...And the Animals Rejoice!

Since I have read about the animal testing of products, I have reset my mind into a mode where I am only trying to buy things that have not been animal tested. As a couple people have pointed out to me (which I wouldn't have thought about on my own until some time later), that some of the ingredients within some of the products may have been tested on animals before it went into the final product, so you still have to be careful. I got some advice from my manager about some of it, and did some reading and spoke to another friend. I'm pretty happy at this point with what I have achieved.

My goal in doing this is finding products that I can purchase at the usual store, where I don't have to go completely out of my way to get to. I don't mind going out of my way, but it seems more environmentally conscious (not to mention pocket-book conscious) to go to a closer facility. Unfortunately, this is a difficult task in itself. I probably looked like a weirdo standing there, looking up brand names in my little folder to see if they were okay to purchase, but oh well. It's not like anyone knows me here anyway.

I have to say, that at least at the location I went to, I found nothing that was not animal tested at Walmart. I don't really like that store anyway, and how the company runs, but sometimes it's where I have to go. I then went to Target and had a lot more luck. Though neither store had a cruelty-free pet food available for me to purchase, I did find laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, dish soap, hand soap, body wash and shampoo and condition at Target (and I had a couple choices of brands and scents)! I was excited, it made me happy and feel a little better.

Method is my new best friend. It's a brand that Target sells, among other places, and it is not only not tested on animals, it is also a vegan product! They make cleaners, air fresheners, detergents, soaps, etc. As a designer they are very appealing to me, the packaging is beautiful and sleek, and as a green dreamer, they are lovely as well. You can recycle the packaging on every product and it is all biodegradable. Did I mention it's all affordable too? Not bad prices at all!



Pure & Natural is the body wash I bought. They have several other products as well. It says it is biodegradable, comes in a 100% recyclable container, is paraben free (a major cosmetic preservative), and is of course not tested on animals. These are all things that make me happy. I don't think this one is a vegan product, but another plus is that it is hypo-allerenic. These are a little more expensive than your usual purchase, but still not terrible.

Seventh Generation is a fantastic company that I've known about for a while. I didn't realize until today that they sold it at Target, but I was pleasantly surprised by this! Non-toxic, no chlorine, no phosphates, biodegradable product and recyclable packaging (and of course no animal testing). They make a WIDE range of products to choose from (or buy them all). This is definitely an eco-conscious company. Comparably priced to other brands.

And lastly, Rusk is the other brand I purchased. These are not vegan, but they do not test on animals, so that makes me happy. This is also much more affordable and a larger quantity than a few other brands that I had to choose from. I'm on a tight budget, so wherever I can save money is important. Needless to say I would like to try out the other haircare products I saw, but I'll do that when I have more money, and maybe less hair (it's very long right now).

Green Dreams

I suppose I ought to go into some sort of personal decisions I've made, so some of my actions will make more sense.

I am a "green" person at heart. There are things I am doing every day to make myself feel better about how I am living. I am a vegetarian, and though I started being a veg because of health reasons, I don't see me going back to my old ways anytime soon after learning so much. I now know too much about the meat industry to feel that it's personally okay for me to eat meat. That is a personal decision and I have nothing wrong with people eating meat in front of me or in general, I just do not.

Recycling is an important issue for me, and I have slacked greatly on it since I have been living in this particular apartment. This will change dramatically when I move this month. I am starting a recycling program at our store and have everything set-up, I just need to finish my follow-through and get it going and get people involved with it. It will be clean and organized, so people won't be offended or disgusted by throwing a bag of recyclables into their personal vehicle and running it up to the recycling place up the road.

A co-worker asked me the other day if I knew of any shampoos that did not test on animals, and I did not so I looked it up! Once I found what I was looking for, I couldn't help myself and had to keep reading and learning more about companies that do test on animals. It is ridiculous how many companies test on animals, and so many of the mainstream ones. Like organic foods, and anything else that's good for you and everyone/thing else, it is often more expensive to purchase these cruelty-free products. As a personal decision, it means more to me to now purchase these products and spend more money on them than to go on purchasing the ones that continually do harm.

A similar, fairly infrequent purchase of mine would be milk and eggs. I only buy organic and free-range/cage-free eggs. I know too much about what happens to those animals to buy any other way, and not to mention it's better for me to not ingest all of those hormones, antibiotics and chemicals that these products are often consumed by. I am also working on eventually buying all organic foods, but unfortunately my budget doesn't cover my complete green dreams. Perhaps one day. Right now I will focus on my personal products and cleaners, and the big ones like eggs and milk that are consumed so widely.