Cruelty-free beauty products

Being raised by a veterinarian comes with a certain amount of give and take. While I always had an endless number of kittens and puppies to snuggle at the clinic, we also always had no fewer than five animals (dogs, cats, lizards, you name it) to take care of at home. I never complained — the seemingly-endless parade of animals we fostered was a testament to my mother’s never-ending care, an attribute I couldn’t criticize, no matter how many shoes I lost to teething puppies.

Another childhood memory: searching the small print of all my beauty products for that golden phrase: “Not Tested on Animals.” Oil-free, dermatologist tested or for sensitive skin were rendered meaningless marketing gimmicks if the touted product didn’t come with a promise of being “cruelty-free.”

As I grew older, I became less fervent in my concern for animals — adhering to the advice of beauty columns and commercials that appealed only to my looks and well-being. I want to think that part of my lapse was naïve, that in this day and age it’s reasonable to think animal testing has been protested out of mainstream practice the same way fur and ivory have — now considered cruel and severely outdated. What type of company would want to align their products with those adjectives?

To my chagrin, I’ve since found that a multitude of companies see no fault in animal testing. The list has many familiar brand names for lotions, toothpaste and makeup, some of which currently reside in my medicine cabinet and makeup bag. After surprise comes regret that I’ve become lazy, expecting things I deeply disapprove of to go away by the efforts of others and not my own.

If you would like to join me in this cause, here’s a list of beauty brands committed to producing products without harming animals:

•  Arbonne International

•  Aveda

•  Bare Escentuals

•  Burt’s Bees

•  Conair

•  Dermalogica

•  E.L.F Cosmetics

•  Physicians Formula

•  NYX Los Angeles

•  Smashbox Cosmetics

•  The Body Shop

•  Too Faced Cosmetics

•  Urban Decay

•  Wet n Wild

•  Yes to Carrots

Kelsey Lindsey is Out Front’s beauty columnist writing from an affirming perspective on being your best you. See more beauty columns at ofcnow.co/beauty or contact Kelsey at kelsey.a.lindsey@gmail.com.