HAPPY #beautymonday, friends. I have been slowly transitioning myself into the cruelty-beauty world, and I’ve been dropping little nuggets and hints about it to your guys in my GRWMs and IG post captions but I haven’t totally gone all in because in all honesty, I needed to do a lot of research, figure out where I stood on certain issues and create some ground rules for myself moving forward. This will more than likely end up as a series – talking about the process of transitioning, products I like to use, how you can get started yourself and more.
TRANSITIONING TO CRUELTY-FREE BEAUTY
HOW TO BEGIN THIS PROCESS
Check out my favorite cruelty-free brands HERE.
Alright. These are the steps I took in the beginning to start on the journey of becoming cruelty free in my beauty and skincare products.
DISCOVER WHERE YOU STAND ON CRUELTY-FREE STANDARDS.
I have decided right now to consider any brands that are cruelty-free in the United States and do not sell on mainland China a part of my cruelty-free beauty round up. I know there is some debate on whether or not a brand can be considered cruelty-free if their parent company is NOT cruelty-free. As of right now, I’m still using brands that are themselves cruelty-free even if their parent company is not. That may change in the future, but that is the definition that I am currently using. You will need to decide for yourself where you stand on that front before you start the next steps.
A GREAT resource you can use when determining what brands are and are not cruelty-free is Cruelty-Free Kitty. Suzana Rose started the website to help people navigate the world of cruelty-free beauty when she realized there wasn’t a lot of comprehensive information out there. I’ve used this website a LOT when looking up brands and products. She also has a cruelty-free 101 section on the website that is incredibly helpful.
BEGIN DECLUTTERING.
Now, for me, I didn’t want to throw away any products that were still usable because I felt the overwhelming waste that would produce wasn’t worth it. I had already purchased the products or had them sent to me, so throwing them away wasn’t going to be a statement that made much of a difference to the companies. BUT I did decide moving forward, I would only be purchasing or repurchasing products that were cruelty-free.
THAT BEING SAID: For the decluttering process, I did want to go through all of my items and separate the cruelty-free from the non-cruelty-free as well as throw away anything expired or clearly not good for my skin type or hair type. Anything that could be donated or given to friends was. Anything that was expired or empty was tossed.
Start by pulling everything out of your drawers – I found it easiest to separate by type of makeup and then make piles within those types. It broke it up into smaller pieces so I could work section by section. I was able to toss a LOT of expired products and clear up space in my drawers. I had been holding on to some stuff that didn’t work for me because I really wanted them to or I liked the packaging, etc. They were tossed or given away.
Once I had my piles, I pulled up the list of brands that are and are not cruelty-free from the Cruelty-Free Kitty website and started separating. This was extremely helpful because 1. I figured out what I could and could not repurchase and 2. I plan on trying to use up all of the non-cruelty-free products first so that I can get them out of the house.
RESEARCH ALTERNATIVES OR DUPES.
Unfortunately, there are some of my favorite products that fall under the non-cruelty-free category. This was a bummer (I’ll list them down below) – but it gave me an opportunity to look through my cruelty-free products and see what I could dupe out or replace. I discovered there really wasn’t a LOT I was going to miss. A few products I will be sad to see go, but most things I can dupe out or replace.
I am working on a full blog post of cruelty-free dupes for my non-cruelty free favorites – coming asap! I want to make sure the products are true dupes. Be sure to be following me on Instagram @blondeandambitiousblog to get updated when it goes live!
AVOID THE OVERWHELM.
I’m going to share something with you that you are going to have to repeat to yourself a few times during this process: even small steps make a difference.
Say it again.
….and again.
….and one more time for good measure.
IF YOU CANNOT DO IT ALL AT ONE TIME – that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth it to make those baby steps. One of the things I don’t love about a lot of people in the cruelty-free community is that they seem to think that because they are already all the way there, anyone who does less isn’t doing enough. It’s just simply not true. If you can’t fully transition over right this second, make the small steps you can and work up from there.
I’m not 100% all the way there yet. I am still working through older products that aren’t cruelty-free. I haven’t been able to get in touch with all the brands I’m on PR lists for that aren’t cruelty-free (because I will be asking to be removed from their gifting until they’re able to go cruelty-free). But I am proud of the steps I’ve made in the right direction. It can be very overwhelming to look at this and go, “I can’t possibly transition over to this. It isn’t possible to do it all”. But you can if you take small steps to do so.
PIN THIS FOR LATER:
I’m on your team! I’m your advocate. If you need help or have questions – I’m always around. Shoot me an IG DM or send me and email and let’s chat about it. I want to help you make this an easy decision.
Have you made the jump to cruelty-free beauty yet? What are your thoughts on it? Let me know in the comments below!
