Friday, April 24, 2015

The best cruelty-free products

Most people don't realize that a majority of household and beauty products are unnecessarily tested on animals. If you love animals and don't want to support companies that torture and kill them to create products for you to enjoy, here are some of my personal favorite products I myself use, and that are all 100% cruelty free. We try to use only cruelty products in our household, so I can vouch that these items are good and worth getting! The benefit of cruelty products is a lot of them happen to be natural too! I picked my favorite from each product category of common things that may linger on your shopping list. I hope you'll try some of these. Let me know what you think! Please switch over to cruelty free brands... the animals thank you for it!






All purpose cleaner

Skip the harsh chemicals that are horrible for you to breathe in addition to getting on your skin and coming into contact with your pets and just go straight for vinegar. Vinegar can be watered down and used in a spray bottle on most surfaces for easy disinfecting and cleaning. Combine it with baking soda to create a gritty scrub to clean down tough surfaces. (Try to get them from a cruelty free brand like Whole foods or Trader Joe's.. Arm and Hammer tests on animals and so do most of your "generic" brands that often repackage Arm & Hammer baking soda and make it their own!)





Deodorant

I have tried a lot of natural brands of deodorants to try to get away from all really harmful chemicals that are in most deodorants. It can be hard to find brands that are cruelty-free, natural and that actually work. I recently started using this clinically proven stuff by Kiss My Face... and so far it's been pretty effective and I would recommend giving it a try! It's also cheaper than most other natural deodorants.. I found it at our local health food supermarket for $4.99.






Hand soap

Most soaps test on animals. Hands down, Mrs. Meyers wins this category for me. All natural, cruelty free, and smells amazing. My favorite scent is basil. There's a bunch of herb and fruit scents to choose from. You can find Mrs. Meyer's at your local health-food supermarket or store. If you become obsessed, try buying large fill-up jugs (the ones we just bought came with a $1 off coupon) and just filling up your regular hand soap pump. Depending on the store, the price can vary from $3.50-$4.99 per pump bottle and around $8 for a big fill up jug.





Face Wash

This is a tie between Trader Joe's tea tree face wash (great for fighting and preventing acne) and Yes To Carrots cream cleanser. I use them interchangeable and always switch it up, but they most work great, and I love that they are cruelty free. Yes To Carrots also has other products, some labeled as Yes to Cucumbers, and Yes to Tomatoes. They are made with real veggies... try them all!




Nail polish

Absolute favorite: Wet n wild Megalast. They are my favorite go to makeup brand on a budget. I got a few polishes from Target last week on sale for only 99 cents. They have always been on PETA's cruelty free product list and have been around since I was a kid. I can vouch for them- their colors are fun, they dry really fast, and they even come with an easy to use curved brush. I recommend any of their polishes but these hit home for me. You can find them at Walgreens, Target, and other drugstores, and the different types of nail polish they carry can vary from a buck to a few bucks, but still much cheaper than most nail polishes. As far as Wet n Wild goes, I'm also a fan of their mascara, bronzer and lipstick- all under a few bucks each.






Hair shampoo & conditioner

Ever since I contracted lice many summers ago from a bunch of little kids when I worked at a day camp, I will never forget that the scent of tea tree oil is a natural repellent of lice & other insects (I obsessively doused my hair in tea tree oil every day for a while after that!). This shampoo/conditioner duo by Trader Joe's is made of natural ingredients and is cruelty free. Not to mention that the tea tree oil smells great and gives your scalp a nice tingly feeling every time you use it. I believe off hand that these are about $3.99 each. If you love it, try it in their tingly tea tree body wash too.





Makeup remover

I swear by this stuff. Jojoba oil is completely natural and is a plant based oil that can act as a great moisturizer for skin and hair, and works as a natural makeup remover. Most makeup removers are alcohol based and very drying and harsh on the skin. This stuff is all natural and the oil takes any makeup (even waterproof) right off. I believe this stuff is around 7 or 8 dollars but lasts a while.





Skin Moisturizer

Have you ever tried coconut oil as a skin moisturizer? It's amazing. It not only smells great but its 100% natural so you don't have to worry about parabens and other chemicals soaking into your pores.  It doesn't feel oily and it will all soak right in if you use a thin layer at a time. Trader Joe's has jars for only $4.99 but you can find it at most supermarkets.





