Going Cruelty Free

In March 2014, I decided that I would only purchase beauty items from cruelty free brands.

First off, let me say that I’m NOT here to judge. This decision is personal, and I will not judge others whose decisions and thoughts don’t match my own. We are all capable of making our own personal choices. I do not appreciate or respect preaching and “my way or the highway” attitudes which is why you’ll never feel any judgement from me.

I just wanted to fill you in on some of my reasoning and why you will not see certain brands featured on this blog or my other social media.

I made this decision because there is no need for me to buy beauty products that are tested on animals. I don’t need makeup. I love it, but I don’t need it. Animal testing on products I don’t need to survive just doesn’t make sense for me considering that it is an unnecessary and outdated practice that I do not wish to support. There are many facets to going cruelty free (parent companies, selling in China, definitions of cruelty free) which I will try to describe and clarify below.

First, parent companies. Thanks to Amber at onelostmomma, I came across a great post on the blog Phyrra about going cruelty free. Courtney talks about supporting companies who are cruelty free even if their parent companies aren’t as this has the potential to show parent companies that their cruelty free sub-companies can still be successful. I’m not going to punish companies who have committed to be cruelty free. It’s kind of like saying “Ok, so your parents committed a bunch of crimes so we’re going to punish them for that, but we’re also going to punish you, their child, even though you didn’t do anything.” I do realize that some money trickles up to that parent company but honestly, people are not going to stop buying from those companies regardless of my purchasing decisions. People will not stop buying MAC. They will not stop buying fancy luxury brands like Chanel and Dior. They will not stop buying mainstream drugstore brands because they’re easily accessible and affordable. What really needs to happen is that animal testing needs to be banned so this is no longer an issue. The cosmetics industry is constantly growing and growing, and while I want to make a statement with my money and voice, I also want to be realistic.  I don’t intend to sound apathetic or pessimistic, but to be frank, my decision to go cruelty free is more about my principles and what I do and don’t support as opposed to believing that my individual decision is somehow going to have a quick, huge impact on the immediate elimination of animal testing. That doesn’t mean I don’t care about results or that I don’t want to see changes, obviously I do. But I’d rather be realistic in realizing that making positive change is going to take much more than individual decisions to go cruelty free. What we need are changes in our laws that make animal testing a thing of the past.

Second, selling in China. Brands can be sneaky about animal testing because even though they may not test on animals here in the US, they may CHOOSE to sell their products in China where animal testing is required. So essentially those companies still do test even if they say they don’t. (Look out for the “except when required by law statements” in their policies.)

That being said, here are some notes to finalize and summarize. I will support cruelty free brands even if their parent companies test because I don’t want to punish a company for taking a positive stance on animal testing. I am not a vegan, and I am not a vegetarian, and that is not going to change. To me, consuming animal products is nothing like unnecessary animal testing although I know there are plenty of people out there who will deem my attitude to be hypocritical. There are ways to consume animal products in a more ethical way, but that is an entirely separate discussion for another day and there will never be consensus on this issue! There are a variety of definitions of cruelty free and mine will differ from others’. Some people are more strict in their definitions of cruelty free and if that works for them, that’s great. I try to put my money where my mouth is and do the best I can for MY personal belief system. The choices I’ve made are about adopting practices that suit my personal morals and comfort level.

As a last note, I currently have a few products from brands that aren’t cruelty free. I will not be throwing these products out as that would be pointlessly wasteful. We spend good money on our products and since the purchase need has been already been done, I will be using up those products but not replacing them.

Thank you very much for reading. I hope all of this made sense. I know very well that not every product I ever use in life will be cruelty free (animal testing goes way beyond beauty-science, medicine, and even in cruelty free products, the ingredients themselves have probably been tested at some point.)  I’m going to put in more effort and research and do the best I can. Additionally, there are amazing resources out there to look to for guidance, education, and support-you can find some of them here, and in my cruelty free menu at the top of the blog. I hope this gave you some insight into my decision.

I’d be happy to answer any questions or try and clarify anything. Thanks you for reading.