Nor do I then crochet them tiny little leg warmers to compliment their unintentional 80s look and then post it on the internets for the world to see or anything...
(Oh how I love her angry, blurry little face in this picture)
I suppose these are not the actions of someone who loves animals.
That being said, if you were to approach me in tears, sharing that your grandma had just died, I would hand you tissues for your tears, rub your back soothingly and murmur words of comfort. If you told me your dog had just died, I would sob right along with you, hog the tissues, crack open a bottle of wine (or 2) and help you drink your sorrows away until we were both completely smashed and wandering the streets in our sock feet. You hollering about what a good dog Rex was and me hollering that Rex was "walking with Jesus" now.
What I'm saying is that, torturing them with wee crocheted legwarmers aside, I like animals more than I like most people and I think we all know that.
With that in mind, I've decided it's about high time I started using brands that refuse to test on animals. Because animals needlessly suffering so that humans can look and smell pretty? Not cool. Not cool at all.
Honestly, for someone who professes to love and respect animals as much as I do, it's shameful that I have continued to use my usual beauty products, and subsequently support companies that condone live animal testing.
While my main goal is to stop supporting companies that test on live animals, I will confess that I'm also interested in using products that are naturally made, thereby reducing toxins entering into my body.
As part of my simple living goals, I have been researching not only ways to live simply on less, but ways to reduce our impact on Earth's resources as well as how to keep toxins and other chemicals away from my gorgeous self.
Basically I'm turning into a dirty hippie (and trying to convert Ben into one too).
While I'm not quite at the point of joining the no-poo movement, I do love the idea of using something that was not tested on live animals and will also not leach toxins and chemicals into my big, beautiful brain, via my scalp.
Which now leads me to the actual "actual" point of this blog post...kissing my face.
Kiss my Face is a green company that refuses to use ingredients that are tested on animals and believes in using only natural ingredients in their products. I had heard good things about them and decided to try some of their products with the goal being to review them against my current beauty products.
First up... the soap (Also, please note that I will not be comparing availability and pricing. Obviously the new products are going to, for the most part, cost more. Part of living a simple and frugal life is deciding what is important to me and worth spending my hard cold cash on. Not torturing animals so I can have soft skin falls under that category.)
Kiss My Face Fragrance Free Pure Olive Oil versus Dove Original, Fragrance Free.
Dove:
Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate, Stearic Acid, Sodium Tallowate, Sodium Palmitate, Lauric Acid, Sodium Isethionate , Water , Sodium Stearate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Cocoate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Chloride, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Maltol, Titanium Dioxide
Kiss My Face:
Saponified Olive Oil, Water, Sodium Chloride
Appearance: For most folks, the small oval shaped white bar of Dove soap is probably considered prettier than the boxy, olive-green block of Kiss My Face soap. Luckily, I'm not most folks and it makes me giggle when I use a bar of soap that has "Kiss My Face" etched into it. If they produced one that said "Kiss My Ass" I would buy MILLIONS of them. Because I am 12.
Scent: Both of these soaps are considered fragrance free. However, both of them have a fragrance. Dove soap has a light flowery scent and Kiss My Face has a, shockingly enough, olive oil scent.
Ease of Use: The Dove soap fits nicely into your hand and lathers well. It rinses off without leaving any feelings of stickiness or residue. Kiss My Face soap is boxier and a bit more difficult to handle. It doesn't lather at all and there is a slight residue feeling directly after rinsing.
Final Verdict: Overall I probably enjoy using the Dove soap more than the Kiss My Face. It's weird to use a soap that doesn't really lather since we've been taught that lots of lather means clean. The olive oil scent doesn't bother me and even if it did, the scent definitely doesn't linger long on your skin. It took me a few days to get used to the "slightly sticky feeling" while rinsing but EVERY soap, other than Dove does that to my skin. What I did love was how soft my skin is after using the Kiss My Face soap. Dove doesn't dry out my skin but it doesn't leave it as soft as the Kiss My Face does.
