If the onset of the 21st century has seen anything in the world of beauty it would be the way consumers have become savvier about their products. We are focusing as much on what goes outside our body as inside.
If probiotics do us good on the inside they must do us well on the outside too. Items that have been known and “trusted” for years are being boycotted for hosts of red flag ingredients. Words like paraben and phthalates have crept into our vocabulary. We read labels like encyclopedias – furiously scanning for anything that may cause danger.
I get it. I am notorious for selecting anything that will rebuke the chances of disrupting my endocrine system or causing cancer. My goal is to have a long healthy life and to look GOOD while I do it. So I’ll eat the spinach salad and take the eye cream that is free of formaldehyde, thank you.
Back in the dark ages… (more commonly see “my teenage years”) I mean twenty-ish years ago, before we knew that micro beads clogged our waterways and nanoparticles tampered with our lungs the “trend in labeling was something called cruelty free. In a roundabout way cruelty free essentially means that the cosmetic product in question was not tested on animals. Animals are often used to determine the safety of a product or its ingredients; however unlike a human an animal cannot offer their consent. By FDA (Food and Drug Administration) there is no legal definition of cruelty free. Therefore several watch groups have taken it upon themselves to be advocates for our animal friends.
PeTA or the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, is the largest animal rights organization in the world (onegreenplanet.com). It is a non-profit organization and easily the most recognized with chapters in various countries throughout the globe.
PeTA has established a program entitled Beauty without Bunnies which allows consumers to search a database of more than 1500 companies allowing them to select companies with cruelty free products.
Everyone at Salon Enso is a proud pet owner and animal lover; therefore it was doubly exciting to see Aveda officially inaugurated onto PeTA’s Beauty without Bunnies list.
This spring we were proudly able to display the PeTA bunny logo and talk about what Aveda is and has been since its inception in 1978 – PEOPLE tested.
Aveda made a commitment many years ago to never test on animals or ask others to do so on their behalf. Sometimes companies can source out ingredients and have a third party test those on animals. It is against Aveda’s ethical stance to do this.
Their beliefs on animal testing can be traced to the Aveda mission line of “caring for the world we live in”. That stance can also be backed up by taking a look at the grounds that surround the Aveda facility in Blaine, Minnesota which is a certified wildlife sanctuary, or by the conservation efforts in Nepal which help save the environments of the snow leopard and wild yak.
They believe strongly in making the world a better place for all creatures.
Beauty without Bunnies is another way Aveda is able to set the bar for environmental leadership within the world of beauty. Knowing our products are safe, gentle and cruelty free. It is just another way that makes everyone, whether they are two legged or four, look and feel their best.
