For those of you who really like Dove products, and are trying to quit, I’ve been trying to figure out what good substitutes are. I figure Dove’s main appeal is that it’s easily available at any drugstore, and they have a lot of deodorants, lotions, hair care products, and skin care products. (Am I right? Please email me if you think Dove’s appeal is something completely different.)
First off, the deodorant issue. Mitchum and Almay make many similar deodorants that are available in drugstores. Both Mitchum and Almay are owned by Revlon and so are 50%-cruelty-free. (Oh Mitchum Smart Solid – how I’ve missed you and wish you’d go 100%-cruelty-free so I could buy you again! You work beautifully, come in powder-fresh or unscented, last forever, and leave no streaks!) Unfortunately the only 100%-cruelty-free deodorant that works is not available in any drugstores, so you’re out of luck there (it’s L’Occitane’s Aromachologie deodorant — available at many L’Occitane stores and online for the ungodly price of $12 — I’ve reviewed it here.) (Oh wait! If you’re in the UK, the UK Body Shop makes an aluminum containing deodorant that works — the Aloe Antiperspirant — for only 5 pounds. Ooh! Australia has it too for AU$10.95. Oh wait — and there’s a new White Musk antiperspirant for the UK and Australia too! When the heck are they going to import these to the US?)
Second, the body lotion problem. Luckily, a lot of 100%-cruelty-free companies make body lotion easily available at any drugstore. Freeman, Alba Botanica, Avalon Organics, Queen Helene, Jason, Yardley, Kiss My Face, and Nature’s Gate all have lotions easily available at drug stores. Queen Helene is an especially good deal — it has high quality ingredients and is dirt cheap. It also has inspired a huge following — if you type in “Queen Helene” on MakeupAlley’s boards, you’ll see a lot of raves. Mostly for the Queen Helene Mint Julep Mask, but still . . .
Third, the hair care problem. There are a few 100%-cruelty-free haircare products available at drugstores. Nature’s Gate, Abba, Alba Botanica, Avalon Organics, and Jason. Go buy those!
Fourth, the skin care product problem. Now this is a bit trickier. 50%-cruelty-free Revlon doesn’t seem to make any skin care products I could find. It does make Colorstay, Fabulash, Super Lustrous, Expert Effects, Almay (Intense i-Color, Vital Radiance), Ultima II, Gatineau, Charlie and Jean Nate, Mitchum, Flex, Colorsilk, and Bozzano (source) — if you see any of those with skin care products, buy them. The good news is that a few 100%-cruelty-free companies that are available at many drug stores make skin care products — Alba Botanica makes the Sea Minerals line and the Hawaiian skin care line, Avalon Organics makes the lavender skin care line and the Vitamin C skin care line, Burt’s Bees has a ton of skin care lines, Nature’s Gate has an anti-aging line and a basic skin care line, Kiss My Face has natural face care and organic face care, and Jason has an antioxidant skin care line, and Ester-C skin care line. (Remember — when switching skin care lines — buy sample sizes and keep a bottle of your old evil standby on hand till you find a good new replacement.)
I don’t know if any of these appeal to the hypoallergenic crowd — if they do, please mention it in the comments here! If you’re hypoallergenic and not averse to a little online shopping, I highly recommend GratefulBody’s hypoallergenic line. I have tried the sampler version of this, and it seemed nice, and a lot like their nonhypoallergenic line which I have reviewed as being in pretty bottles and working very nicely.
Also if you’re ready to break free of Dove and the drugstore, consider the amazing L’Occitane, Lush, Juice Beauty, and Juice Organics! All the other brands I’ve raved about over there in my categories listing over there in the sidebar! Go check it out! You won’t be sorry 
Categories : cruelty free
RSS feed for comments on this post
Lauren
January 13th, 2009 at 3:06 am
On body lotion, I have recently started using Lush’s Karma Cream body lotion and it is amazingly good on my sensitive/dry skin, plus it has the best scent of any body lotion I’ve ever used.
Sadly I’ve had less luck with their hair care products. I like the bar shampoos for convenience and scent but am not sure how good they are for my hair long term - it seems to be slightly less healthy these days. And none of the conditioners I’ve tried are much good on my fine, dry, straight hair - either too heavy or not heavy enough!
Jane
January 13th, 2009 at 5:51 am
I use al’chemy products - http://www.purist.com/ - for my hair, and they are just awesome. Their 24 Hour leave-in Conditioner is a life-saver for really coarse hair.
