Is Maui Moisture Cruelty Free?
Maui Moisture is a haircare brand that prides itself on being vegan (aka no animal derived ingredients). But are they cruelty free?
What I find very frustrating about Maui Moisture is that they go to great lengths to avoid mentioning who their parent company is. It’s as though they don’t want consumers to know that Maui Moisture is a Johnson & Johnson brand.
Johnson & Johnson are not cruelty-free. Whether or not this Maui Moisture brand is… well, that’s up for debate.
So Johnson & Johnson created this brand?
Exactly. This isn’t a cruelty-free brand that was bought by a cruel (aka non-cruelty-free) company. This was a range created by a cruel company so that they could have a ‘cruelty-free’ brand to profit of off, rather than pulling any of their existing brands from the Chinese market.
It’s not exactly the sort of brand I want my cruelty-free money to support.
Does Maui Moisture sell in China?
Here’s an extract from their FAQs, which I’ll translate below:
At MAUI MOISTURE®, we care deeply about the integrity of our products and our actions. When it comes to animal wellbeing, both MAUI MOISTURE® and our parent company share your concerns and believe that testing cosmetic and personal care products on animals should be obsolete. In fact, our parent company actively partners with research and advocacy organizations to advance alternative testing methods and the good news is that it’s working – there has been recent regulatory reform progress and we will continue to advocate for the acceptance of non-animal data globally. MAUI MOISTURE® products are not tested on animals and to reaffirm this policy, we have made an active decision to not sell MAUI MOISTURE® products in China, where regulations requiring animal testing exist. To learn more about our parent company’s efforts, please visit www.safetyandcarecommitment.com.
https://uk.mauimoisture.com/faqs/
What this tells me:
- their parent company is not cruelty free
- the Maui Moisture range itself not sold in China or tested on animals
- the Maui Moisture range has no cruelty-free certification to back up their cruelty-free status
Johnson & Johnson own Maui Moisture?
I’ve often felt like Johnson & Johnson have tried to make Maui Moisture seem like a small, independent brand. In fact, when I first started researching I found it hard to find out exactly who owns Maui Moisture. I finally discovered it was Johnson & Johnson through a couple of clues. The two biggest hints included the link from their FAQs (as seen above) www.safetyandcarecommitment.com linking to a Johnson & Johnson page, as well as the footer of the UK site being a dead giveaway:
So are Maui Moisture Cruelty Free?
Honestly? It’s a grey area. I think it’s important to appreciate that there’s not one way to define cruelty-free. For me, I’d definitely say, no Maui Moisture doesn’t tick that box. It’s a Johnson & Johnson brand and they are not cruelty free, even if this range isn’t tested on animals. They don’t just own Maui Moisture, they created it.
However, my opinion isn’t the only opinion. I just hope that this post has painted a fuller picture for you and allows you to make an informed decision when it comes to your cruelty-free purchases.
Which hair care brands are cruelty free?
Here’s an instagram post I recently did all about vegan haircare: