Disclaimer: All products mentioned in this post were purchased by me. I am including my referral link for Vitacost and The Honest Company.
I had to go back and look, and it's been about six months since I did my post talking about going cruelty-free. I thought it would be a good time to post an update on my progress.
Cosmetics
I had started going cruelty-free a while before I actually mentioned it on my blog, so there really wasn't much of a transition needed when it came to my makeup. The vast majority of my makeup was already cruelty-free, and a lot of what wasn't was already added to my blog sale.
Since then, my next step was to pull out the rest of my items that weren't cruelty-free. I've got quite a few of them in my container of products I'm trying to use it. I use a Stila Smudgestick liner every day to try and finish them. I have to point out that it's really annoying that these liners can't be rolled back down. I have no way of knowing how close to being gone they are. I have this feeling that one day I'm going to line one eye and discover that the product is gone before I line the other one.
Bath and Body
Like with my cosmetics, most of my bath and body products were already cruelty-free. I believe all of my shower gels were already cruelty-free when I made my announcement. The same thing is true of shampoo and conditioners, barring a bunch of samples that I still have and occasionally grab for traveling. Skincare was almost there when it comes to main products. One of my acne treatments is still by Neutrogena because I had stocked up a long time ago, buying something like four tubes. I'm on my last one. Just like with shampoos and conditioners, I also have a stash of samples that I keep around.
When I started working on my stash of lotion in January, I went through and pulled out all of the lotions from brands that I wasn't sure about or knew wasn't cruelty-free. At this point, all of those are gone.
My next challenge to tackle is hair dye. I had several boxes that I needed to use up, but they are finally gone. I recently purchased a box of Herbatint hair dye from Vitacost (referral link). I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know if it is a brand that I'll stick with. I hope it works well for me because most of the cruelty-free hair dyes that I've seen are henna based, and I would prefer to avoid that route, since using henna means I can't go back to regular dyes until it has completely grown out.
Deodorant is another one of my trouble areas. Most cruelty-free options are also natural, which haven't worked for me so far. I've read somewhere that switching to natural deodorants requires a detox period of about two weeks before they become effective. I'm not willing to do that when I'm working. A detox attempt might happen this summer if I can find a stretch of time when I'm not going to be terrified of smelling terribly in public. I've also got a lot of deodorants that I need to work my way through before I try any others.
Home Products
This is the area where I've been making progress a lot more slowly. I've already done a post on The Honest Company (referral link) dishwasher pods, which I love. Several of their other products have also made it into my regular routine. I didn't particularly like their dish soap, so I'm testing out a different one now. Dish soap is a crucial product for me. I have always used Dawn dish soap, and I use it for more than just dishes. I use it to mix up my own shower cleaner and even use it in laundry to boost my regular detergent when I feel it is needed.
I don't think my home products will ever be completely cruelty-free. I don't have access to much of it locally, and I'm not willing to sacrifice quality either. I'll continue to experiment and replace what I can, but I'm definitely making baby steps in this area.
Are you going cruelty-free? What trouble areas have you had? If you aren't going cruelty-free, that's okay too. I'd love to know what other steps you might be taking to improve yourself or the world (recycling, exercising, eating better, etc)?
Disclaimer: All products mentioned in this post were purchased by me. I included my referral links for Vitacost and The Honest Company.
I really need to do a lot better in the cruelty-free category. I tend to lapse big-time when I see stuff on sale.
ReplyDeleteI stopped eating meat a couple of years ago (although I still eat fish and dairy). I don't buy leather goods anymore, either.
Little by little, I guess.
In the past, I've lapsed when really exciting new products have come out (when the Maybelline Color Tattoos and the L'Oreal Infallible shadows came out).
DeleteLittle by little is definitely the way to go. People in general are going to be more likely to stick to something if they don't do a huge overhaul and stress themselves out about it.
Even though I'd like to, cruelty-free isn't really an option for me. Living on Guam, regular things are hard to come by so the cruelty-free, organic, and natural products are very rare and VERY expensive.
ReplyDeleteWith prices so high, we've decided to start a little vegetable garden in our backyard next weekend to help us cut down on grocery expenses.
♥ Duckie.
I'm sorry that going cruelty-free isn't really an option for you. :-( I know that even where I live, it is more of a challenge because I don't have ready access to a lot of cruelty-free products.
DeleteI hope you're garden works out well! My fiance and I take part in a co-op program where we get a huge bag of fruits and veggies for under $30 every two weeks, and it has worked out really well for us. We eat a lot more fruits and vegetables now.