The ultimate list of ethical, good-for-you cosmetics and toiletries

[BrainSurgeon]

I am on a quest. I need to find out what toiletries and cosmetics I should buy, that do not:

• kill the Amazonian rainforest
• kill animals (ie. are not animal tested)
• contain palm oil
• contain chemicals harmful for the environment
• use underpaid labour (aka fairtrade)
• promote unrealistic human body images

etc.

Is there anyone out there who can give me examples of companies / brands products that would tick the most of the boxes above?

The only "good guys" I can think of are Dove, with their lovely campaign for Real Beauty, and I am using them but I feel like there should be a lot more out there?

Hmmmm about Neal's Yard and Weleda..... Tonydelayo can I ask why you wouldn't call them 'ethical', if you could please excuse my ignorance?

Regarding Estee Lauder, I didn't know they test on animals :-( nor did I know about China :-( :-(

I assume the Aveda products may not tested on animals but I should still avoid them..... off the list they come!

NEW LIST

• Faith in Nature
• Dr Hauschka
• Lavera
• Co-op
• Intelligent Nutrients
• Jason

I think you need to find products with short ingredients list. that way the product does not need lots of preservatives or 'binding' agents. I also like to avoid stuff derived from petrol or with silicones in it as it tends to obstruct my skin.

the more basic you go the better as it means more pure. So I use pure olive oil or sheabutter soap and pure almond oil. As a toner you can use destilled water with a couple of drops of lemon and essential oil.

I love products by Mistry they are based in Hampstead and the ingredients are purer and the list is much shorter than most organic shampoos. You can get them in good independent Health Food shops. They do the usual shampoo and conditioners also lovely creams for eczema etc. with calendula. They do postal deliveries (google them). Sorry i can't do links.

Oh and importantly they are incredibly good value for money.

Green People - British too. Great products. Shampoo is best ever IMO.

YY to REDUCING being top priority

JASON is manufactured in USA I believe and imported.
Though I couldn't see where they say where it is made on their UK website.
Which is strange for such an 'ethical' company.

After I had said Jason are meant to be good, I discovered that, if I am correct, there have been questions raised as to whether they can call some products organic because of the levels of organic ingredients being too low?

I may have this wrong though.

I use big green smile for all our washing products - we bulk buy Ecover everything so it comes in a box and we decant it into a bottle for use. Also use Ecover hand wash.

I don't really see why being associated as part of the Steiner "cult" is a bad thing, in fact I would view that as far more likely to be ethically sound. I know many of my greenest friends have been Steiner of home educated it really does not follow that they are part of a "cult".

I use Naked shampoo and conditioner and find them very good.

Having said that about Jason, I am a huge fan of Method clothes wash and don't want to use anything else.

I hope the fact that a tiny bottle of it lasts a month and I buy the soft refill packs (last approx 3 months per package), compensates for the fact it is all shipped from USA.

All these equations ...

YY to REDUCING being top priority
I also agree with this.

I really think REDUCE has been rather overlooked and understated in recent years.

The recycling triangle of 3 arrows - wasn't there an arrow each for reduce, reuse and recycle?

While it is all well and good turning your egg cartons into dinosaurs and your shower cream containers into mobile phone holders, they will all still end up as landfill.

Choosing less packaging is a start. But consuming less overall has to be the most effective way of helping the planet - less ingredients, less processing, less water, less carbon, less waste packaging.

You don't see any council messages about consuming less you do? Would the capitalist world fail if we all started to use/buy/consume less?

Absolutely BeCool.

I was going on to say (before I did something squiffy on this contraption),that the best cleanser is water, the best make up is to wear none, and the best hair extensions and eyelashes are the ones I grew myself.......

The cheapest and most responsible beauty aid is a smile.

you don't see any council messages about consuming less

No and what about the government ruling that the manufacturers stop using soooo much packaging? It shouldn't just be down to us consumers IMO

On the packaging subject I will nominate M&S Limited Collection cosmetics.
I'm just coming to the end of a great blusher - the packaging is made from cardboard (as are lots of the prodcuts in the range) and it's got the bunny symbol.

