October 03, 2005

Brown rice and curried grass in your hair.

I tend to think that animal testing is actually a slightly more complicated issue than PETA would have people believe. It's true that I'm less than likely to take a job, oh, injecting artificial sweeteners into mice's eyeballs until they go blind. It just isn't my cup of tea. At the same time, I'm not quite willing to stand up and say that we should cease all animal testing of cancer drugs and either prescribe them untested to humans or abandon them entirely. (The rational but wicked side of me would like to point out here that the test mice for cancer drugs do have to get cancer somehow, after all, but that is outside the scope of this discussion.)

However, some uses are more clear-cut than others. At this point it's really not necessary to do animal testing for cosmetics. Honestly. Shampoo does not need to be cutting-edge, and the ingredients that are already in use have been tested exhaustively for at least the last half-century. We know they work, we know they're safe, and doing new tests and finding more new ingredients to test is just beating a dead... well, mouse.

The following cosmetics, toiletries and general nostrums are all not tested on animals. If you're like me and you have to look at the back of every damn bottle to see, this may save you time.

  • Dr. Bronner's soaps (duh)
  • Anything by Tom's of Maine, which at this point includes toothpaste, mouthwash, soap, deodorant, shampoo, and shaving cream
  • Anything by Nature's Gate (shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste)
  • Anything by St. Ives (lotions, face washes, shampoo & conditioner)
  • Citre Shine hair styling products
  • TreSemme shampoo and conditioner (cheap too!)
  • No-Ad sunscreen
  • Mane 'N Tail shampoo and detangler (some of the conditioners have lanolin in them, though)
  • Trader Joe's Next To Godliness dish soap (but you can only use it on yourself if you're a dish)
  • White Rain shampoo and conditioner
  • Anything by Kiss My Face (soaps, lotions, face washes, shaving cream)
  • V05 shampoo and conditioner (also, as Michele points out, cheap)
  • Burt's Bees products (although they do contain beeswax)

I should point out that since I don't wear makeup my contributions to this list are more or less limited to cleaning products and detangling aids. Anyone with greater knowledge should feel free to share it.

Posted by dianna at October 3, 2005 08:35 PM
Comments

On the non-hippie, what-do-you-think-I'm-doing-this-for-my-health? food front:

Pillsbury butter-flavored crescent-rolls-in-a-can are indeed vegan. They're terrible and terrible for you, and you have to prebake them a bit before you put them in the Stuff 'n Munch, but they are vegan.

So are Pringles. And frosting in a can. And most movie theatre buttered popcorn. And Trader Joe's peanut-butter-filled pretzels. And Cap'n Crunch. And frozen hash browns.

Posted by: katie at October 3, 2005 09:40 PM

I know this wasn't about food, for once. I just wanted to talk about Pringles.

Posted by: katie at October 3, 2005 09:41 PM

Burt's Bees products are never ever tested on animals, but many of them, I'm discovering as I peruse the website, use animal products like beeswax. Dang. Forget this message, then.

Posted by: Arianna at October 3, 2005 10:12 PM

VO5 shampoo and conditioner is the cheapest of the cheap and not tested on animals.

Posted by: michele at October 3, 2005 10:51 PM

Katie, you put pastries in your Stuff'n Munch? Jesus. I thought this was going to end with wanting to bleep my spinach triangles.

Anyway, junk food is a separate entry. Hold your artificial horses.

Posted by: Dianna at October 4, 2005 09:09 AM

Are you saying there's an actual coherent sentence on the Dr. Bronner's label? I'm not quite sure I believe this.

Posted by: Andrew at October 4, 2005 10:09 AM

No, that would be far too much to expect you to believe. As I recall it says something like, "100% VEGAN - HEALTH IS OUR GREATEST WEALTH! OK!"

Posted by: Dianna at October 4, 2005 10:57 AM

I bleeped your spinach triangles all up, BTW. I sauteed chopped-up mushrooms with the onions before assembling, and they delished. Now I'm tempted to see if I can cram a spinach triangle into the Stuff 'n Munch. Somebody hold me back.

Posted by: katie at October 4, 2005 09:03 PM

St Ive's, TreSemme, and V05 **ARE** tested on animals. Don't say they are because I have done research and they ARE!

Posted by: Brittany at September 5, 2006 01:57 PM

Interesting. How so? I ask because, as you've no doubt noticed, they all have conspicuous "no animal testing" labels. Did you find out how they get away with that?

Posted by: Dianna at September 8, 2006 05:37 PM
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