Why You Should Buy Cruelty-Free Skincare Brands

Why You Should Buy Cruelty-Free Skincare Brands

Buying a cruelty-free product is not just a way of demonstrating your commitment to animal welfare and safety. Given the scale of the climate crisis, choosing cruelty-free skincare is, now more than ever, a responsible choice. 

Building a skincare routine with cruelty-free products means reducing our environmental footprint, avoiding harmful chemicals, and, of course, looking after our skin microbiome. 

However, with so many products, labels, and brands available on the market, getting started on a new, more responsible, and healthier skin care journey may be a bit intimidating.

At Veriant, we strongly believe in the importance of a sustainable skincare regimen that can bring positive results to your skin and a lower and more sustainable impact on the planet. For this reason, we want to shed some light on why cruelty-free skincare is now the only way forward. 

What are cruelty-free skincare products?

Understanding which skincare brands are really cruelty-free may be frustrating. Some products are labeled as “organic”, others are marketed as “natural”, but which ones have not been tested on animals?

PETA views as “cruelty-free” all those products which ingredients are not tested on animals. However, the official definition can be broader and even change based on each brand’s guidelines. For example, some products may still include ingredients that have been on the market for years, but have been tested on animals in the past. Other brands may still utilize third-party suppliers that test their products or ingredients on animals, or conduct animal testing in a foreign country.

How can we identify cruelty-free products?

The famous Leaping Bunny logo remains the best and quickest way to identify cruelty-free products. This is usually placed next to the ingredient list and confirms that no ingredient in the product has been tested on animals since 2007, as verified by Cruelty-Free International

Animal Testing and Skincare: How it All Started

Animals have always played a significant role in biomedical research. US cosmetic companies first started testing their products on animals after the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act was signed into law in 1938. This law required safety testing on cosmetic products before they could be sold to the public. Tests included skin and eye irritation tests, and experimenting to calculate the dose at which a product became lethal: its “lethal dose”. Millions of animals have lived and died in pain and suffering as a result.

Cosmetic animal testing bans, as well as trade bans, have been in place in the European Union, India, Israel, New Zealand, Norway, and other nations around the world since the mid-1990s.  In 2000, the US passed The ICCVAM Authorization Act (Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods) to encourage safety testing of chemicals. This was to minimize or prevent pain and distress to animals, effectively discouraging animal testing. 

On August 31st 2018, The California Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act was signed into law. California became the first state to officially ban the sale of cosmetics tested on animals. It is hoped that California’s example, along with the research undertaken to advance safety testing without the use of animals, will lead the way for other US states to follow. 

In the biggest development in the movement to stop animal testing, China, in 2019, removed the requirement it had for products to have been tested on animals before being sold to the public. The move has been widely welcomed but falls short of an outright ban on the practice. 

Still today, it is up to individual US manufacturers to decide whether or not to test on animals.   

Why You Should Switch to Cruelty-Free Skincare Today 

  • Animal testing is cruel and barbaric
  • Every year, millions of animals are forced to endure painful experiments in the U.S. only. Not just monkeys, rabbits, and rats, but also dogs and cats are bred just to live in barren cages and be subject to torture, and only to be killed at the end of the tests.

    Certain breeds of dogs, like Beagles, are specifically used for testing due to their docile nature.  Besides, these animals are considered a special category by law, and they’re not protected from animal abuse and cruelty. This means that they are deprived of their basic rights and bred only for living in pain.

  • Animal testing is unnecessary and outdated
  • Animal testing is not just unethical, but also unnecessary. The idea behind animal testing is to make sure that ingredients and products are safe for being used by humans. However, the truth is that there is plenty of alternatives, with over 7,000 ingredients that are already proven to be safe. Several companies still conduct animal testing only because it is usually a more affordable practice and allows them to come up with new, “innovative” ingredients to increase their products’ prices.

    Despite many mainstream, big-name brands still being reluctant to go cruelty-free, several countries around the world have already banned animal testing and moved to more sustainable options. The EU, India, Norway, South Korea, and many others have banned this practice, and they’re still home to many great skincare brands. This confirms that businesses can offer innovative and great skincare products without relying on animal testing.

  • Science says that there are better alternatives to animal testing 
  • More importantly, scientific studies have shown that there are better alternatives to animal testing, like in-vitro testing. Other options are cultured cell tissues and computer models.

    These alternatives usually represent an extra cost for companies, but they make their production processes more ethical and sustainable and, of course, less cruel.

  • Your Choices Matter
  • By buying cruelty-free skincare, you are sending a strong message to the market. You are advocating for animal rights, and you are showing your interest in alternative, healthier options. 

    A higher demand for cruelty-free products can be a big factor for many companies to choose a more sustainable and animal-friendly route. Let’s use our wallets and our choices to send a clear signal to businesses.

  • Less Waste & More Savings
  • There are so many skincare products available on the market, promising to fulfill any kind of purpose for our skin, that we end up buying more than we need. How many expired products have you thrown out before you could even use them?

    Sustainability remains a complicated and often underestimated issue within the beauty and wellness industry. Going cruelty-free can be the perfect opportunity to try a more minimalistic approach to skincare. 

    Do you really need all those products? Are you really keen to spend your money on something you may barely use by the expiration date? By giving more thought to your purchases, you will minimize waste, save extra money, and do your part to make the beauty industry more conscious and sustainable.

  • You Can Support Better Businesses
  • The skin is our body’s largest organ, and we should treat it with the best products. However, often big companies decide to stick to outdated practices like animal testing because it is usually cheaper than investing in more sustainable options.

    On the other hand, there are now thousands of smaller companies out there that have chosen a fully animal-friendly route. When looking for cruelty-free products, you are finally freeing yourself from the monopoly of some unethical, big-name, multinational cosmetic brands. You can support all the great local businesses in your area, or try independent brands that often also offer a lot of budget-friendly options for all skin types and needs.

    Should I switch to Cruelty-Free Skincare?

    Mella has made a commitment to producing only cruelty-free and vegan products. We encourage more awareness to the potential impacts of our skincare purchases. We want to offer sustainable and innovative solutions to the skincare and wellness sphere, with the power of science, technology, and sustainability.

    With our melatonin-infused products, we want to do our part to modernize the beauty industry, give you the skincare your skin deserves, and show that cruelty has no place in the beauty industry. Our melatonin-infused moisturizer and 3-in-1 cleanser offer everything your skin needs, and can also be integrated within your favorite, cruelty-free skincare regimen.

    Our skin and our planet are both our homes. Let’s show them some love and make ethical and sustainable choices that can improve our future.

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