Dear Emily

I get so many wonderful questions in my email I’ve decided to have the occasional cruelty-free advice column. I know if some of you are writing to me with these problems there are probably a few more out there who have them as well. I also occasionally answer really good questions in my comments that I think are so good I should mention them again in a post as well – everyone should know this stuff!  I hope that by collecting these cruelty-free questions and dilemmas in one place I can create a useful resource for people who are frustrated by the difficulties of going cruelty-free, and that I can attract those of you who have dealt with these problems personally to relate your experience and advice about them in the comments section — i.e., if you have some answers to these questions, tell us about them! But please bear in mind that I am no expert — all I have to offer is a serious interest in all things cruelty-free and a lot of experience surfing the web looking for cruelty-free information. :)  If you have a cruelty-free question please write to me at emilycrueltyfree at gmail dot com.  I LOVE receiving cruelty-free questions, and searching for information that may help people become more cruelty-free in their daily lives.)

This question is from a comment I received a while ago:

Regarding Aveda i found this on their website here:
http://www.aveda.com/customerservice/faq.tmpl#

Do you perform testing on animals?

“No. All Aveda products are people-tested.

The Aveda Corporation is committed to the elimination of animal testing. We are equally committed to consumer health and safety, and bringing to market products that comply with applicable regulations in every country in which our products are sold.

We do not conduct animal testing on our products or ingredients, nor ask others to test on our behalf, except when required by law. We evaluate our finished products in clinical tests on volunteer panels.

The Aveda Corporation fully supports the development and global acceptance of non-animal testing alternatives. To this end, Aveda works extensively with the industry at large and the global scientific community to research and fund these alternatives.”

I see the “except when required by law” clause above. I was heartbroken when I read on your site the list of 50% companies and so badly want Aveda to be 100%. According to this info on their site, they should fall under the 100% since these are thing required to test? What can I do to either pressure them or have them changed on the CCIC list?

Hello!

Hmm, Aveda is weird. There are no legal requirements for any cosmetics to be tested on animals, so Aveda is either a) lying or b) producing some sort of product that is a pharmaceutical that must be tested on animals. (Or maybe some country outside of the U.S. or the E.U. has some animal testing requirements of cosmetics I don’t know about? I suppose that’s a possibility.) I don’t know much about Aveda so I can’t say. Either way, it’s a little shady.

Also, notice that Aveda is implying that its products are 100%-cruelty-free, but that is a lie. Look at the wording of paragraph 4 — Aveda doesn’t state clearly that its ingredients aren’t tested on animals — it states that Aveda has never commissioned any animal testing on those ingredients. This is kind of like a faux-organic farmer saying that he didn’t ask the commercial company he bought seedlings from to grow those seedlings in chemical-laced soil, so it’s not his fault if the seedlings were sprouted in chemical-laced soil, and then selling those seedlings when they grow up as “organic,” even though they spent part of their lives in non-organic conditions. Aveda could perfectly well buy products that have been tested on animals yet still claim to be “cruelty-free” according to their manifesto here. So I wouldn’t describe Aveda as being 100%-cruelty-free.

That being said, I think Aveda makes WONDERFUL products and is at least interested in not testing on animals unlike many other companies, so if you’re going to buy 50%-cruelty-free products, Aveda would be a good choice.

The best thing you can do to pressure Aveda to become 100%-cruelty-free is to boycott its products until Aveda certifies itself with the CCIC as being 100%-animal-testing-free. Aveda is a for-profit company and it really would like you to buy its products. You could also try sending Aveda an email saying you will not buy any more Aveda products until Aveda certifies itself with the CCIC as being 100%-animal-testing-free. If Aveda gets enough letters like those, maybe it will take notice!

 Dear Emily,

My family uses a lot of soap — we go through two bars a week. I’m interested in buying cruelty-free soaps, but they all seem to be handmade and expensive. Do you have any recommendations for inexpensive cruelty-free bar soaps?

Going Broke for Soap

Hello!

There are a few brands I can think of off the top of my head that are really, really cheap. They are:

(1) Queen Helene bars of soap — available at your local Walgreens and Longs (oh bliss! to buy cruelty-free products in drugstores).

(2) Kirk’s castile soap, and,

(3) There is always, of course, the classic soap all the ex-hippies I know swear by — Dr. Bronner’s liquid castile soap (which can also be found in bar form) (and it’s made from USDA certified organic ingredients!).

I haven’t actually tried any of these other than Dr. Bronners, which I did not care for as it smelled like hemp, which is not my favorite scent. (But I did appreciate the inexpensiveness!) And I’ve heard that if you buy the whole gallon of concentrated Dr. Bronners liquid soap it will last you ten years, even if you use it to clean everything in your house all the time. (Though I gave into temptation yesterday and purchased a bottle of Dr. Bronners new shikakai (!) formula handsoap, which I shall review at some time in the future.)
Hope that helps!

Regards,

Emily