Finally, the fact that Kiss My Face has 3 ingredients and I know what all three of those ingredients are, compared to the scary amount of ingredients in Dove and I think I'll stick with the Kiss My Face soap. I am going to try different ones though (the olive oil and honey bar perhaps?) to see if I might like those better than the pure olive oil one.
Shampoo, Conditioner, Shaving Cream
Kiss My Face Whenever Shampoo and Conditioner versus John Freida Brilliant Brunette Shampoo and Conditioner
Appearance: They both come in plastic squeeze bottles and they both look pretty. Kiss My Face has the slight advantage as it's a definite bottle while the John Frieda is more of a tube and has a tendency to fall over if brushed against.
Scent: John Frieda has a faint and pleasant smell. Kiss My Face smells like Pine Sol. It's rather disconcerting actually. To be fair, Harold doesn't think it smells like Pine Sol but that's only because he doesn't clean the kitchen floors and therefore doesn't really have the opportunity to smell Pine Sol up close and personal like I have.
Ease of Use: John Frieda requires quite a bit of shampoo to work up a lather. I also have to use a large amount of conditioner to get it to detangle my hair. Kiss My Face shampoo, much like their soap doesn't really lather even with lots of shampoo. That can take some getting used to. I require less Kiss My Face conditioner to detangle my hair.
This is a tough one for me. I have very thick, long, wavy-to-curly hair that is a pain in the ass to wash and condition. I also have a sensitive scalp so brushing my hair with any type of tangles in it leaves me wincing in pain. I only wash my hair every 3 days, partly because I am lazy but mostly because it's better for your hair. With the John Frieda shampoo, washing my hair every 3 days is not a problem. It also does a great job of keeping the frizz down. Before John Frieda I had seriously frizzy hair so I was a little apprehensive about switching. The conditioner, however, does not do a great job of detangling my hair so there is a lot of loud cursing and wincing when I comb my hair after the shower. The Kiss My Face has that odd "Pine Sol" smell and although I enjoy the smell of a freshly cleaned kitchen floor, I don't like that smell on my head..
On a positive note, the shampoo makes your scalp tingle pleasantly afterwards. And the conditioner...the conditioner is a dream. It detangles my hair like magic. MAGIC!! It also seems to keep my hair from frizzing but it makes my hair feel slightly - I don't really know how to explain it - heavy and slightly greasy by the second day. I think if I had thin hair I would detest this shampoo.
Final Verdict: I'll keep using the shampoo and conditioner until it's gone but I have a feeling I'll be looking for something different. Even with the magical detangling power of the conditioner, I can't get past my hair smelling like Pine Sol.
Kiss My Face Fragrance Free Shaving Cream versus Pure Silk Moisturizing
Appearance: While the Pure Silk comes out as a gel and turns into foam, the Kiss My Face shaving cream is creamy and more soap-like on your legs.
Scent: Pure Silk smells flowery and the Kiss my Face is scent free.
Ease of Use: Well, the Kiss My Face shaving cream doesn't come out as a cold gel that you then have to slather onto your legs or your delicate lady bits so that's a plus. Other than that they're both pretty much the same.
Confession time - I don't give a shit about shaving cream. I'm the girl who lots of times shaves her legs with nothing but soap or, even worse, just water, so obviously I'm the wrong person to be comparing shaving creams. I asked Ben for his opinion since he currently uses a foam shaving cream and is now using this shaving cream. His comment "I didn't use it correctly the first time. I'm sure it'll be fine."
Final Verdict: Unless Ben makes a request to try something different, we'll continue to use this shaving cream because they don't test on animals and as previously stated, I have no strong feelings about my brand or type of shaving cream. Just keep in mind that if you like the "foam" shaving cream, you will not like this.
Listen, I promise I am not going all PETA on you because them bitches be crazy. But, if you're interested in switching to cruelty free brands check out Leaping Bunny. It provides tips on going cruelty free and lists companies that do not test on animals.
Thanks for stopping by my blog.
ReplyDeleteAs for the soaps. I'm lucky that I have a friend that makes soap (from scratch, not remelting) that I use. However, I have a lot of problem with dry skin and Dove is the only thing that keeps it under control. So you just have to pick and choose what's best for you.