I’m vegetarian. I have been since around 1983 when I declared to my mum that I would never eat meat again while looking at the turkey on Christmas Day. I can’t go vegan. Mainly as I don’t like the alternatives – and I’ve tried. I’m not at the right place to try.
However, one thing I can do is to look at what I’m putting on my body, and improve that. So I’ve been looking at vegan friendly cosmetics.

Vegan friendly cosmetics are the simplest way of finding what I’m looking for. I want brands that don’t test on animals, a long-standing EU regulation anyway – but there’s a catch.
I’ve spent a lot of time reading on PETA to find brands which are cruelty-free and struggled. A lot of brands sell their cosmetics worldwide – and there are countries who insist on exported cosmetics being tested on animals. They’re off my list – and sadly these include a few brands I’ve always thought were okay – Clarins is one. (sob) Benefit too. The only way they can control this is by not selling their cosmetics in those countries – which of course they’re not going to do as it’s all about the money. So I will no longer be buying any of their products.
Fortunately, some old favourites have brought up favourable results – back in the day I used to buy Eyes Lips Face cosmetics – they make vegan friendly cosmetics. You can buy some of their range in larger Superdrug stores. Superdrug’s own range also carries the PETA bunny – always a good sign.
I’ve recently discovered Fairypants who have a great line in perfume. I bought myself a lipbalm, some dry skin cream and some perfume to see how I got on with it. Already it has made a difference – H had dry skin patches, they always come up each winter. We’d normally rely on Aveeno, but they’re not cruelty free – they sell in China, disappointingly. The Fairypants Vegan Dry Skin Balm has had two applications over two weeks and the dry skin has gone! I’m quite amazed by it. The perfume is lovely too!

I didn’t spent enough time thinking about it before – but this year I’m going to be shopping far more conscientiously. After all, if I haven’t (knowingly) eaten meat for this long, I should be looking at the products I use.

Fortunately Sanex seem to be okay which is good as they have one of the few deodorants that works for me. I am ditching my phosphate-free L’Oreal shampoo and have switched to Kind Natured shampoo – they helpfully have a vegan section on their website too. Boots stock Kind Natured and they’re a reasonable price too. H uses their kids shampoo after she has been swimming – it works a treat.
Finding vegan friendly cosmetics doesn’t seem too difficult, so let’s see how we get on…