Herbal Essences is vegan :)

[bluegrrrl79]

Today I was looking for a bottle of body wash that said no testing on animals. When I looked at Herbal Essences, I saw that it said there is no animal byproducts used and that all the ingrediants are from vegetables sources! I never realized that :o I'll have to buy more of their products!

[Skylark]

HE is owned by Proctor and Gamble, right? From what I've read, the statement about no animal testing only means that the final product wasn't tested on animals. Since it's P&G here, most likely the ingredients themselves WERE tested on animals. Props to you for reading labels, though! I know there are other threads about P&G and their testing in the recent past, and there are probably suggestions about how to contact P&G with any concerns you have.

[kpickell]

Yeah, I use Herbal Essence as well, for that reason.

I don't buy any Proctor and Gamble products if they are tested on animals or contain any animal byproducts.

[FalafelsRule]

Well, I have bought this brand before because it's cheap and has no animal ingredients. When I search for products, I usually make sure there are no animal ingredients in them first, then make sure it's not tested on animals. If I had to settle for something that was tested on animals, but had no animal ingredients, I would. I will not settle for a product with animal ingredients in them though.

[DeeDee2012]

Yeah, according to PGInfo.net, Herbal Essences is made by P&G. I hate to be the one to sound like I am preaching, but in my personal opinion, buying anything from this company is contributing to animal testing. Although the product itself was not tested on animals, the money you give to P&G ultimately will end up supporting other products that are.
But, like I said, that is just the way I feel. I personally prefer buying from companies that do not test at all, because buying from companies that do, no matter if that single product was or not, is wasteless.
If you are concerned about cheap and easy to access, I can recommend products from Alberto Culver, who has signed a 10 year treaty not to test on animals. They make VO5 (super cheap) and Tressemmee (good for damaged hair) and St. Ives (similar to Herbal Essences)

[misslego]

for me it's not even so much the proctor and gamble issue so much as the shampoo dries my hair out like no tomorrow. i have a weird issue with drugstore hair products as well.

[FalafelsRule]

I can recommend products from Alberto Culver, who has signed a 10 year treaty not to test on animals. They make VO5 (super cheap) and Tressemmee (good for damaged hair) and St. Ives (similar to Herbal Essences)

Ahh, but is there animal ingredients in these? I don't eat animals and surely would not wash myslef with them.

[DeeDee2012]

Ahh, but is there animal ingredients in these? I don't eat animals and surely would not wash myslef with them.
In the VO5 my BF uses, there is not any animal ingredients, and I have never seen any in the St. Ives hair/skin products that I buy, however I can't guarantee their other products.

[FalafelsRule]

Ok, thanks. If I am ever in a crunch and cannot find my regular organic vegan shampoo by natures Gate, I'll look into V05.

[mosquito]

The only V05 one I kow of that may not be vegan is the one with keratin for fine hair. Even the fruit and cream ones are made with soymilk.

[Cissy]

I don't use Herbal Essences, mainly because it's too expensive for us right now. It smells sooo good though. V05 is super-inexpensive and not animal tested, and makes my hair look nice, so that's what I use. And I love the Strawberries and Cream scent. I like a lot of the St. Ives stuff too.

[FalafelsRule]

Herbal Essence is 1.99 here. The Natures Gate I use is 4.99. I got short hair so they last forever.

[kpickell]

I don't see any difference between buying Silk Soy Milk, or Morningstar Vegan Burgers, or Boca Burgers, and buying Herbal Essence Shampoo. All are produced by companies that manufactor non-vegan products and use animal testing in addition to producing products that are cruelty-free and vegan. It's a matter of showing them which products are more profitable for them. They are watching to see if consumers support the vegan, cruelty-free products or not. The message were sending them is "No, we don't", so IMO we might as well write them a letter and tell them to discontinue the vegan and cruelty-free products.

[Miss Meg]

I never knew VO5 was not tested on animals. It's one of those products that looks like it would be, if that makes sense. I learned something new. Yay.

[Cissy]

Herbal Essence is 1.99 here. The Natures Gate I use is 4.99. I got short hair so they last forever.

Ah... see, Herbal Essences is $3 or $4 here, whereas V05 is less than $1. And my hair goes to my waist. :p

[Azalea]

Hm. I stumbled over this site.... it says that Alberto-Culver (VO5) *do* test on animlas, but I'm not sure how accurate this source is :confused:


http://www.ohiou.edu/~seta/comp.html

[Azalea]

This is getting confusing.

Peta say they do:

http://users.skynet.be/sobermind/at/info/cctest1099.html

..while this site says something quite different :

http://www.hsus.org/ace/16309

[kpickell]

One thing I've noticed about PETA and ARGs is that they are quick to point out which companies test on animals, but when a company stops the animal testing, they are very slow to retract their previous statements. It's like they don't believe that the company has really stoped.

I have an old bottle of VO5 and it does say "not tested on animals" on the label. So I think you're safe buying that.