Emily
January 13th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Ooh, I should have known some cruelty-freeists out there would have good ideas . . .
Lauren! — I shall have to add Lush’s Karma cream to my list of Lush things to buy! (It grows ever longer . . . ) That’s great that it works for the sensitive/dry skin crowd — I bet Dove appeals to a lot of people with dry, sensitive skin. I actually did one of those skin tests the other day and it said I have sensitive skin, which is news to me, but I’ll have to look into it! And thanks for telling me about Lush’s hair products — they’ve been tempting me for months now, so maybe I’ll be able to hold off a little longer . . .
Jane! — Ooh, those Al’chemy products look wonderful! I REALLY want to give those a try sometime. No bad ingredients whatsoever, and 100%-cruelty-free — v. nice!
A
January 15th, 2009 at 6:51 am
Deodorant is a tough one because it is such a basic necessity. Before my cruelty free days I tried sooo many of the Sure, Dove, Michum and about a million others and had little luck. Since I started using Lush Aromaco I now realize that anti-perspirants *suck*. You are just working against your body’s natural cooling mechanism. Spend enough time in a stuffy classroom and it *will* breakdown, leaving you with a perfumy-sweaty odor. Aromaco allows you to sweat but neutralizes the odor. I also dab on some Lush powder (Coconut) which keeps you dry for most of the day. When that’s absorbed all it can, Aromaco kicks in. This combination works a treat on all but the most long and stressful days, and is probably a lot better for my body.
Emily
January 15th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Wow — I think you’ve had the opposite experience from me with deodorants! I always had great luck with aluminum-containing drugstore deodorants — Mitchum was my favorite, followed by Secret — no sweating, no weird scents, no body-odor, it was great! And when I went cruelty-free I tried a bunch of non-aluminum containing deodorants that were absolute nightmares — no odor protection whatsoever and I sweated all over the place — I ruined several shirts due to some part of the deodorant and sweat melding together to stain the armpit areas. Ugh, it was awful. So I’m back on possibly-cancer-causing aluminum deodorant (L’Occitane) that keeps me dry and body-odor free!
I do wish L’Occitane would come out with a stick form of dedorant though, I’m tired of its roller-ball applicator. And its nonfloral scent — the Aromachologie scent is nice, but it just isn’t me.
I have been thinking of trying Lush deodorants though — I haven’t yet because they don’t make any floral deodorants either (or they didn’t the last time I checked — do they now? that would be awesome!). Would you recommend Aromaco especially? Any others?
A
January 16th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Aromacreme is a lovely feminine smell, but it burned my poor armpits. Seems from reading the reviews that some people have this problem, some don’t. Might be worth a try? Aromarant and the Krystal ones I found hard to apply, although one of them (Oxeo Cube) is indeed floral. Aromaco supposedly smells of patchouli, but I don’t think it is a strong smell, just neutral and fresh.
I get my dose of girliness from a powder. Powder Puff was my fave. It smelt of Turkish Delight, but was discontinued. Coconut is nice. The other one I use is Silky Underwear, which is a body powder. It doesn’t have sparkles so it is especially suited for the purpose, and is a lovely jasmine smell.
Emily
January 16th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Ooh, I’ll definitely have to try out ALL those Lush deodorants at some point. I can’t believe you’ve tried so many! (Sorry about aromacreme burning your armpits, hee!)
Powder Puff is a great name — I hope Lush brings it back for you! I’ve never really tried powders before — maybe I should give them a try!
Melanie Kiser
January 29th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Thanks for another very useful post. I stopped buying Dove a few months ago, but finding replacements for cruel products can be very challenging!
Emily
January 29th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Good for you for boycotting Dove! Have you found any products that mimic Dove products?
Dani-Lyn
June 17th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
I know this is an old post but the reason the US Body Shop stores do not carry the white musk deodorant is because that the FDA will not approve it for sale in the US. This worries me a bit. I work at a store in a military base and have people from all over the world come in. One lady was going on and on about the white musk deodorant and I just looked at her like she was nuts b/c I had no idea what she was talking about; I had to go look it up in the product manual.
Dani-Lyn
June 17th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
I meant “near a military base” not “in” oops
Emily
June 18th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Hi Dani-Lyn!
Thank you so much for telling me about the Body Shop deodorants! I have always wondered why they don’t sell them in the U.S. Though now I am totally mystified as to what they have in them that the FDA wouldn’t approve. Isn’t it just aluminum, like every other deodorant on the market?
12 Responses