I feel like Living Proof is a brand that I never see mentioned in cruelty free circles. I have contacted them twice over the years about their animal testing policy and have no reason to believe that they are not cruelty free. Since there seems to be so little information about their testing policies (and their products are stinking fantastic!), I figure it’s well past time I share my findings with you!
Here are the questions I asked back on 21 May 2014 (to the best of my knowledge, nothing has changed) and the answers I received from Living Proof:
1) Do you, or any of your suppliers, conduct animal testing on either the raw ingredients or your finished products?
ANSWER: Living Proof does not test its finished products on animals. We do not ask our raw material suppliers to do so either.
2) Are your products currently sold in countries like China where animal testing is required by law? If not, do you have any plans of entering these markets while current laws regarding animal testing are in place?
ANSWER: Living Proof is not selling products in China.
3) Are any, or all, of your products Vegan (contain NO animal ingredients or by-products)?
ANSWER:Living Proof products are not vegan.
4) Are you owned by a parent company? If so, who is your parent company and do they engage in animal testing?
ANSWER: Living Proof is not owned by a parent company.
Given these answers, I consider Living Proof to be a cruelty free company! JDancing for joy over here. JI absolutely love pretty much every product I have tried from Living Proof and plan to share another review of one of their products with you on Friday (see that post here). Until then, I hope this has been helpful and let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Check out the Living Proof website for more info about the company and their products.
10 Comments
Hi fellow advocate!
First of all, I want you to know that I joined beauty industry with my personal mission to eliminate animal testing on beauty products 5 years ago. After facing the reality of research and development process for new ingredients and technology, I now extends my mission to the field of personal cares and medical products.
I was also questioning with Living proof for their animal testing status and I came across your report and wanted to share my opinion on their status.
I want you to know they didn’t reply my question: “if you have tested on animals during the course of developing the products. ”
As an anti-animal testing advocate, I want every other advocates to be informed on what you should ask and look for in their answer especially from the company claiming new technologies is behind the development of products. Since Living proof is founded with MIT bioengineering scientists. Scientists are not used to the notion of anti-animal testing/vivisection among ethical consumers. I became very skeptical about them when I read their answer to one of your questions: “Living Proof does not test its finished products on animals. We do not ask our raw material suppliers to do so either.”
Notice they replied you “finished products”? They didn’t technically said no testing was done on animals during the entire process of product development.
Maybe their prepared answers were not designed to respond to the nature of question or maybe they do testing on animals in the lab so they carefully crafted the response. We still don’t know until we fully get answered by the Living proof. So, until then, I advise you to consider them as not-cruelty free company.
They seemed to answer your first question in a very roundabout way. Hiring an outside company that tests on animals (that isn’t a supplier) is a possibility. The fact that they do not claim to be cruelty-free and also do not claim to have ANY vegan products (which is kind of odd in my opinion to not at least possess one) are also red flags.
Hi Jennifer! I really need to update that post as I have contacted them a few times since and received more information. In February of 2016 I received the following statement:
“Living proof does not test our products or our ingredients on animals, nor do we ask others to do so on our behalf.”
They also informed me that many of their products ARE vegan. The animal-derived ingredients used are “PEG-8 Beeswax (from bees) and/or C10-40 Isoalkylamidopropylethyldimonium Ethosulfate (a lanolin base from lamb’s wool).”
As of February 2016, the NON-Vegan products are:
Curl Detangling Rinse
Restore Mask Treatment
Perfect hair Day (PhD) 5-in-1 Styling Treatment
Perfect hair Day (PhD) Night Cap Overnight Perfector
No Frizz Weightless Styling Spray
Amp
I hope that helps a bit. I just contacted them again a few days ago as they are likely to be purchased by Unilever (who is NOT cruelty free) and they assured me that their policies will not change, nor do they have plans to change in the near future or to enter the Chinese market. Let me know if that’s still raising red flags to you as I want to be as thorough as possible with my questioning.
Thanks so much for reaching out!
-Christine
To me, “nor do we ASK others to do so on our behalf” doesn’t mean the same as “we do not use suppliers that test on animals.”
I suppose you have a point. Maybe I’m not as stringent as I should be, but for now that’s the answer that I have. If you don’t consider them cruelty free, I respect that. I will consider changing my wording when sending out my next batch of questions and will try to clear this up with Living Proof as well. Thank you for drawing it to my attention.
Yes I am of the same opinion….they do not say “No” but say “we do not ask them too……” hmmm I believe this leads me to question their “cruelty free” status
Wait… they’re not vegan but you consider them cruelty free??? 😦
I DID consider Living Proof cruelty free, but have stopped buying their products mainly because I can’t find anyone else that does. That said, I haven’t seen that they are NOT cruelty free either. As for the company not being vegan, I do not require cruelty free products to be vegan as well. I understand that there are many different opinions on the definition of cruelty free and have stated my thoughts in the Drop Down Menu listed “Cruelty Free Resources – Cruelty Free Philosophy.” I hope this helps to clarify my way of looking at a brand’s cruelty free status and that we can respectfully agree to disagree – though I am no longer listing Living Proof as cruelty free. <3
Hun I think you may have misread their answer… they literally said “Living Proof products are NOT vegan….. so no, apparently they are not cruelty-free unfortunately 🙁
Thanks for pointing that out! I agree that Living Proof is NOT vegan, but I don’t consider cruelty free to require only vegan products. Everyone seems to have a slightly different line, and for myself right now, vegan is not a necessity. I understand that for others products / companies must be vegan, so I do my best to state when products are vegan…assuming that I know. If you want to know more about my feelings on the topic, I have an explanation regarding what is cruelty free to me under “Cruelty Free Resources – Cruelty Free Philosophy.” As far as Living Proof goes, I have not found another blogger listing them on their cruelty free lists and have stopped purchasing their products. I have no reason to think that they are no longer cruelty free (but NOT vegan), but I feel like maybe I’ve missed something. Hope this helps clarify things and we can respectfully disagree about the definition of cruelty free. 🙂