frozen spring

In 2015 I decided to go cruelty-free. If you don’t know what the term means, it simply means that beauty products aren’t tested on animals. In this post I wanted to explain why I went cruelty-free, but also how (in case you’d like to do the same thing, and hopefully my little guide could help you at that). To be honest, I don’t really have a valid reason for not doing that sooner; it’s not like I didn’t know brands were testing on animals, but I obviously chose to look the other way or to ignore this issue. I’m glad I finally did some reading because I realised I didn’t want to contribute to this cruel practice any longer just so that I could buy a pretty lipstick or mascara. So, if you’re interested in my reasons and how I went cruelty-free, keep reading!

WHY

There are many reasons why I decided to go cruelty-free, and while certain reasons were more important than others, all of them lead me to my decision.

Animal testing is cruel and disgusting

Have you ever wondered how testing on animals looks like? Did you know that chemicals are literally rubbed into their shaved skin, dripped into their eyes or given to them oraly? I know I wouldn’t allow such tests being performed on my dog, so why would I be okay with them being performed on other animals? And can someone explain the purpose of that? I have a really hard time understanding how are these tests helping anyone.

Animal testing isn’t necessary and there are other alternatives

Beauty products don’t need to be tested on animals and it’s completely unnecessary since thousands of ingredients have already been proven to be safe for use and there is no reason to test them over and over again. Not to mention there are other alternatives to animal testing like, for example, in vitro testing.

I didn’t want to support animal testing

You know how they say that we, consumers, vote with our money? Well, that’s true and that’s why I wanted to stop supporting companies that test on animals. Because, let’s be honest, everytime I purchased something from companies that do test, I was basically paying for animal testing (among other stuff). Well, I figured there are better ways to spend my money so I was done supporting companies that test on animals.

I wanted to support animal-friendly brands

This is actually related to my previous point. There are many cruelty-free brands which means that I actually have a choice and that I could support brands that shared my view when it comes to animal testing. There are actually so many brands to choose from, and you would be surprised how many brands are cruelty-free. I will link some lists in the ‘how’ part of this post.

HOW

When it comes to how I went cruelty-free, I can tell you that it did feel a bit overwhelming at the beginning, but it isn’t impossible.

Research

First thing I did is, obviously, research. As I said, it felt so overwhelming at the beginning and I didn’t know where to start, but luckily there are so many excellent cruelty-free bloggers and various organisation who share their information on cruelty-free brands. After checking lists with cruelty-free brands, I went through my makeup bag to check if I already owned any of those brands. Unfortunately, I wasn’t so good at that, I actually have many products from brands that do test, but I did make a list of brands and products that I planned to purchase in the future.

Switching products I already owned

When it comes to this, I can tell you that I did (and I still do) this as I go and I would recommend this to anyone who’s going cruelty-free. I didn’t throw anything away because I don’t like to throw stuff away and I don’t see the point of that; I rather gave away some of my products and I even sold a few, but I still have many products since I am a bit of a hoarder, so I’m still figuring out how to deal with that. In the meantime, I’m buying products as I go and as I use up something (I mostly use up skin careproducts  because I have less of those and it’s easier to use them up ).

Being up to date

Even though I did my research at the beginning, it’s important that I’m always up to date because brands do change their status – some brands lose their cruelty-free status (unfortunately), while others join the cruelty-free community.

USEFUL LINKS

As I mentioned above, I started by doing some research and here are the links to bloggers and organisations that helped me with information on animal testing and cruelty-free brands.

Organisations

• Humane Society International – is a global organisation that helps all animals through various programs and on their website you can read more about animal testing – HERE

• Leaping Bunny – is an organisation that has so called Leaping Bunny Program which means that brands (companies) can be certified by them; this certificate means that these brands do not test their ingredients or products on animals, nor do they pay a third party to do the testing for them. You need to keep in mind that not all companies are certified by Leaping Bunny and that doesn’t mean that they’re not cruelty free. Click to see which brands are certified – LINK.

Cruelty-Free Bloggers

• Logical Harmony – this is probably one of the first blogs I came across; Tashina, the author behind the blog, has her own list of cruelty-free brands – she contacts them directly with a set of questions and then adds brands to three lists: cruelty-free, gray area brands and brands to avoid. Lists are available HERE. Again, keep in mind that not all brands are on these lists, simply because it takes time to contact all these brands and then for them to answer; not to mention she’s just one person.

• Cruelty-Free Kitty – another blogger I like to read and I’ve been following since I started my cruelty-free journey. She, too, has her own list and you can see it HERE.

• Phyrra – I’ve been reading her blog for years, even before she went cruelty-free; the reason I followed her is because she has many indie reviews and I just love indie brands! You can see her list of cruelty-free brands HERE.

There are many other websites I follow, but these are probably the ones I read on a weekly basis, especially when it comes to cruelty-free lists. You’ll notice how many lists have similar brands  on them, but then there are some diffrences. That can depend on various reason, but I think one of them is the fact that they (bloggers I mentioned) all contact brands by themselves and that’s something that just takes time.

I hope you’ll find this post useful, but I do plan to go a bit into more details about cruelty-free brands and why certain brands still test their products on animals. I’ll also share some of my favourite brands in this range, but I’m sure you already know which those are since I’ve been all about certain brands. ;)

 Vesna ♥