Beauty and the beast

I recently received a blog post from my friend Tracy about her hours-long search for vegan skincare and beauty products only in the end to buy nothing because she doesn’t really want to change her skincare routine. I feel for her. The beauty industry has gotten a significant portion of the worlds’ population to look the other way on animal testing and being bad for the environment. The EU bans 1400 ingredients from skin care and the USA only 100. However, gasoline is on the list of 1400. I always love what Tracy posts and often respond.

“Tracy—

Two things: One, you can find non-vegan beauty brands that don't test on animals, and two, you can make your own. I make my own body and face scrub for this reason. I also look for brands that are "pure" like Ivory soap (must be the bar) and Dr. Bronner's. However, like you, I refuse to give up my hair care products designed especially for curly hair, and certainly not vegan or environmentally friendly.

—Mali

The quandary over doing right environmentally and looking our best is one that has been around for centuries and will continue to be around. In ancient Rome, women used Lead to color the cheeks red. They didn’t know better. Now that we know better, what’s a woman to do? Buy what works for you and offset the environmental impact by composting, recycling, and reusing. Recently I took empty spice jars and cut off the top to expose the “shaker” part. I poured in baking soda and now my fridge and freezer have deodorizer that doesn’t take up much space and only needs to be changed every three months. There you go —recyling and recusing.