Shark Fin Soap: What You Never Knew You Needed

There is a time in every woman's life where she comes across a product that, regardless of logical reasoning, she honestly doesn't believe she could live without. That moment happened for me around 4 p.m. yesterday when I first laid eyes on these Shark Fin soaps.

Now, let's get this out of the way right now: No, these are not soap bars made from shark fins. That's cruel, and we're pretty sure illegal. These babies are bar soaps formulated with seaweed, cleansing sea salt, lime, and lavender, and have a paper fin attached to the back.

These nifty little cleansers are part of a collaboration between Discovery and Lush, to celebrate Shark Week. With every purchase of this soap, Lush will donate the full sale price to the United Conservationists to support their FinFree movement. According to the organization, "The growing demand for shark fin soup and other shark products has led to a decline in shark populations by over 90% in just a few decades." What makes this even more deplorable is the fact that the sharks are killed largely for their fins — the practice of shark finning is to take only the fin and discard the body, wasting 95% of the animal.

Now, I have an inexplicable obsession with bar soaps, as I've detailed before. And, along with most of the American population, I also have a ridiculous obsession with Shark Week. Not liking Shark Week is like slapping an apple pie out of a bald eagle's hand while watching cricket, am I right? So, is this actually something we need, everyone? No. Is it something that works better than other bar soaps? Nope. Is that paper fin a completely superfluous marketing gimmick. Yup. But, it's functional, it supports a good cause, and it makes us laugh. Because, who wouldn't want to step into their shower naked and have their own mini Jaws moment. Just me? I find that very hard to believe, people.

The Shark Fin soap is only available at Lush for a limited time. So, definitely get your booty over there if you're crazy like me and just have to get your hands on 12 of them before they sell out. Or, just send me one. Whatever you feel is right.

Lush Shark Fin Soap, $5.95, available July 30 at Lush.