Saying no to shampoo - can I do this while working?

Recently I've been reading quite a few articles and blogs about people who have given up shampooing and I'm keen to give it a try. Why? The usual reasons are health and reduced consumption (of plastics, petro-chemicals etc.) and frugality since we spend thousands of dollars every year on similar products that we only need to use because we already use them (i.e. give up your hair's dependence on shampoo and you won't need to buy it ever again).

I'm sold on all these reasons and have one of my own to add: I don't have ANY local stores that sell shampoo (or any other hair care products) that are vegan and not tested on animals. So I currently buy these products online and have them shipped to Perth - the postage means more fuel is used to ship, drive or fly my product to me. It seems I either have to hate the planet or the little bunnies enough to have them tortured, in order to buy shampoo in the Perth eastern suburbs?!

NOT needing to shampoo is the perfect option for me and I've read on a few links such as these below, that there can be about a month period of greasy hair as your scalp re-balances to it's normal level of oil production. The problem is I work on reception and NEED to look nice every day - how am I supposed to get away with a MONTH of greasy hair?! Eek!

http://www.crunchybetty.com/3-weeks-with-no-shampoo-and
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Go-No-Poo/

I think I need to think this through for a little longer before I take the dive...

On a separate note I need to take some more photos of my outfits for the #Restyle2013 Challenge - I was away over the weekend and have fallen behind.

The style required for 3rd of August was 'white shirt' and once again I already owned a white op-shopped shirt, so I don't remember where I bought it or how much it cost. I don't work in a corporate environment so I don't need any button-down collared white shirts, this one is a bat-wing white T-shirt with a sequinned butterfly on the front - so '80s!

My boyfriend just about died of shame when I bought this home and I've only had a couple of occasions to wear it out (usually for brunch with friends or something similar where I don't mind dressing quite flamboyantly) so it's going on the 'maybe' pile for something to donate back at the end of August.

Animal testing alternatives

The fact that animals are still tested on for 'scientific research' astounds me in this modern era. I stumbled across this article this morning which asks us to challenge the flippant use of animals in experiments and I was impressed by its simplicity.

As usual our allowance of these experiments constitutes complicity; in other words, bad things happen when good people do nothing. I've blogged before about using your money to not fund animal experimentation; but often where it is obvious we don't need to torture animals for cosmetics it is less obvious when referring to medical research.

The article referred to above talks about mice used in Alzheimers research, and the research I protest most vehemently against is animals used in cancer research. Why? Do I love animals more than people? No.

My father has myeloma and I would move the earth to find a cure for his cancer, but what I won't do is unnecessarily torture millions of animals. That's the point, the experiments are ALL null and void. Pointless.

"Not only is animal research harmful to animals, it is also potentially harmful to people. Animals do not get the same diseases as we do, and different species react very differently to drugs and procedures. Drugs that are shown to be safe in animals have often later proved to be dangerous in humans, while valuable cures and treatments can be missed if they fail in animal tests."1

So what is the alternative? Dr Hadwen's Trust is one that I know of, and I'd like to hear about more. We live in a very technological era where A LOT is known about the human body. Computer labs are the medical research labs of the future: they can test theoretical results faster, more accurately and more objectively than humans can. Computer research can lead us to more advanced knowledge prior to human testing than animal research too, so not only does it save the lives of millions of animals, it improves the outcomes of scientific medical research for all of us.

If we lived in a world where computer research was the norm instead of animal research, perhaps I could hope for a cure for cancer in time for my father; sadly, at the moment, it seems a long way off.

1 http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/CAMPAIGNS/experiments//2503//

“Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals and the answer is: 'Because animals are like us.'

“Ask the experimenters why it is morally okay to experiment on animals, and the answer is: 'Because the animals are not like us.'

“Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction.”

—Prof. Charles R. Magel

Cruelty Free Shopping

I’m going grey. I have been for a few years now so it’s no great shock, but I do dye my hair as I’m not quite ready to be as grey as my hair is. I went to the store to find some hair dye but all the brands available do testing on animals. I even tried the chemist which had a larger selection of brands, but the result was the same.

Why is it so hard to purchase from a company that doesn’t torture animals? The labels of ALL hair dyes say you need to do a test on yourself before use to make sure your not allergic, so why burn the eyes of bunnies before selling the product? It seems like such an archaic process to test cosmetics and other products on animals; there is no correlation between reactions in animals and reactions in humans anyway?! Scientifically it doesn’t even make sense.

Personally I won’t give money to a company who does animal testing because:

a) keeping animals in laboratories is cruel

b) testing products on animals hurts, harms and kills millions of animals year-round

c) if you hurt your pet it’s assault, if you hurt thousands it’s science

Something is seriously wrong with this picture! How can we hate the idea of someone kicking their dog but be OK with thousands of dogs being tortured to make sure our hair dye is OK?

If you want to find out which brands test on animals then there is a list of websites given below, but you can do a web search for “cruelty free” and the item you want to buy and this will usually bring you the information immediately.

Please comment below and add brands you love, or hate depending on their animal testing credentials.

Australia: http://www.choosecrueltyfree.org.au/ or shop here http://www.crueltyfreeshop.com.au/

Brands that DO test on animals given here: http://www.animalsaustralia.org/features/animal-testing-list.php 

USA: http://www.peta.org/living/beauty-and-personal-care/companies/default.aspx

Cruelty Free Money: put your money where your mouth is

Recently I changed my superannuation fund to Cruelty Free Super, when I realised I had no idea where my super was being invested. Considering how unethical most corporations are you can pretty much assume that any money you have invested is being used to break the little guy and stuff the pockets of the rich (all while ruining our environment).

When you hear about ethical investments I assumed these were for rich people who had money to invest, but I realised that your superannuation (and in fact ANY money you have in a bank) is being invested on your behalf. That’s YOUR money paying for deforestation, sweatshops and intensive farming.

Personally I think intensive farming is one of our world’s most horrific practices, and it has a lot to do with why I became a vegetarian 16 years ago. To borrow a line from one of my favourite campaigns, “A world without factory farming is possible. Make it possible”. I’m not going to go into the details here, I’m just using this example as a case in point.

Is there something you feel strongly about? Perhaps you boycott a company you believe to be unethical. Are you sure you aren’t personally funding THAT company with your bank savings or superannuation? Who does your bank invest in? Where is your superannuation invested?

It’s worth asking a few simple questions to find out, and if it all feels a bit hard, then at least there is a superannuation fund you can select which you can be certain does NOT invest in:

• Child Labour
• Human Rights Abuses
• Environmental Destruction
• Intensive Farming
• Live Exports
• Animal Testing

If you want more information then go to http://www.crueltyfreesuper.com.au/. I’m not commissioned to speak on their behalf, I just happen to believe they’re a good company with a good idea: not investing in torture, abuse or destruction.

Where is your money invested?