[bluegrrrl79]

Well, like the others said, I buy foods from companies that do things like that, but if the food/product I'm buying is cruelty free, I don't see a problem. That's fine if you want to avoid it for that reason, but personally I don't see why I should, since at least it will be helping to create a damand for more cruelty free products from that company.

I don't get VO5 cause my sister(who works at a hair salon) says it's bad for your hair, not sure why.

By the way, in another thread someone told me that St.Ives isn't vegan, or is that just some products? Honestly I'm not vegan, I don't know all the words for animal products in things so I just go by what you guys say or what is said on the bottle (I'm a wannabe vegan, hehe).

[Adams]

Ok, I haven't even done my introduction yet, but I can't resist. I've had this debate twice already!!

The first time was here:
http://www.veganporn.com/vote.pl?pollid=54

The second time was here:
http://www.veganrepresent.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1798

I'm not sure why, but back then I actually cared what people thought. If any of it sounds sensitive or wussy, it's probably because it is sensitive or wussy! :p

I stopped using Herbal Essences since those debates. I'm happy that I did. Whether the product itself is good or not, I know Clairol is a sketchy company and being under P&G makes it that much worse! If you want to have alternative-to-mainstream products, you need to support them.

FYI: The *new* Herbal Essences, called "Fruit Fusions", is missing 3 key things that the original product has: The "+99% plant derived" flag :down:
The ingredients list :down:
And the "Product not tested on animals" comment :down: So you see, they've pretty much stopped using the standards that attracted you to the product in the first place! Doesn't sound like a winner to me!

[kpickell]

So they've finally got the message? Most vegans don't care whether they test their products on animals or not, they're not going to support you either way Clariol. Not surprising that they've dropped the label. But it is disconcerting, and I've contacted them to ask if the new products are tested on animals or not.

Anyways, welcome to the board Adam. I read the threads you linked us to, and I actually agreed with almost everything you said. So I'm not sure what caused you to change your mind and join the blanket boycott. I'm curious to know if you also stopped buying vegetables from a grocery store that also sells meat, since you used that comparison in your first vegporn message. ... Glad you joined veggieboards. Look forward to hearing more from you.

[Adams]

Anyways, welcome to the board Adam. I read the threads you linked us to, and I actually agreed with almost everything you said. So I'm not sure what caused you to change your mind and join the blanket boycott. I'm curious to know if you also stopped buying vegetables from a grocery store that also sells meat, since you used that comparison in your first vegporn message. ... Glad you joined veggieboards. Look forward to hearing more from you. Thanks for the welcome. :)

I didn't really join the blanket boycott as you say. I certainly didn't stop buying veggies from the grocery store. I think that's a poor analogy now anyways, the grocery store isn't the producer of meat, but Clairol is the producer of animal based/tested products. So why shoot the messenger? Don't get me wrong, sometimes I feel that blanket boycotts and shooting the messenger are ok, it depends a lot on what the problem is. I realize this leaves some holes in my consistent vegan fabric :rolleyes:, but you choose the battles you can win, and as things get better the other fights get easier.

So what really changed since then? I guess I got *awaked* to the problem of animal testing. I didn't so much worry about it back then although I've always been against it. Now I try to avoid using products tested on animals and I try to avoid the companies who do this. Sometimes you don’t have a choice, but here we’re talking about shampoo right? This is probably the easiest way to make a difference. :)

[VeggieKitten]

I don't see any difference between buying Silk Soy Milk, or Morningstar Vegan Burgers, or Boca Burgers, and buying Herbal Essence Shampoo. All are produced by companies that manufactor non-vegan products and use animal testing in addition to producing products that are cruelty-free and vegan.

:worried: Are you saying that Silk Soy Milk by White Wave is a company that tests on animals?! Please clarify/elaborate!

My personal opinion on HE products are that even though that particular line may not have been animal tested, they are still owned by Clairol/P&G and I would not give them my business. And what Adams said is no surprise:


FYI: The *new* Herbal Essences, called "Fruit Fusions", is missing 3 key things that the original product has:
The "+99% plant derived" flag
The ingredients list
And the "Product not tested on animals" comment
So you see, they've pretty much stopped using the standards that attracted you to the product in the first place! Doesn't sound like a winner to me!


It has been said that we should support cruelty free products from these companies, but right now I still find it difficult to do so.

[Artichoke47]

I like the organic hair care by the popular no animal testing/no animal ingredients companies, but even if I did buy regular shampoo as an omnivore consumer or as a vegetarian consumer, I would not buy Herbal Essences. The commercials they air with the women saying "Yes. Yes. Yes." are so annoying, old, and immature. If they are trying to attract an audience who thinks it's cool to pretend like you're having an orgasm on TV from using a stupid shampoo, that's fine. I just think it's lame. Did I already say that? :)

[kpickell]

:worried: Are you saying that Silk Soy Milk by White Wave is a company that tests on animals?! Please clarify/elaborate!

Yes, White Wave is owned by Dean Foods (http://www.deanfoods.com/products/soy.asp).