How To Go Completely Cruelty-Free: An Easy Starter Guide

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Choosing cruelty-free beauty and personal care products is a significant step towards ethical consumerism. This decision goes beyond enhancing your personal collection—it’s a powerful stance against animal testing. While the journey may seem challenging initially, it becomes manageable with the right information and strategies.

As you start this transition, there are several ways to handle your existing non-cruelty-free products. Whether you decide to finish using them, give them away, or donate them, each option has its benefits and supports your shift to a cruelty-free lifestyle.

This guide will provide practical steps and considerations to help you transition smoothly and sustainably. Embrace this change and learn how to align your shopping habits with your ethical values.

How To Go Completely Cruelty-Free

Adopting a cruelty-free lifestyle means seeking cruelty-free beauty products and maybe even stepping towards vegan and clean beauty products. Knowing that your choices do not support animal testing is deeply satisfying. So, how do you start this important journey? Let’s explore the steps together.

Start Small and Recognize That It’s a Process to Go Cruelty-Free

First thing first: Don’t overwhelm yourself. Going cruelty-free isn’t an overnight transformation—it’s more like a marathon than a sprint. Identify the most used items in your beauty routine and check their cruelty-free status. Then, focus on one product category at a time.

Conducting Thorough Research

Get your detective hat back on because conducting thorough research is key to a successful cruelty-free transition. Not all companies are upfront about their animal testing policies, so it’s up to you to dig a little deeper.

Look for third-party certifications like Leaping Bunny or PETA, as these can help cut through the marketing jargon and give you peace of mind.

You Don’t Need to Throw Everything You Currently Own Out

Adopting a cruelty-free lifestyle doesn’t mean you need to throw out all your existing products immediately. Such actions are neither sustainable nor economically feasible for most people. Instead, focus on using up what you already own while committing to not purchasing from brands that conduct animal testing.

You can also consider donating unopened items to local shelters or gift products to friends and family if used only a few times.

As You Use Products Up, Replace Them With Cruelty-Free Options

As your current products run out, replace them with cruelty-free alternatives. With each swap, you’re not just replenishing your beauty collection—you’re voting with your dollar for a kinder, more ethical industry. Before you know it, your entire routine will be cruelty-free!

Searching for cruelty-free replacements can feel both exciting and overwhelming. But don’t worry! The market for ethical products has grown significantly, offering great alternatives for everything from your favorite foundation to your go-to cleanser. Trying out new brands is also a fun way to discover products that might even work better than your old favorites.

Print and Download Cruelty-Free Shopping Guides if It Helps

If digital isn’t your thing, or you just love the feel of paper in your hands, printing out a cruelty-free shopping guide is a fantastic idea. Stick it in your purse or wallet, and you’ll always have a quick reference while browsing store aisles. It’s like having a cheat sheet for compassionate shopping right at your fingertips.

Understanding Cruelty-Free: Definitions and Distinctions

Diving into the cruelty-free world feels like walking through a maze blindfolded, doesn’t it? With all those claims and symbols flying around, it’s easy to feel a bit lost. Let’s clear the air and get down to what truly matters on your path to ethical consumerism.

Warning: Terms Are Not Regulated (Yet)

For some reason, brands can easily throw terms like “cruelty-free,” “clean,” “vegan,” and “non-toxic” around but these terms are not regulated by the FDA, meaning any company can claim to be “cruelty-free” or any of the above terms, regardless of their (animal testing) policies. This means blatantly trusting the brand promises isn’t the way to go cruelty-free/vegan/clean anymore.

How Do We Know Which Companies Are Truly Cruelty-Free?

Alright, let’s tackle this head-on. The term “cruelty-free” is about as regulated as a wild west town without a sheriff—basically, not at all. This means brands can slap a “cruelty-free” label on their products faster than you can say “misleading.”

But fear not, because not everything is doom and gloom. You’ve got legit lists like the officially cruelty-free brands list on sites like Cruelty-Free Kitty, Ethical Elephant, and of course, Conscious Bunny. The brands on these lists have promised that they, their suppliers, and any third parties stay clear of animal testing throughout the entire production process.

What Does It Mean For a Company To Be Truly Cruelty-Free?

