Black Friday might be exciting for tech heads and folk who are prepared to queue outside supermarkets at 6am in the hope of getting a slightly cheaper TV, but it’s a bore for everyone else.

The deals aren’t that amazing. The products aren’t that thrilling.

It’s just a random day of commercial excess ahead of Christmas.

But something we are genuinely looking forward to this Friday is the news that Lush are launching a new edition soap.


They’re partnering with conservation charity Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS) to bring you an Orangutan Soap.

Apart from anything else, it’ll be perfect for use in winter showers, with its unique and bespoke patchouli and orange fragrance which is bound to get even the sleepiest senses jangling. Oh, and it’s packed with extra virgin coconut oil from Nias, an island off mainland Sumatra – perfect for dry, chapped skin.



It’ll be launching on 24 November for Black Friday and will cost £8.25 – with every penny going towards SOS and the Orangutan Information Centre to restore native forest to an area on the edge of the Leuser Ecosystem in Bukis Mas, Sumatra.

The aim is to raise awareness of how perilously close to extinction the primates are, and the effect of deforestation.

There’ll only be 14,600 soaps available – and like the orangutans, once they’re gone, they’re gone!

‘It was the Sumatran Orangutan Society who took the time to show me, first hand, the impact that our ingredients were having in Sumatra,’ says Simon Constantine, Lush Head Perfumer and Head of Ethical Buying.

‘Since then, we established a commitment to change the way Lush works, removing palm oil from our soap base and glycerine for example, and to try to rectify the damage that was done.

‘Personally, I think this was somewhat of a turning point, to realise that we can’t just do the least bad thing anymore, but had to commit to creating solutions to the problems that palm and other ingredients cause. I have yet to meet as effective an organisation that can show real solutions on the ground, regrowing over 500 hectares of rainforest – on land that was illegal palm plantations just 10 years ago – is just one initiative of many that make SOS and their partners so impressive.’

You can buy the Orangutan Soap online or in stores from Friday 24 November.

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