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I have always loved makeup. From a very young age I would sneak into moms’ purse and play (destroy) her Mary Kay lip and eye palettes from the 80’s. I was two, come on. I would beg grandma for lippie stick, and she would pull out her Revlon lip balm that was in a lipstick tube so I thought was rocking the same mauve lips as her. She was so stylish, a little mix of Blanche and Dorothy of the Golden Girls. I was even caught styling her white toy poodle a time or two with rogue. Oops. I didn’t know any better.
I followed grandma’s footsteps into the
salon when I was 25 and became a beautician as well. I attended a Paul Mitchell
school, which was at the time the absolute best I could attend in the rural community
that I lived. They pushed professional brands as the best and especially touted
their brand, cause hello, PM school so PM products. Makes sense.
One thing that PM did different was aim to avoid animal testing and only does human testing of their products. I was impressed with that. The subject wasn’t even on my radar prior to starting school.
I got to thinking about other products
that I used that may test on animals, but I had no idea where to start my
research. As a poor kid living on my own, internet was way out of my ballpark.
I had to settle for what I could glean from magazines, my instructors at
school, and whether or not a product stated it on their label.
I knew about big label makeup brands like
M.A.C., Bobby Brown, and Estée Lauder. Grandma had used Estee for years and
years. It was what the quintessential 1950’s housewife wore. I drooled over the
M.A.C. website after watching YouTube makeup gurus dripping in the expensive
stuff.
When I was in Las Vegas on a beauty school
trip, I was able to go to my first M.A.C. store and it was amazing. I was after
one particular shade that everyone used, and I happily forked over what little
food money I brought with me to obtain it. I was on cloud nine for days, weeks
even, after buying it and using it. I felt so boujee. That high didn’t last
though.
I was on Facebook doing my endless doom
scrolling out of boredom when I came across a M.A.C. post. It wasn’t unusual as
I followed them, as well as a few other brands I had in my makeup table. What I
found unusual was the young woman posing happily with a white bunny that had
bright pink something rubbed into the ‘cheeks’ of its fur. I was actually a
little surprised at first and then angered after reading the caption that said
something along the lines of ‘happily animal testing for safety’.
A brand I adored for their creativity,
beauty, and exclusiveness turned into a monster in a split second. I was so mad
but not so mad that I was going to throw out the fifty dollars of hard-earned
makeup I had just purchased. But I wasn’t so hot to use it anymore either. I
put it away and focused more on my new vibrant love, NYX Cosmetics. I was happy
because they openly said they didn’t do any animal testing.
I purposely left myself in the dark not
wanting to further my knowledge on the subject for fear of narrowing what I
would be able to use. I’m not a vegan or vegetarian by any means, I love meat,
but I also don’t agree with torturing animals for anything. We have prisons
full of test subjects. Just my two cents and I’ll move on.
I focused on becoming a good hairdresser
and learning as much as I could in the early part of my career. I loved makeup
and always did fun and fancy eyes that occasionally were extremely bold.
I couldn’t stay in the dark forever
though, and I had to make a choice.
I learned that anything sold in China was
required by their laws to be tested on animals, sadly that meant that the Mary
Kay I had been using for years was no longer an option for my skin care and I
started looking for alternatives and landed on the only thing that I could find
to meet my standard of safe and clean. Simply virgin cold pressed coconut
oil. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked.
That didn’t solve my makeup problem
though. Most of the drug store brands did animal testing and were open about it
on their corporate websites. I also got help determining what to use from PETA.
They have an extensive list of cosmetic and skincare brands for those of
conviction.
NYX was my go too until about 9 years ago
when I learned that L’Oréal had acquired NYX Cosmetics and I was crushed. But I
couldn’t afford the brands I knew were vegan. Most of them were fledgling indie
companies with vegan claims but no verification and still an outrageous price.
I couldn’t justify paying those prices without the certification.
I inquired into a few of them but never
received an answer. To me that said, piss off, we don’t want to tell you we
haven’t even tested our products for human consumption.
While I still admired the bright looks
they posted on their social sites and the imagination of the makeup gurus that are
now called influencers, I used what I had and wasn’t purchasing anything new.
I started to notice lots of different
bunnies popping up on packaging. But not all of them were Leaping Bunnies. But
they were all animal testing free though, right?
Turns out there are many different
standards to animal testing. Some of the bunnies just mean vegan, some mean
they have been approved by PETA, and then Leaping Bunny International.
It wasn’t enough just to see the bunny for
me though because my Mary Kay lady told me that the products I was purchasing
were never tested on animals and I knew that to be false. It was a big deal for
the market to open to Mary Kay in China where they hadn’t been allowed to sell
before. I needed to know more.
I started to become more politically aware
around that time in my life as well and was irritated at the amount of
companies that outsourced labor to other countries rather than producing the
products they sell here in the United States. I learned that cosmetic companies
were doing the exact same thing. Products that were produced and not sold in
the countries where they were made but sent back to the states to be sold, those
products had to be tested on animals. WHAT?!? Absolutely ridiculous.
My world became very small so to speak
because there wasn’t much left I could buy in my price range that met my
standards of cruelty-free and American made. I was frankly irritated at the
beauty industry I had been intrenched deeply in for ten years at this point.
Well, my whole life considering grandma’s career. On top of that, I wasn’t
feeling very well more often than not and I wasn’t happy in the world of beauty
anymore.
A very close friend from high school had
been sending the occasional intro info about a brand she had found and made a
point to let me know that it was clean, safe, and nontoxic. But was it tested
on animals? A big absolutely not was her response. Without even being prompted
she told me that it was also produced completely here in the United States.
I was thrilled beyond belief. Not only did
Crunchi meet my animal and country of origin standards, but they fell into the
other category I was becoming more and more aware of as my body began to fail
me, nontoxic.
I started small with the purchase of their
charcoal facial bar. It was gentle and didn’t strip my skin of what little
moisture I have with chronically dry skin. With continued use I went from breakouts
all over to just in my most problematic place of my chin. For me that was an
incredible improvement. That bar lasted me a good three years because a little
goes a long way.
In my search for more nontoxic way of
living I have come across other companies that not only had healthy
alternatives to cleaning products and supplements to support my compromised
immune system, but they also had clean and nontoxic options for skin care as
well.
It’s so much easier now to find ethical and cruelty-free options with resources like Ethical Elephant, Cruelty Free Kitty, and PETA. It still comes down to doing your own research and making the decisions that best align with your beliefs. I've included links below to further your own research.
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