Living Proof: Restore Hair Care Routine (Compliments of Influenster)

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As we all know, I am always up for trying out new beauty and hair care trends, even though as of recently doing so has semi-overflowed my bathroom's medicine cabinet. However, this sponsored opportunity I had from Influenster was just too good to pass up considering it included products from the wildly popular hair care brand, Living Proof's, new Restore Hair Care line. And since I am one to definitely to mix it up and try new brands (especially with all the rave reviews I have read and heard about Living Proof), I made some more space in my shower caddy, and gave Restore a whirl.

Living Proof

Considering I didn't know much about this company, I am assuming a handful of you might not either, and normally, this is the part in the article where I would give you background information on the company. However, much to my dismay, there wasn't much of that on Living Proof's "About Us" page, aside from their origin story, and by looking back at their press and awards page, I am assuming the company started sometime in the year 2007 or 2008.

And those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile know that another topic I try to cover about beauty companies when I review them (think Amika, L'Oréal Paris, Caress,  and Harvey Prince to name a few) is if they are or if they are not cruelty free. So for this post, I decided to email Living Proof and ask them since this information was not listed on their website and this is the response I received:

"Thank you for your inquiry. Our policy is as follows:

Safety is our top priority and we use the best and most advanced tools to achieve that. We do not test our finished products on animals, nor do we ask our suppliers to test them on our behalf. 

Thank you,
Living Proof"

So, in other words, once everything is formulated they no longer test. Which is why they don't talk about it on their website and why they are not rated as "cruelty free". And though I am guilty of using non-cruelty free products, I found this revelation to be a bit disappointing. The reason why I find this disappointing is due to the fact they have unclear policies, no mention of their suppliers on their website, and seemingly beat around the bush in their automated responses, which just leads me to believe they are not cruelty free. Which to me, seems like a bit of a let down when their motto is "We are the science, you are the living proof." In my opinion, for a company with such an innovative statement, should perhaps be more innovative in their testing practices.

However I was still semi-eager to give the products a go because they were free after all, so here are my thoughts:

Restore Shampoo

The first thing I noticed about this shampoo is that it smells pretty good, though I still prefer the scent of the Amika or L'Oréal Paris products that I have, however this shampoo still had a light and fresh scent. However, unlike the other hair care products I have reviewed here, this shampoo did not lather as nicely and did not feel like much on my scalp. Then to top it off I found it to be a bit challenging to really rinse it out of my tresses, in my opinion the shampoo just seemed to cling to my hair, which is not a quality I look for in shampoo. So my consensus is at least it smells good.

Restore Mask Treatment

After finally getting the shampoo rinsed out of my hair, I proceeded to the next step which was the treatment mask. This mask did feel nice on my scalp, applied easily enough, and had the same fresh scent as the shampoo, so it was an enjoyable 5 minute "restoring" period. Unlike the shampoo, the mask surprisingly rinsed out easily and did leave my hair feeling smooth and refreshed. However, to be completely honest, I still prefer my Harvey Prince Keravegan Hair Masque  opposed to this one.

Restore Conditioner 

To follow up the mask, the directions called for the use of the Restore Conditioner. The conditioner, like the other products, smells great but its consistency is actually a bit thick and kinda goopy for my liking, which also made it a bit hard to apply. The reason I think this is, is because of the products thickness, which makes it a bit tricky to evenly spread throughout your locks. And then, much like shampoo, this conditioner took seemingly forever to rinse out of my hair and also seemed to just cling to my tresses.

Restore Perfecting Spray

Lastly, I finished this hair care routine with Living Proof's Restore Perfecting Spray, and was unsurprisingly, disappointed. I thought maybe, just maybe, this would be the one product I really liked out of the kit, but it turns out, in my opinion, all four products are duds in my book. The spray itself smells nice just like all the other products, however after applying it, it didn't seem to really do anything. Meaning I did not feel any of its smoothing effects to the touch like I had with L'Oréal Paris' lustrous oil, or Amika's leave in cream. 

Final Thoughts

As I am sure you can tell by this article, I am not overly impressed with Living Proof's products, and am certainly happy that I received them complimentary from Influenster and did not actually purchase them out of pocket (more on that in a second). And though I don't think these products are completely awful, I personally would not recommend them to my readers and here are my reasons why:

  1. As you can tell by my reviews of the products above, I felt that they were hard to work with and I also feel there is little to no difference in my hair, which to me seems to be a lot of work with no payoff, which leads me to my next reason...
  2. For the price (I'm talking $28 for an 8oz bottle of shampoo) it just seems like a waste of money. Honestly my kit from L'Oréal Paris that costs roughly $30 for all 4 products, works better for my hair than these Living Proof products did.
  3. As I stated earlier, I am pretty sure Living Proof is not cruelty free, which though I am guilty of using non-cruelty free products (duh, I use L'Oréal), I personally feel if you are paying that much money for hair care products, you might as well shop at Amika or Harvey Prince Organics. The reason I say this is because all three are within the same price range (Harvey Prince Organics actually being the least expensive of the three) but Amika and Harvey Prince Organics  both are 100% cruelty free, vegan friendly, and in my opinion work much better than Living Proof's products.

So, even though my personal experience with Living Proof was disappointing, I'd love to hear you opinions and experiences whether they are positive or negative! So let's chat about it in the comments below, or you can tweet me at @StarkravingChic. Later, dolls.

Xx, Bree

P.S. If you happen to like Living Proof, or want to give any of the other products I talked about in this article a try,  just head over to my SHOP page and click the corresponding Instagram image for this post to shop all the products!