Leaping Bunny + PETA certified; mostly vegan (some lip balms contain beeswax)
| Ingredient transparency | Full ingredient list read and categorised |
| Ownership | Sun Bum is wholly owned by S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. SC Johnson announced an agreement to acquire Sun Bum on 14 June 2019, a deal that also included the sibling Baby Bum sun and baby care line. SC Johnson itself did not disclose financial terms, though trade press has reported a valuation of around 400 million dollars. Sun Bum was previously backed by the private equity firm VMG Partners. The brand was founded in 2010 in Cocoa Beach, Florida, by branding entrepreneur Tom Rinks. Sun Bum remains actively trading and is sold through Amazon, grocery, drugstore, mass and specialty beauty retailers. (Privately held) |
| Where made | USA |
| Price | Budget |
| Cruelty free | Yes |
| Vegan | Partial |
| Organic | No |
| Certifications | Leaping Bunny (cruelty free, Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics standard, administered by the American Anti Vivisection Society): genuine. Sun Bum's own Leaping Bunny brand page lists it as certified since 2021, covering the full product range.; PETA Beauty Without Bunnies (cruelty free): genuine. PETA's own company database lists Sun Bum as cruelty free, stating that neither its ingredients nor finished products are tested on animals and that its suppliers follow the same standard.; Protect Land + Sea Certification (reef safety, Haereticus Environmental Laboratory): not held. Sun Bum does not appear among the certified brands featured on the Haereticus Labs website, which lists only Badger, Odacite, Stream2Sea, Tropic Skincare and Olen. |
| Packaging | Recyclable |
| External ratings | CFK cruelty-free; Leaping Bunny + PETA |
| Lab tested | SPF tested to FDA standards |
| Clinical studies | Not published |
| Caveat | Leaping Bunny + PETA certified; mostly vegan except some lip balms/baby products with beeswax |
Claims made for this brand that could not be confirmed in a certifier's own register. A brand website is a claim, not a source.
Any current or past marketing of chemical sunscreens as reef friendly, reef compliant, or carrying coral reef imagery. The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office sued Sun Bum over exactly these claims, distributed on in store photo cards between 2018 and 2021, and secured a court settlement approved on 2 May 2025. Sun Bum was ordered to pay 300,000 dollars in civil penalties, fund a 25,000 dollar reef restoration project through the Fish Reef Project, and stop advertising any chemical sunscreen as reef friendly, reef compliant, or with any drawing, symbol or photo of a coral reef, after the claims were found false and misleading given other reef harming chemicals still present in the formulas.
Sun Bum Leaping Bunny certification since 2021 https://www.leapingbunny.org/brand/sun-bum
Sun Bum PETA cruelty free listing https://crueltyfree.peta.org/company/sun-bum/
Absence from Protect Land + Sea certified brand list https://www.haereticus-lab.org/protect-land-sea-certification/
SC Johnson acquisition announcement, 14 June 2019 https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sc-johnson-signs-agreement-to-acquire-sun-bum-300867839.html
Reported 400 million dollar valuation and VMG Partners backing https://drugstorenews.com/beauty/sc-johnson-acquires-sun-bum
Santa Clara County DA reef friendly settlement, 2 May 2025, 300,000 dollar penalty: (archived copy read via https://web.archive.org/web/2025/) https://da.santaclaracounty.gov/da-secures-first-ever-judgment-lawsuit-against-major-sunscreen-manufacturer-false-reef-friendly
Why there is no score: Partial read. This verdict is provisional. Only part of the catalogue could be read and the certifications listed have not been checked against the certifiers own registers, so the evidence does not yet support a settled verdict. No score is published. Ingredient lists were obtained for 51 products, but the brand's product listing did not respond when the total catalogue size was measured, so the share of the range covered is unknown. Without a denominator a percentage would be meaningless.
Last checked 22 July 2026.
Not yet independently verified. The certifications listed for this brand are as the brand states them. They have not yet been checked against the certifiers own registers, so they should be read as a claim rather than a confirmed fact.
We analysed 51 Sun Bum products, categorising every listed ingredient by function, origin (raw natural, naturally derived or synthetic) and safety concern. This is not the whole catalogue, so it is reported as a partial read. Percentages show the share of each formula that is natural or naturally derived.
Most common flags: fragrance, Fragrance, Phenoxyethanol, phenoxyethanol, polysorbate 80, dimethicone, Mineral Oil, Flavor, disodium EDTA, Dimethicone, Cyclopentasiloxane, Methylisothiazolinone
Coverage: Ingredient lists were read for 51 products. The size of the full catalogue could not be established, so no average is shown.