I know BeCool and ppeatfruit, I hate consumerism with a passion.
And I don't wear make up, don't dye my hair or varnish my nails.
I do try to smile a lot :-)

There are only a handful of things I can't do without when it comes to personal care: soap, shampoo, moisturiser and deodorant. Oh and toothpaste, I suppose. All else is unnecessary waste!

I wish I could buy the products from Hampshire but we live outside the UK at the moment (Middle East), that's why I needed to know what's commercially available

Iam a one woman campaigner to use no advertised main stream products and support independent producers. I have very dry skin and along with eating a really healthy olive oil filled diet !!! I buy pure organic shea butter on line for moisturising my body and mix small amounts with various essential oils, I also use org. almond\argan oil and camomile ess oil for massaging my face (i used geranium and bois de rose yesterday after my bath it was gorgeous). I use the rock deos and sometimes use just pure tea tree ess. oil with lavande ess. oil.

For my face I do love the colloidal silver with MSM products because I'm getting little spots around my nose. Also I'm old so just water doesn't cut it for me!

AFAIK all the above are fairly traded but I can't guarantee it. Definitely not animal tested. I reuse the bottles I buy to mix up my own oils!

ppeatfruit where do you buy the shea butter?

The website for the shea butter is www.natr.co.uk I can't link sorry, the phone number is 0800 0430 826.

The Silver and MSM products are by Living Energy Systems

Blimey it did that automatically (forgive my tecchie ignorance!).

Here is some information on the Steiner-Waldorf school movement. State Steiner schools in the UK tend to perform very poorly as well as promoting unscientific and downright weird / cruel ideas (e.g. not addressing bullying). There are loads of threads on Steiner on MN.

Neal's Yard have now withdrawn their homeopathy kit to treat malaria extremely reluctantly but they are very much advocates of homeopathy so I draw the line at buying from them. Others may not be bothered.

I think it is so hard to be a totally ethical consumer in a world where profit is put first and global companies have so many advantages eg in being listed by supermarkets. So a good start is lobbying your MP and organisations to make changes - companies don't do it off their own back. EG legislation to reduce packaging, stop false claims about products, government support and funding for local producers etc.

And also to buy as little as possible in as little packaging as possible and use it all. This is why preservatives are quite important IMO - though again, others disagree.

Well Tondelayo I've had first hand experience of state, normal private and Steiner schools and none are perfect IME it depends on the teachers. I agree the philosophy of Steiner is weird but at least they don't force v young dcs to read and write (too much the opposite in ds's case!) and they chucked out ds because he was 'leading' the others into trouble or something although he wasn't bullying. But they did deal with it.

I've taught in state primary schools that are actively cruel, abusive TAs, not allowing playtimes for minor indiscretions I could go; on how would you suggest I boycott them?

I have a great deal of respect for homeopathy ;it cured ds's eczema and stopped his fingernail from falling out after catching it in the car door. Also my very sceptical dh was won over by arnica after being in an accident in Fr. where he was given a 'dose' sttraight after being hit by a boy on a skateboard. He had no bruises the next day.

Tondelayo I also have first hand experience with being taught at a Steiner school and while I agree it is not for everyone and probably not for the majority I would never agree that the philosophy is cruel or unethical it can be a bit wishywashy.

Just because a philosophy is odd/unusual/different does not make it out and out wrong and in the case of those who follow Steiner they tend to be very eco friendly and have very green leanings despite their other more unusual beliefs. Whatever about the efficacy of homoeopathy the treatments generally have a very low impact on the environment and animals which is more than can be said for big pharma and cosmetic companies.

Some info on this thread, i'm making anlist.

Easter - did you got to Bristol vegfest or vagfest ? Either sounds interesting but which was it :).