Toothpaste

Trader Joe's and Toms both have great natural toothpaste. Besides both being cruelty free, they are all natural. Do you even have any idea the kinds of chemicals you are ingesting and putting into your mouth with most regular toothpastes? Give one of these a try.





Sunscreen

Sunscreen is a biggie, because as your constantly reapply, you're lathering on layers of more chemicals that get soaked directly into your skin and bloodstream. The naked bee is my absolute favorite sunscreen (and lotion for that matter!), but unfortunately I haven't yet found a good organic or natural brand of water resistant stuff, but I know there's got to be something out there (and I'll let you know when I find it! This stuff smells like orange Pez <3 The big tube of it was $13, and I haven't yet tried the sun sticks but they are around $6 each and are great to carry around in a pocket or purse.





Eye shadow

Urban Decay, without question has some of the boldest, long lasting shadows. It's known for being cruelty free and also has some fun packaging too! I have some eye shadow palettes that have lasted me for the past 8 years (no exaggeration.. since high school!) even when I use them regularly. A little pricey, (around $18 for each individual pressed powder) but well worth it I promise! I don't know if they have these same containers anymore since it was so long ago when I bought a bunch (I stocked up when I found them on clearance at a local beauty shop!) but they do have the same colors in multi-palettes, and also a new style of individual shadows. Sephora carries their whole line and so does Ulta.





Laundry Detergent

Again, Trader Joe's wins this category. At $10 (which is a bit pricey), it's eco-friendly and all natural which is a plus for people with allergies to other detergents. What people forget is that detergent can stick around in your clothes and as they come in contact with your skin you're coming in constant contact with those chemicals. Stick to natural AND cruelty free. Trader Joe's also has powdered detergent and dryer sheets. Check Whole foods brand too if you have one near you!





Chapstick

Most chapsticks not only test on animals but they add tons of stuff in them to actually make your lips MORE dry so you'll keep using it and have to buy more! Burt's Bees has been a long time favorite of mine especially because they are all natural, and the peppermint is cooling and makes your lips tingle. Trader Joe's is also peppermint and tingly and has the added benefit of SPF in it if you're out in the sun a lot (if you've ever gotten sunburnt on your lips you would know how HORRIBLE it is!) Try these both.. they are not drying and actually work. I never go anywhere without them!






Hair Dye

This one's a close call and a tie between natural henna, John Frieda & Manic Panic. Rainbow brand (which is all natural and cruelty free) makes a great line of Henna hair dyes which are completely natural and plant based. I highly recommend these for people with naturally light colored hair, as they only work if you are depositing color into your hair shafts. It doesn't lighten hair at all since it doesn't contain bleach (which is unnatural). It's also good for bright red hues and bold warm tones, but comes in many different colors including black. The downside is it's also a little messy since it comes from a plant based powder and you basically mix it yourself. For under $10 though it's not bad for a natural dye that won't harm your scalp or skin if it gets on you and doesn't have bleach, ammonia, or cancer causing carcinogens. 



If you want to lighten your hair however, you'll have to go with a non-natural hair dye. John Frieda doesn't test on animals and has a broad range of colors in box dye kits at your regular drug or department store. It has an awesome foam that ensures you cover all your hair. If you need to touch up your roots or are going a color lighter than your current color, you have to get dye with ammonia in it to lighten. It's around $13 for the full box kit. (There are plenty of natural methods of hair lightening as well but they take more time and many applications. A popular one is the use of lemon juice and sitting in the sun. This may have to be done many times to get visible results.)


For bright funky colors, try cruelty free Manic Panic. I used their products back in high school when I did crazy colors like bright red, orange and turquoise. Make sure if you use their dyes you also get a bleach lightening kit to lighten your hair first. These colors fade with a lot of hair washing, so they may need reapplying to prevent fading.



Pet products

Burts bees even has a line of dog and pet products! Sometimes when it comes to pet products it's extra hard to find ones without animal testing.. since most of them do their testing on pets to make sure it's safe to use on yours! Since burts bees is made of natural ingredients, you know that you aren't using harsh chemicals or unnecessary ingredients on your pets skin or fur. I love their oatmeal shampoo for dogs because it's gently and relieves itchy skin. Check out their other pet products too such as lotion for noses and paws.










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