Paraben-free, phthalate-free, vegan, cruelty-free. These words show up on nearly every kids' hair product label now, including ours, but they get thrown around often enough that it's worth breaking down what each one actually means.
Paraben-free
Parabens are a class of preservatives used to keep products from growing bacteria or mold. They've been common in cosmetics for decades, but some studies have raised questions about how they interact with hormones in the body, which has led a lot of parents to look for products without them. Paraben-free means the formula uses a different preservation method instead.
Phthalate-free
Phthalates are chemicals sometimes used to help fragrance last longer or to make plastics more flexible. Like parabens, they've come under scrutiny for potential hormone effects, especially for kids, whose bodies are still developing. Phthalate-free means none were used in the fragrance or formula.
Vegan
Vegan means no animal-derived ingredients, things like beeswax, lanolin, or collagen, were used in the formula. It's a formula claim, not automatically a claim about every item a brand sells, since packaging or accessory materials can differ. Our Curl Leave-in Cream's formula is vegan, along with the rest of our styling and hair care formulas.
Cruelty-free
Cruelty-free means the product and its ingredients weren't tested on animals. It's a separate claim from vegan, a product can be cruelty-free without being vegan, or vegan without being cruelty-free, so it's worth looking for both if both matter to you.
Why we made these choices
None of these labels are legally required, which is exactly why we think they're worth explaining rather than just printing on a box. We formulate our Curl Leave-in Cream, and the rest of our line, without parabens, phthalates, or animal-derived ingredients because that's the standard we wanted for our own kids first.
A word on "natural" and "clean"
Natural and clean are useful shorthand, but they're not regulated terms, which means they can mean very different things from one brand to the next. Paraben-free, phthalate-free, vegan, and cruelty-free are more specific and easier to verify, which is part of why we lead with those instead of vaguer language.
Read past the label
A label tells you what's not in a product. It's still worth checking the ingredient list itself for what is, since paraben-free and phthalate-free don't automatically mean gentle or simple, they just mean those two specific things are absent.