Well done Superdrug, Marks and Spencer, Argos and The Co-operative!

Someone asked me on my formspring a while back if I just used cruelty free make up. A good question! I use cruelty free household products and cosmetics. It used to be a real struggle to get things like hand wash, shower gel, washing up liquid, kitchen cleaner etc... and I used to have to buy them online and they were expensive. For the last year or so I have been getting items like that from The Co-operative (a chain of grocery stores in the UK) as I really support their fair trade and cruelty free stance. How they treat UK Dairy farmers is another matter though... Also Oxfam have some great household products that I have used in the past too.

I recently read on the BUAV Go Cruelty free website that Superdrug, Marks and Spencer and Argos have joined the Go Cruelty free scheme. All of their own brand products are cruelty free. I have even more choice, they aren't expensive and they are easy to get hold of when I need them! Shopping on the High Street just got interesting again.

Now I am addressing this post to companies like Boots. I enquired about Facefront cosmetics as Boots were the only stockist. I was interested in the Christmas collections they were selling (those large file type ones with domed eye shadows etc...). What I didn't realise is that they make them as well.

The long and short of it is that a Boots Customer Service Manager categorically told me in an email that Boots doesn't believe that cruelty free products will ever be truly achievable. I think she meant that because everything has been tested at some point in the past. I agree, there is little that can be done about that now. They could make sure that from now on they are not tested again? Some cosmetics companies are actively involved in the search for alternatives to the current animal toxicity tests which I applaud. However, they could also choose to use ingredients which do not require this testing, as there is enough technical information and alternative testing methodology to render them safe for cosmetic use.

I will not speculate in this article on why profitable companies think that they can't produce cosmetics without animal testing. We can but guess at the motives behind using suppliers who test on animals whether asked to or not. I am sure with that in mind they are doing all that they can to prepare for 2013, when the EU Cosmetics Directive deadline comes in to effect, and animal testing of cosmetic products will be prohibited for good.

I'm currently researching ingredients commonly found in our cosmetics and what concerns people have about them and if they are founded in science or speculation. This is something I started reading around recently as I'd like to get to the bottom of which ingredients trigger my allergic reactions.