Wednesday, April 22, 2009

An interesting rule of thumb I've stumbled across....

Good morning!

Something I forgot to address yesterday, which I think is pretty important (hence the bolding): this blog is for the purposes of cosmetics, beauty, pet care, and household care only. I won't get into a discussion about animal testing within the medical industry.

It's a very slippery slope. As much as I wish there were more humane alternatives, I do understand why it's still done in some circles. There's no excuse for animal testing in the cosmetics industry anymore - many existing companies have made that clear. But the medical world is a whole different can of worms - one that I have no wish to open, one that I have no expertise in, so I won't pretend that I do. I lost a family member who I love very much to a terrible disease, so yeah, I get it, believe me. Anyway, 'nuff said about that.

I'm new to blogging, so right now I'm obsessed that I can't get the picture at the top of the page centered (that's my mission tonight after I get home from dinner). Once that's straightened out, it'll stop occupying my mind so I can actually get some information out to you. Otherwise, this blog's going to consist of stupid statements like, "A very good brand to try is - does that look straight to you?" "Let's discuss parent companies and the brands they... the font's not bright enough, is it?"

Back on track - I have no real expertise in all of this. As I stated in my greeting yesterday, going cruelty free is simply a passion and a bit of a hobby of mine. So today's blog will consist of a quick and interesting little rule of thumb I've discovered over the years, which is - if you're looking for non-animal tested brands of cosmetics, head to the department stores. What I've discovered is that most department store brands don't animal test, while most drugstore brands do animal test. Now, that's not a hard and fast rule - there are some non-animal tested drugstore brands, for example, Almay, Revlon, Queen Helene, Jane, and Physician's Formula. And there are some department store brands that unfortunately do still test, such as Elizabeth Arden and Lancome. But your odds lean heavily in the direction of this unwritten rule. I'm not sure why - it could have to do with the cost involved, although many of those drugstore brands rake in billions. They can't be that hard up to change their testing methods (*cough cough Procter & Gamble cough cough!*).

The good news is that as people become more educated on this horrible and inhumane practice, more and more companies are changing their testing methods to ones which are more humane.

At some point very soon, I'll type up a list of companies that do and don't test, and of course at any time, you can contact me to ask if there's a company you aren't sure about. I promise to do my very best to find out for you. Also, a friend suggested to me that I should feature a blog on which non-animal tested brands are a little more wallet-friendly. It's great to be humane, but you don't have to go broke to do it. That blog will go up in a couple of days, but in the meantime, the few drugstore brands I mentioned above are great ones to start with.

Have an excellent day!

Lisa

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