeople are insane. A lady with dreadlocks tried to grab my arm to dunk it in some water. No! Leave me alone!

I once walked past a branch and hesitated slightly and two shop assistants clocked me and started moving in like zombies. I dashed off quickly.

@Aderyn21

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.

Exactly!

It’s very wokey now. I avoid - even before they became insufferable bigots (remember the ‘no t*’ sign in their store in Edinburgh?) I wound it runnng the gauntlet to get in and without being pounced in by an assistant who wanted to show me something amaaaaaaazing.

Plus the stupid bath bombs had glitter that stuck in your (you know what) crevices, included little pieces of crapconfetti/petals that got stuck in the plug hole, or my personal favourite, dye that turned half of my child (and the bath) blue.

Being grabbed and smeared/sprayed without permission - is it really a thing? It sounds alarming and one way to a lawsuit.

I went in on Monday, I was browsing for my other half (who is male) as it is his birthday soon, and he loves a bath bomb. He doesn't care what colour, or scent too much. In fact, he is fairly effeminate. However, I wanted it to be either gift wrapped, or in one of their holders. Every single holder or gift wrap was pretty much pink or purple as their main colours. Not inclusive of people who like other colours, is it? I walked out. I just wanted something wrapped or presented nicely, that my other half would like (he likes green FYI, so green wrapped gifts was what I wanted). They lost a sale because it is actually as if men don't exist in their sales demographics.

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.

This.

I've found DS - teen boy - and his friends the most conservative with small c to buy for.

I accept not all teen boys are like this but there is an stereotype with some truth in - plain packaging traditional and not overly floral scents is probably a more precise phrasing.

I think most people confonted with a question about teen boy gift sets/products have an idea what is meant - and how it would differ from one aimed at teen girl or older woman - and be perfectly well aware that teen boys who would like different products exit out in the big wide world - whilst still managing to be helpful to the person asking.

I personally not so sure such preferences are inate as much as social conditioning since childhood or some complex mix of both - like most human behavior - but this is a present and the OP probaly just wanted to get something that was liked with minimal hassle. Most shops just want to sell their products - so I can understand why she's a bit taken a back by her lush experince.

I can’t believe people are pretending that there isn’t a difference between women’s and men’s fragrances. My husband enjoys bath products as much as I do but I doubt he’d want to end up smelling sickly sweet like a lot of their products.

This is bizarre. Why did you need specific bloke soap?

My husband has used many a lush bath bomb without checking whether it was specifically for men . Luckily he’s managed to avoid his penis falling off…

Perhaps they have secret shoppers going in to check on staff making inadvertent gendered recommendations. I don't have a problem with the concept of not labelling products as 'for men' or 'for women', but since their policy seems to be No Unattended Browsing Absolutely Ever, answering a perfectly normal query about where to find something matching OP's requirements wouldn't seem entirely out of order.
I won't shop there any more. I don't want to talk to excitable strangers about my shampooing needs and I hate being sold things I haven't already decided to buy.

I got lucky in Lush yesterday - the product I wanted was right in the entrance, so didn't have to dodge anyone to get to it. But then I had to wait ages because all the staff were busy hassling people instead of serving at the tills...

Body Shop still have a men's section btw.

Personally I’m all for clothes and toiletries being unisex. It’s the kind of woke I am all for! (I’m not usually for eradicating male and female, but the idea that there is a stereotypical male or female really seems silly to me).

However my teenage son would massively disagree. Unless it’s labelled heavily male he won’t go near it. And as a consumer, it’s the consumer’s that usually drive that, so Lush will just lose out I guess in the long run.

@Just10moreminutesplease

This is bizarre. Why did you need specific bloke soap?

My husband has used many a lush bath bomb without checking whether it was specifically for men . Luckily he’s managed to avoid his penis falling off…

It may well have done if it had been a glittery one...

Disposable razors, underarm deoderant, and many other products where there are essentially similar products sold in pink and blue flavours, the male version is generally cheaper.

Lord help is of they ever start selling sanpro...

Re shoes, I'm pretty sure boys and girls (and men and women) do need different shoes due to the feet being very differently shaped (not just sized). Caroline Criado Perez has a rant about it every now and then. I imagine Clarks just used to do impractical, sparkly or high-heeled shoes for the girls. It's a shame they couldn't differentiate by offering proper support to a female foot instead of just basing shoes on male feet and decing that's fine for everyone.

@Jaysmith71

Disposable razors, underarm deoderant, and many other products where there are essentially similar products sold in pink and blue flavours, the male version is generally cheaper.

I'd rather go without deodorant than use Lynx < not envy

The ‘scents’ from Lush make me heave.
I cross the road to avoid the wall of pungence billowing out of the shop door. The place smells like a rotting corpse to me.

Takes all sorts.

@KittenKong

Lord help is of they ever start selling sanpro...

They could do it in partnership with Canesten...

I can't bear Lush. Some of the products are ok but being pounced on by staff puts me right off.
OP is correct in that they did use to have a men's section. I kind of like the non gender stereotyping in theory, but most men I know wouldn't go for the the more flowery scents so I suspect lush will lose customers.

@Jaysmith71

"Coercing their staff" into doing stuff like this:

Oh goodness - reading the comments here about staff having to strip naked, harassing people in the shop… I’m never going to shop there again!

@Aderyn21

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.

Exactly. I'm surprised by some of the comments in this thread.