5 Easy Tips To Going Cruelty Free

Tips to help you on your way!

Recently I have decided enough is enough, I'm going cruelty free with my cosmetics and products. I have thought about it before and I have also seen the ads with pictures of unhappy bunnies with red ears because someone has slathered nasty chemicals on them in the name of beauty, but to actually go through with going cruelty free seemed too daunting.

I'm not some kind of hippy who doesn't like showers, hugs trees in their spare time and goes up to people in the meat isle in the supermarket with a picture of a cow and says ' could you kill this for your dinner?' I did marry one of those people though, but that story is for another day (and yes he did used to walk around the supermarkets with a picture of a cow in his hand, he is very special to me.) But I think that any regular Joe would agree that in this day and age testing on animals is simply not necessary.
I have put together a simple 5 step list to help you swap your cosmetics to cruelty free ones and It's not as hard as you think

Image source from Causes.com

1. Research- I think it's really important before you make the change for good is to educate yourself on the actual test that are done on these helpless animals. It's not pretty and if you can only stomach looking at a picture of a sad bunny that is fine. But I urge you to do some reading up on it. Before you go shopping for cruelty free products it can be extremely helpful to know brands that are cruelty free! Am I right? Or you could be wandering the cosmetic aisle all confused. Know your Brands! Do some research so you can link which company tests on animals or if they are owned by a company that test on animals. Because either way the money is going toward hurting animals.                                                                                                                                           
2. Be Organised- So your toothpaste is nearly run out. Instead of going straight to the supermarket and replacing it with the same brand, go back to Step One and check if it is cruelty free. If not you still have time to order a cruelty free alternative online or shop around for one. This goes with any product foundations, hair dye, shaving cream all of these have cruelty free alternatives. Make a list of what you will need to replace soon and go online or to your local health food shop and make some informed decisions.   
3. Read Your Labels- The easiest way to tell if a product is safe is if it says 'vegan or it has the PETA bunny. There are two other independent bunny signs to look for too. If there is none of these symbols and you haven't completed Step One, move on.       
4. Dont Feel Guilty- One of the main reasons why it took me so long to change to cruelty free products was because I felt really guilty that animals had already suffered and I had already bought into it. You can't change the past but you can always change the future for some poor animal out there and make a stand! You may not think that swapping one thing for another is going to make a difference because there are millions of other girls out there who bought a product that was tested on an animal down the line, but remember, one drop makes a ripple effect.                                                                
5. One Step At A Time- If you feel as though you have to make the change slowly that's fine. Don't worry about throwing away all your make up and starting again, there is no point in that. Also no one expects you to know every cruelty free brand out there, that is what cruelty free blogs are for. Haha. But start making the change. This can be very exciting because you will have the opportunity to play with some new cosmetics and body care items that you may not have even heard about or tried. And these products are (in my experience) really good and lovingly made instead of some stuff that gets spewed out onto the supermarket shelves just to keep up with the latest five minute trends.

I hope these tips help you on your journey to becoming a mindful consumer and a bunny bestie!

Have Fun!

Renee x