Beauty without Cruelty
http://www.beautywithoutcruelty.com/
Beauty without cruelty, a UK company, was created in 1963 by Kathleen Long and Lady Dowding, two women with a passionate vision of cruelty-free cosmetics, and is one of the original ethical and cruelty-free companies. After a number of different incarnations the company, now over 40 years old, still holds true to its strong ethical and environmental principles and their products are created with organic, natural and vegan ingredients with a minimum of packaging.
The Body Shop : While Peta and BUVA regard the Body Shop as an ethical choice for cosmetics with regards to animal testing, the recent merger of the Body Shop with L'Oreal makes the ethics surrounding this company, if one is generous, murky at best. First of all, L'Oreal USA is clearly stated as a company that still tests on animals by PETA. (PETA also has a list of companies that do not test on animals.) Secondly, 26% of L'Oreal is currently owned by Nestlé, a company with a long standing reputation for dishonourable trading and business practices.
The BUAV publishes the Little Book of Cruelty-Free, a free
pocket-guide of companies that are approved under the Humane Cosmetics
Standard and the Humane Household Products Standard. Check out the list
of approved companies at this link and request your FREE copy of the
Little Book of Cruelty-Free: http://www.gocrueltyfree.org/b1_littlebook.php
Green People
http://www.greenpeople.co.uk
Green People are a UK company, founded in 1997. They aim to create cosmetics, skin and haircare products including natural sun screens from 100% natural and organic ingredients. All products are certified by the Soil Association. The website carries an ethical policy and mission statement and the company donate 10% of its profits every year to charitable causes linked to 'green' or environmental issues.
Lush: Lush was launched in 1995
by Mark Constantine, after his first company, Cosmetics to Go, crashed.
Ironically, Cosmetics to Go was started from proceeds from the sale of
shampoo formulas to Bodyshop in the 70s. Unlike Bodyshop today, Lush is
still regarded as one of the most ethical business in the UK and was
also voted one of the top 100 companies to work for by the Times Best
Companies list. Lush recently re-purchased Cosmetics to Go, and the
(much missed) makeup from that range has been rebranded under the name
“B never too busy to B Beautiful”. http://www.lush.co.uk
. Mark Constantine has also won PETA Europe’s “Trail-Blazer” Award for
his efforts in opposing laws which permit animal testing.
Naked : The Woodland Trust are working with a company who are doing some promising looking stuff - free from paraben, Sls and petrochemicals, with high percentage recycled packaging. The company is called Naked : http://www.woodland-trust.org.uk/naked
Naturewatch:
An organisation who produce the Compassionate Shopping Guide (£2.50)
which is an invaluable aid to help find products which are not tested
on animals. Their website is also very good and informative: http://www.naturewatch.org
Neals Yard
http://www.nealsyardremedies.com
Neals Yard claim to offer the largest range of organic health and beauty products in the country and were the first to be accredited by the Soil Association. They offer organic and handmade skin, hair and body care products, loose dried herbs, medicinal herbal preparations and essential oils. Products are GM and paraben free, ingredients are ethically sourced and are never tested on animals. The company are based in the UK and are members of BUAV.
