Analysts at Goldman-Sachs have estimated that the sales of make-up, skin care, hair care, and perfumes bring in 95 billion dollars a year within the beauty industry. In an ever-growing market for beauty supplies, companies are constantly playing with their formulas to create newer and better products to put on the shelves. From the initial idea to the second they hit the shelves, there's a lot that goes into the production of new make-up, skin care, and hair care products, one of the biggest and most important phases of the process being testing.
All beauty products are required to go through extensive testing to make sure that it is safe to be used, and unfortunately tons of make-up brands do the majority of their testing on animals. While more and more brands are starting to go cruelty-free (and some vegan!), there are many big-name brands that have yet to switch over to the much more humane method of testing using human volunteers. Going cruelty-free is not only good for animals, but it can benefit you in more ways than one (if animal cruelty wasn't a big enough reason on its own, that is).
1. Cruelty-free products are less toxic.
Cruelty-free (and vegan!) products typically contain less harmful or carcinogenic chemicals in their make-up, often using more natural ingredients. Many brands that still use testing on animals also tend to use more chemicals in their make-up, such as formaldehyde-releasing preservatives (which have been linked to cancer), coal tar dye (used predominately in hair dyes and has also been linked to cancer), and phthalates (which are bad for reproduction and can be harmful to hormone function). Due to the fact that vegan and cruelty-free products tend to use more natural ingredients, they tend to be better for your skin and have far fewer negative side effects in the future.
2. Make-up brushes are often made from animal fur.
Many make-up brushes are made using the fur from animal tails. While they are cheaper than synthetic brushes, they trap oil and dead skin cells from your face, allowing bacteria to breed. They're also harder to properly clean, so really no matter how much you clean them, they're still dirty. On top of everything else, they don't work as well as synthetic bristles. You only have to buy brushes every once in a while, so invest a little bit more for quality, cruelty-free brushes!
3. There are more humane, faster, effective methods of testing available.
A method of testing referred to as in vitro testing uses human skin cells and tissue cultures to test the effects of products. Not only are these tests faster and environmentally friendly, but they yield more accurate results! Tests on animals didn't show the connection between glass fibers and cancer. However, in vitro testing showed those fibers to actually be carcinogenic. It was also able to identifying all the irritant chemicals within a sample, while testing on rabbits only identified 10 out of 25. Read more about these tests here.
4. Animal cruelty is just plain wrong.
No matter which way you spin it, animal testing is terribly cruel, especially once you realize that it isn't necessary. We can get more accurate and safer results from in vitro testing, without having to use rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, hamsters, dogs, cats or any other animal. Animals kept in labs for testing are handled roughly, shaved and rubbed down with products full of harmful chemicals, and have irritants dripped into their eyes that can lead to blindness -- not to mention, it's all painful.
5. It's not hard to cut out the bad companies from your daily routine.
There are dozens of companies that still use animals to test their products on, and sadly, some of them are the biggest make-up companies out there, such as Maybelline, Cover Girl, Revlon, Rimmel London, L'Oreal Paris, Clinique, MAC, Sephora, Essie, and OPI. After seeing a list of all the companies that still test on animals, I was pretty sad, even more so when I realized that everything currently on my face and over half of all my make-up in general had been tested on animals, so I started doing some research on brands that were animal friendly! You can find out if any brand is cruelty-free with a quick Google search and checking to see if the brand has a bunny somewhere on it. The specific symbol itself varies, but that's the general mark of a cruelty-free product!
6. There are plenty of great animal-friendly brands that you may already use!
There are a great number of brands that are cruelty-free and weren't all crazy expensive! Ulta, NYX, Physicians Formula, Yes To, Urban Decay, Too Faced, Kat Von D, The Balm, Anastasia Beverly Hills, e.l.f., Colourpop, Hard Candy, Bare Minerals, and Wet 'n' Wild are all amazing brands, and they're all animal friendly! I found my favorites (because of their quality and affordability) were NYX, Colourpop, Ulta, and Physicians formula. I'm also a huge fan of Urban Decay and Anastasia, but they are a luxurious treat that most college kids can't afford a ton of.
Upon learning just how much of my make-up wasn't animal-friendly, the thought of wearing it made me shudder, so I went through all of it (which was a lot) and took out everything that wasn't animal-friendly. I offered what I wasn't going to wear any more to my friends (because make-up is expensive and I am not going to judge anyone for taking free make-up) and went on an exciting hunt through Ulta to piece together enough make-up for my daily routine that was animal-friendly. It was really great looking in the mirror this morning and knowing my money didn't go to companies that harm animals, and that the make-up on my face had never been worn by a rabbit! I was only able to afford this new make-up because of gift cards I received for my birthday and for Christmas. But, if you do want to go the animal-friendly route, don't feel like you have to do it all at once!
Make-up can be pricey and no one is going to judge you for phasing out the brands that test on animals as you finish the make-up you have. Use mascara until it's gone, have fun with your lipstick until you can comfortably afford to replace it, and don't feel guilty! Because like me, you probably didn't know. That's why the best change to make is to promise yourself you'll be more conscious about your beauty product decisions in the future. One day, you'll be going through your make-up and you'll realize your make-up bag is completely cruelty-free. It's a good feeling.
