Animal cruelty for fashion and beauty

As a fashion and beauty snob I like to use the best products for me.

But Im also an animal -lover, and I have had my fair share of pets from baby-hood to now.

and also as a muslim I feel its my duty to do my best to not inflict pain on any other living being as the meaning of the word 'islam' itself means peace, and it saddens me to see how the media portrays billions of people as blood thirsty vampires.

So I feel very sad to know that cosmetic and fashion companys carry out very cruel procedures on live animals.

I also try not to wear animal furs and leathers where possible as I know for a fact that animals are often skinned alive for their furs -luckily I never wear fur!

But -I also have to admit to a designer handbag and shoe fetish!

When I bought my Leather Prada bag I was promised by the guy in the Prada store that Prada do not treat the animals in a cruel way and that they purchase naturally-dead animals

-I do not know how true this is but I purchased the very expensive bag in good faith!

I know that testing on animals for medication purposes is important in the medical industry as it is the only way to find cures and treatments for human and animals both alike.

You would be amazed at the ingredients derived from animals also

from horse urine, to dead sea animal skeletons, to beetle blood, to insect poo, animal fats, hormones such as oestrogen and progesterone the list goes on forever

to be very honest things that we use in our day to day life can be considered cruel

Milk-this is the cows food for her calf

Eggs-these can be the chickens future baby chicks

Honey-this is made by the bees for the bees

Did you know that Animal testing was made illegal many years ago in the UK (about 1998 in the runnings of tony blair in the house of commons) but due to a recent change or addition in legislation many companys have snuck in animal testing apparently this piece of legislation is so big and so complex that even the very large cosmetic companys do not completely understand it.

So I am compiling a list of Cosmetic Companies that do not test their products on Animals and also companies that are Animal friendly

Animal friendly vs not tested on animals

Because there are thousands of ingredients that have been tested on animals. Companys can use these ingredients and display a 'not tested on animals' sign on their products this only means that the whole product has not been tested but the individual ingredients have been tested previously on an animal.

True Animal friendly

It is very difficult for a company to register itself as being truely animal friendly.

If any company has its products Animal friendly approved they are permitted to display a rabbit symbol on their products

If you know of any companies that are animal friendly or not tested on animals then please do a good thing and add their names in the comments below

1) The Body Shop (Animal friendly, Fair trade, also raise money for various charities)

2) E.L.F www.eyeslipsface.co.uk (Do not test on animals)

3) Liz Earle (Approved Animal friendly and uses naturally active ingredients)

4) BarryM (do not test on animals)

5) Co-op own brand cosmetics (do check the packaging as co-op has recently bought somerfields)

6) Marks and Spencers own brand cosmetics (animal friendly) they also do reasonable quality affordable makeup brush sets you may wish to check out.

7) Beauty without Cruelty (Animal friendly)

8) Bio-D (animal friendly)

9) Dermalogica (animal friendly)

10) Earth friendly ( Animal friendly)

11) Faith in nature (animal friendly)

12) Kingfisher (animal friendly)

13) Meadowsweet (animal friendly)

14) Moor spa (animal friendly)

15) Morrisons own brand products (Animal friendly)

16) Neals Yard remedies (animal friendly, natural products)

17) Organic Makeup (animal friendly)

18) Lush (not tested on animals, fairtrade)

As long as you are not very faint-hearted and you want to learn more you can read a book I read a few years ago called -'skinny bitch' Its a very interesting book (although I cant guarantee how true the facts are)

A great website is www.animalfreezone.co.uk

I partcularly found the page www.animalfreezone.co.uk/animalfreecosmetics.html very interesting.

I will definitely update this particular post regularly for you if you let me know whether this interest you or not, I'd love to know your thoughts!