Analyst note: Ingredient lists were read for 51 products. The brand's total catalogue size could not be measured, so the share of the catalogue covered here is not known.
| Product | Natural | Ingredients | Flagged |
|---|---|---|---|
| Road Tripper | 86% | 35 | 3 |
| Hypochlorous Acid Mist | 100% | 9 | 0 |
| Road Tripper - Mineral | 100% | 16 | 0 |
| Bonfire SPF 30 Moisturizing Lip Balm | 90% | 20 | 1 |
| Heat Wave SPF 30 Moisturizing Lip Balm | 90% | 20 | 1 |
| Sunset Cove SPF 30 Moisturizing Lip Balm | 90% | 20 | 1 |
| Original SPF 15 Sunscreen Lotion | 74% | 19 | 2 |
| Original SPF 70 Sunscreen Lotion | 62% | 21 | 4 |
| Blonde Hair Lightener | 58% | 12 | 5 |
| Original Face and Body Stick 40 | 67% | 9 | 2 |
| Paper Tube SPF 50 Sunscreen Face Stick | 67% | 21 | 3 |
| Daily 50 Face Gel | 94% | 17 | 0 |
| Daily 50 Face Lotion | 71% | 14 | 2 |
| Revitalizing Protect & Repair Oil | 87% | 15 | 1 |
| SPF 15 Sunscreen Browning Lotion | 80% | 30 | 3 |
| Blonde Purple Conditioner | 67% | 24 | 6 |
| Blonde Purple Shampoo | 68% | 25 | 4 |
| Original SPF 70 Sunscreen Face Lotion | 80% | 10 | 1 |
| CocoBalm Lip Balm 3-Pack | 92% | 12 | 1 |
| Baby Bum Mineral SPF 50 Sunscreen Spray | 96% | 27 | 0 |
| Curls Styling Cream | 72% | 18 | 4 |
| Curls Shampoo | 59% | 32 | 6 |
| Curls Detangler | 63% | 19 | 5 |
| Heat Protector | 83% | 24 | 4 |
| Blonde Tone Enhancer | 79% | 24 | 4 |
| Curls Conditioner | 55% | 20 | 6 |
| CocoBalm Lip Balm - Wild Strawberry | 92% | 12 | 1 |
| CocoBalm Lip Balm - Banana Cream | 92% | 12 | 1 |
| CocoBalm Lip Balm - Aloe Wave | 92% | 12 | 1 |
| Mineral SPF 50 Sunscreen Face Stick | 100% | 16 | 0 |
| Original SPF 30 Sunscreen Lip Balm 3-Pack | 77% | 13 | 1 |
| CocoBalm Lip Balm - Piña Colada | 92% | 12 | 1 |
| CocoBalm Lip Balm - Ocean Mint | 92% | 12 | 1 |
| Texturizing Surf Paste | 77% | 31 | 5 |
| Original SPF 50 Sunscreen Face Lotion | 65% | 20 | 3 |
| Baby Bum Mineral SPF 50 Sunscreen Lotion | 92% | 25 | 1 |
| SPF 15 Sunscreen Tanning Oil | 90% | 20 | 2 |
| Signature SPF 50 Tinted Mineral Face Stick | 71% | 21 | 2 |
| Sea Spray | 83% | 12 | 1 |
| Revitalizing Conditioner | 86% | 22 | 3 |
| After Sun Cool Down Spray | 78% | 9 | 2 |
| After Sun Cool Down Lotion | 80% | 15 | 2 |
| Original SPF 50 Face Cream | 81% | 21 | 3 |
| Signature SPF 30 Mineral Face Stick | 62% | 13 | 2 |
| Original SPF 30 Sunscreen Lip Balm - Pineapple | 77% | 13 | 1 |
| Original SPF 30 Sunscreen Lip Balm - Watermelon | 77% | 13 | 1 |
| Original SPF 30 Sunscreen Lip Balm - Banana | 77% | 13 | 1 |
| Original SPF 30 Sunscreen Lip Balm - Coconut | 77% | 13 | 1 |
| Original SPF 30 Sunscreen Lip Balm - Pomegranate | 77% | 13 | 1 |
| Original SPF 50 Sunscreen Lotion | 62% | 21 | 4 |
| Original SPF 30 Sunscreen Lotion | 67% | 21 | 3 |
Full ingredient breakdown
The full ingredient by ingredient breakdown of all 51 Sun Bum products (918 ingredients, each categorised by function, origin and safety concern) is free with an account.
Create a free accountAlready have one? Log in