Okay, so a company says it’s cruelty-free—that’s great, but let’s not start the party just yet. It’s a bit more complex than that. Imagine a company is like an iceberg. What you see on the surface (the final product) might be cruelty-free, but there’s a whole lot underneath (ingredients, suppliers, third parties) that needs scrutiny too.

Being truly cruelty-free means no animal testing from A to Z—not by the company, not by the ingredients suppliers, and sure as heck not by any third parties. This includes that sneaky indirect testing, like when a brand doesn’t do the dirty work but hires someone else to do it. Total no-go.

Recognizing Cruelty-Free Certifications and Symbols

Over the last couple of years, several certificates/logos have been used on brands’ websites and products. This makes it seem like a product is cruelty-free, vegan, or clean. Sadly, this is sometimes another way for brands to gain trust– while they’re not fully cruelty-free or vegan.

As terms and logos aren’t regulated, fake logos are sometimes used. Be careful before you trust any logos! Here are the only few logos you can trust.

Certified Cruelty-Free Logos

There are currently three organizations issuing cruelty-free certifications, and they are:

• PETA Beauty Without Bunnies Program
• Leaping Bunny Certification via CCIC
• Leaping Bunny Certification via Cruelty-Free International
• Choose Cruelty-Free (CCF), which as of June 1, 2021, merged with Cruelty-Free International

Certified Vegan Logos

• Vegetarianos Hoy (Latin America),
• Vegan Action, The Vegan Society (USA, Canada, and Oceanía),
• Brazilian Vegetarian Society (Brazil),
• European Vegetarian Union (Europe).

For more information on certifications, check out our post, Cruelty-Free Symbols & Vegan Labels: Which Can Be Trusted?

What’s the Difference Between Cruelty-Free and Vegan?

The terms vegan and cruelty-free have different meanings, so they are not the same and can’t be used interchangeably. It is possible that a product is cruelty-free and not vegan or the other way around: vegan and not cruelty-free.

When the product indicates that it is vegan, it does not contain ingredients of animal origin or derivatives thereof. For example, it does not feature collagen, wax, milk, carmine, glycerin, squalene, lanoline, and biotin that are extracted from animals.

When you see a product marked as cruelty-free, it means that it has not been tested on animals, but it can have ingredients that are not vegan.

• Cruelty-Free: Not tested on animals.
• Vegan: Does not contain animal-derived ingredients.

So, are there any products that are both? Yes. Thankfully, in recent years, several cosmetics brands have been launched that commit to being cruelty-free and vegan, often in addition to being free of parabens or sulfates, considered harmful ingredients.

Some of the most common components of animal cosmetics are honey or beeswax, lanolin from wool fat, carmine made from insects such as shredded cochineal, squalene that can come from shark liver oil, dairy products, the gelatin of the tendons or ligaments of the cow or pig, biotin, and also some forms of hyaluronic acid, glycerin, and retinol.

Vegan products are those that do not contain animal-derived ingredients in their formulation and in their results. I’m happy to say that nowadays, many companies have dedicated themselves to reformulating their products from scratch. An example is Kylie Cosmetics, which was rebranded into a completely cruelty-free, vegan, and clean brand.

But please be aware that if a product is listed as vegan, it does not automatically mean it has not been tested on animals during manufacture.

The Impact of Choosing Cruelty-Free

Will Going Cruelty-Free Make A Difference?

Choosing to boycott brands that engage in animal testing sends a clear message and also impacts them financially. This action communicates, “We do not support animal testing; improve your practices.” As more consumers convey this sentiment, companies are compelled to reassess their choices.

The Global Effects of Animal Testing

Animal testing isn’t confined to local concerns; it’s a pervasive issue worldwide. Picture animals across the globe, from rabbits to rats, bearing the brunt of our beauty practices. It’s a grim reality.

However, here’s the crux: as the demand for cruelty-free products surges, industries globally are feeling the heat. This universal shift towards ethical consumerism sends a resounding message that the era of animal testing should come to a close.

Nations are revisiting regulations, and companies are investing in innovative, cruelty-free research methodologies. Your choices’ impact resonates widely, catalyzing changes that transcend borders.