Sunday, June 8th, 2008
apricot’s closet: polka dotted animal lover.
Polka dot shirt & black shorts from Ross; dress/vest thing from Angle; shoes are thrifted; jewelry is miscellaneous.
This outfit was spur-of-the-moment. I needed to get out & go fast & that’s precisely what I did. Thinking about it now, I was a bit too warm in this outfit; the temperatures have slowly been increasing, so it’s back to shorts, flip flops & American Apparel tees for me. Goody.
Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about products that are being tested on animals. It was brought to my attention (yet, again because I’ve been contemplating this before) by my husband, who noticed that I was buying a product by Neutrogena, who still test their products on animals. I never quite understood animal testing. Why not just use a bloody human? Why put an innocent animal at risk for something that doesn’t involve him?
As much sympathy & passion I have for dear little animals — I am the epitome of an animal lover — I can’t bring myself to stop buying these animal tested products; simply because… there are far too many! To quit these products would mean transitioning into a life of — dare I say? — deprivation & inconvenience. I may be vegetarian; I may bring reusable bags when I grocery shop; I may recycle & contribute to my Lover’s compost, but I am certainly not perfect. I would love (& I mean this, truthfully) to stop buying these products. If not that, I would love to lessen how many products I use that test on animals, if only I could.
I did some research to prove that, without my knowing it, my whole world evolves products that test on animals. I listed the items I use below. I was a bit disgusted with the results, as I didn’t know that so many of my usuals were included.
- Arm & Hammer
- Ban roll-on deodorant (I don’t use the roll-on, but I’m sure it’s based on the same thing.)
- Clairol
- Clorox
- Colgate-Palmolive
- Cosmair (which hosts L’Oreal, Maybelline & Lancome.)
- Covergirl (I winced at this one.)
- Fendi (only listed as a reminder to myself. I don’t own designer anything, for the record.)
- Glade
- ISO
- Johnson & Johnson
- SC Johnson & Co.
- Kimberly Clark Co.
- Kleenex
- Lysol
- Max Factor
- Mead — as in the paper.
- Nair
- Neutrogena
- Olay
- Pantene
- Pine-Sol
- Playtex
- Pledge
- Post-It (what could they possibly test?)
- Proctor & Gamble (one of the biggest companies in the world that seem to produce every popular item on the market, from dog food to cosmetics.)
- Sally Beauty Supply
- Sally Hensen
- Scotch; as in the tape.
- Suave
- Unilever (another big company brand.)
- Vaseline
- Vidal Sassoon
- Visine
- Windex
- Woolite
- Yves Saint Laurent (another harsh reminder; may he rest in peace.)
All of these items I either have in my house, or buy frequently. The vastness of this list leaves me breathless. What could possibly be left? Nothing seems to be without animal testing. It’s quite sad & completely unforgiving.
on Sunday, June 8th, 2008 at 10:36 pm:
Looking fantastic in that polka dot top! I adore your vest dress, it suits you well.
Arm and Hammer and Sally’s test on animals!? That’s ridiculous, I use Arm and Hammer all the time, and I’ve just started purchasing these wonderful Sally Beauty products. :c And I wanted to buy Fendi, I really did. Olay is supposed to be good, I was going to use them in the future. Wow, it’s 2008, people.
:/ Oh well?
on Sunday, June 8th, 2008 at 11:13 pm:
Cute outfit-you suit polka dots!
on Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 7:31 am:
Yes it IS sad! I use a lot of those products too. As consumers at the bottom of the ladder it’s really really hard to avoid it. It’s one of those evil societal by products we kindda have to live with… well we dont HAVE to live with it, but it’s difficult not to when you’re trying to live a regular modern western civilized type of life style. The only answer, be a hardcore hippie?
on Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 9:00 am:
There’s two huge lists on PeTA’s sites about companies who both do and don’t test on animals. Ugh, I have so many of those products in my house too - I agree, why test on animals!?
on Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 1:02 pm:
oh love that outfit, so cute.
on Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 1:56 pm:
Post-Its? Oh gosh, the sticky stuff. Jeez… Animal testing is part of the reason I became vegan.
on Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 3:34 pm:
that’s such a rough topic. i have two pet bunnies at home, and they act like dogs or cats. if i imagine them sitting in a tiny cake and being used as test objects i get really sick. i try to do what i can,so i buy a lot of body shop products and some other stuff without any testing. but, well, how can you avoid procter & gamble? where do you get lady shavers for example? i read somewhere that animal testing will be forbidden in the european union next year. have to look into that, that would make life esier for me.
love your polka dotted outfit!
on Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 5:16 pm:
hi! how are you doing?! I love how you mixed the polka dots with the white vest.. it look ssoooo chic.. you look soooooooo pretty too!
** I have added you on my links, care for link exchange?
take care,
kyutie
on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 1:36 pm:
I know; it sucks. :(
I think it’s time to start looking for some alternatives.
on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 3:48 pm:
@ Natalie: I know, it’s so disheartening. I wish I could say “oh well” myself, because then maybe I wouldn’t think of it as a big deal. But it’s hard for me not to think about it.
@ Sharon rose: Thank you, dear. :]
@ Aaron: I am all for hardcore hippie, except that a lot of their products don’t work as well! My husband bought this soup that is purely natural; doesn’t use any animal fat or whatever. You could use it as mouthwash even! it It was that pure. But it didn’t clean things right. We used it on our dishes & it didn’t get the gunk off. Not only that, but it left this nasty residue. Sigh. I don’t know how the pioneers did it.
@ Trace: I went to PETA to look for the lists; unfortunately, I couldn’t find them. But I kind of already know what they’ll entail. I’m sure it’ll be a list of 600 items that test on animals, making me feel even more bad.
@ katelin: thanks!
@ Erica: I know! When I became vegetarian, I didn’t think much about animal by products or animal testing, but now that I am forcing myself to acknowledge these truths, it’s hard to ignore. Oh, & thank you for stopping into my little diary. :]
@ Anna: What you said made me think about my little doggie, Sofie, being tested on & it, too, made me feel sick. It’s so incredibly sad. I wish there was more I could do. & I wish American would be more adamant to change like Europe it.
@ kyutie: thank you for stopping in! I’ve added you to my bookmarks. :]
@ Gooseberried: yeah, totally. Alternatives when it comes to testing & alternatives when it comes to buying products. Bye, bye makeup. :[
on Thursday, June 12th, 2008 at 6:48 am:
thank you for your list! always good to know.
love the vest!
on Sunday, July 6th, 2008 at 8:06 pm:
animal testing breaks my heart and I just don’t get it… Love the outfit.