I want to restock with no-nasties toiletries

Jacks_xxx

Mayflower10cat wrote: »

Precisely. Succintly put.

And yes, I also 'am hard to please' and proud of it. :T

Me too.

Primarni

Jacks_xxx wrote: »

When companies say "We don't do animal testing" they often mean "We get someone else to do it for us" so I always verify the information rather than just swallow what I'm told.

I feel such a big idiot that I've just been taking statements like that on face value. I thought I was shopping cruelty free and I just trusted that cosmetic products couldn't harm us. Huge thanks to everybody for opening my eyes. I'll be a more savvy shopper from now on.

sunshineyday

I was in Boots recently and noticed that they are now stocking a range of make-up called UNE which claims to be organic and free from parabens, pegs, sls & a whole list of other things which I can't remember the names of. The range looked lovely and was very reasonably priced, can't comment on quality though as I didn't buy any (I'm trying to do the no more toiletries until I've used up what I have challenge- although it's a struggle sometimes!)



Being hard to please is a quality more people should have, it might make more companies sit up and think about what they are selling

Jacks_xxx

Primarni wrote: »

I feel such a big idiot that I've just been taking statements like that on face value. I thought I was shopping cruelty free and I just trusted that cosmetic products couldn't harm us. Huge thanks to everybody for opening my eyes. I'll be a more savvy shopper from now on.

I think everyone feels like that when the lightbulb first goes on Primarni. Once you learn a thing or two you know what to look for and nobody will be able to pull the wool over your eyes any more. It's a process. We're all still learning.

sunshineyday wrote: »

I was in Boots recently and noticed that they are now stocking a range of make-up called UNE which claims to be organic and free from parabens, pegs, sls & a whole list of other things which I can't remember the names of. The range looked lovely and was very reasonably priced, can't comment on quality though as I didn't buy any (I'm trying to do the no more toiletries until I've used up what I have challenge- although it's a struggle sometimes!)


Being hard to please is a quality more people should have, it might make more companies sit up and think about what they are selling

I'll look UNE up Sunshineyday, and see what I can find out. I'm glad you think being an informed consumer is a useful quality. Some folks seem to think it's bad thing! :D

NualaBuala

This thread is a great read and it's good to hear both sides of the debate. One of my main gripes with the cosmetic industry is the lack of transparency.

I've been phasing out all the "nasties" (for want of a better word) and I hasten to add, I don't necessarly mean "natural". My goal is to use stuff which does the minimum of harm to people, animals and the planet. So the ethics of a company is as important to me as the ingredients (safety and environmental impact), packaging etc. And I want the product to be nice to use. I know I really AM hard to please!:D

Jacks, I'd be interested to know what products you use, especially shampoo/conditioner and shower gel/soap.

So far in my testing I can vouch for Green People toothpastes. It took me a while to get used to not having a load of suds (from SLS) in my mouth but it does the job well.

thedoghouse

Great thread - lots of really useful information. I made a promise to myself earlier this week that I would never consciously buy any products tested on animals again. I don't have enough money at the minute to just throw out all my current products but as each one runs out I am replacing it will a cruelty-free alternative. Started today with some Ecover all purpose cleaner, Kingfisher toothpaste, some Australian Organics soap & some Natracare tampons & pads - all available from Waitrose & no more expensive than the brand I would usually buy. I found this website as well, which I don't think has been mentioned here: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really like that you can 'Shop By Ethics' so that the site only displays products which you personally would consider buying. Once I run out of enough stuff I think this will be a great place to purchase things in bulk. Has anyone else used it?

Jacks_xxx

NualaBuala wrote: »

This thread is a great read and it's good to hear both sides of the debate. One of my main gripes with the cosmetic industry is the lack of transparency.

I've been phasing out all the "nasties" (for want of a better word) and I hasten to add, I don't necessarly mean "natural". My goal is to use stuff which does the minimum of harm to people, animals and the planet. So the ethics of a company is as important to me as the ingredients (safety and environmental impact), packaging etc. And I want the product to be nice to use. I know I really AM hard to please!:D

Jacks, I'd be interested to know what products you use, especially shampoo/conditioner and shower gel/soap.

So far in my testing I can vouch for Green People toothpastes. It took me a while to get used to not having a load of suds (from SLS) in my mouth but it does the job well.

Hiya Nualabuala :wave: I want all that too! I have haircare and shower gel pretty well covered I think.

For shower gel I can recommend REN, A'kin and Jason. My conditioners and hair masks tend to be from A'kin but I also liked Louise Galvin and REN. On the shampoo front it took me a while to get used to lower foaming products but I've got the technique down now.

I'm due to foray into toothpastes this month as my current huge tube of undesirable Colgate comes to an end so I'll check out Green People's offerings.

I'm not doing too well on the make up front so if anybody has any more recommendations I'd love to hear them.

Jacks_xxx

thedoghouse wrote: »

Great thread - lots of really useful information. I made a promise to myself earlier this week that I would never consciously buy any products tested on animals again. I don't have enough money at the minute to just throw out all my current products but as each one runs out I am replacing it will a cruelty-free alternative. Started today with some Ecover all purpose cleaner, Kingfisher toothpaste, some Australian Organics soap & some Natracare tampons & pads - all available from Waitrose & no more expensive than the brand I would usually buy. I found this website as well, which I don't think has been mentioned here: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really like that you can 'Shop By Ethics' so that the site only displays products which you personally would consider buying. Once I run out of enough stuff I think this will be a great place to purchase things in bulk. Has anyone else used it?

The links are playing up for me so I've just got a load of !!!!! unfortunately. I am loving Waitrose at the moment. They seem to be having a bit of a "Green" push. I like the idea of shopping by ethics a heck of a lot. :T:)

M&S have made all of their own brand cosmetic and cleaning products properly cruelty free as well so I might have to have a nose at some of their ingredients lists and see if there's anything I can use to reward them with a bit of extra custom.

thedoghouse

Sorry - not sure why my link got scrambled there! The site I was referring to was ethicalsuperstore. Will have to take a look at good old M&S too...

NualaBuala

Jacks_xxx wrote: »

Hiya Nualabuala :wave: I want all that too! I have haircare and shower gel pretty well covered I think.

For shower gel I can recommend REN, A'kin and Jason. My conditioners and hair masks tend to be from A'kin but I also liked Louise Galvin and REN. On the shampoo front it took me a while to get used to lower foaming products but I've got the technique down now.

I'm due to foray into toothpastes this month as my current huge tube of undesirable Colgate comes to an end so I'll check out Green People's offerings.

I'm not doing too well on the make up front so if anybody has any more recommendations I'd love to hear them.

Thanks Jacks, I'll check those out, I know one of the healthfood shops in town does Jason which would mean no delivery charges.:j

I've tried Aubrey Organics shampoo/cond but it wasn't great for my hair. And now I have Giovanni 50:50 shampoo which is vegan and supposedly has good credentials. I didn't research the ingredients and although it makes my hair nice, there is something in it that doesn't agree with my scalp. So I will look at Jason next I think.

Sorry, I'm no use on makeup as I hardly use it so I haven't had to investigate yet.

Edit: I haven't watched this yet but it's about this very subject http://storyofstuff.org/cosmetics/