Vegan Cosmetics and Toiletries
A Spotlight on Vegan Companies and Business
by M. 'Butterflies' Katz
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Vegan Cosmetics and Toiletries:
Greenridge Herbals offer organic hand-crafted skin-care products inspired by nature, such as Chamomile Rose Face Cream, Organic Body Cleaning Gel, Face Petals Cleansing Grains, Secret Skin Serum, Rosewater Glycerine Toner, Baby Bath Tub Petals, Spa Bath Crystals, Organic Massage Oil, Whipped Body Butter, Organic Shea Butter Moisturizing Lotion, Essential Oil Soy Candles, and more! None of the products contain animal products at all; everything they make and sell is completely vegan. Colleen Miller, owner and founder, says: "I am so particular, even resins which have beeswax in them, I won't purchase or use." Colleen and her husband are both vegans. Colleen has been vegan since 1994 and her husband since 1998. The company has been in business since 1999. In her own words, this is how Colleen came to be a vegan: "It was a cold, harsh winter day in Chicago where I was visiting. I just finished having a delicious meal at the first vegetarian restaurant I ever ate at, with my cousin who was vegan. We were driving home and passed a huge semi carrying animals. I asked her what it was and she explained that it was on its way to the slaughterhouse. Well it was about 0 degrees that day, if even that. And these holes were all over the truck so it had to be so cold in there. I was cold in the car, with the heat on! Those animals had to be suffering so much, I couldn't stand it. I vowed never to eat meat ever again. And I haven't. I was vegetarian for about two months, not eating any dairy, but stuff with dairy in it, then after those 2 months switched over completely to vegan. And now the challenge is vegan organic, and making sure I get quality organic ingredients in my food, as well as in my products because what goes on your skin is just as important as what you eat."
Green Ridge Herbals
Web site: www.greenridgeherbals.com
E-mail: colleen@greenridgeherbals.com
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Inky Loves Nature sells only vegan products. The owner is a vegan for 18 years. Visit her at http://inkylovesnature.com . Passionately presenting products to the world, UK native Leesah B, a long time vegan, animal lover and environmentalist launched inky Loves Nature in the summer of 2005. Making indulgent goodies that are exclusively vegan (certified), free from parabens and formaldehyde donors.
Consciously crafted using community traded and traditionally extracted butters and oils, biodynamic herbs and plant-based ingredients. The company offers a unique collection of body wash, body scrub, scalp butter, etc.; fair-trade, organic and vegan.
Packaged in funky, eco-friendly and recyclable containers. Inky screams out to the culture craving "brown skinned beauty", "the vegan", "the organic head", the conscious consumer with funky-fresh style, or anyone. At 15 she became vegetarian and veganism was just the next step from that, she told us.
Inky Loves Nature LLC is located at P.O. Box 2603, Seacaucus, N.J. 07096
E-mail: inky@inkylovesnature.com
Web page: http://inkylovesnature.com
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Smudgepot Cosmetics sell only vegan products. The company owner and staff are not vegan, however. They offer 4 Flavors of Lip Balm: Igloo (peppermint), Creamsicle (Blood Orange/Vanilla), Meringue (Lemon/ Vanilla), Bean (Vanilla). Other products include: Instant Karma Body Scrub, Instant Karma Body Butter, Instant Karma Bath Salt (all with essential oils of Lavender, Rosewood, Vanilla), Working Class Hero Foot Scrub, Working Class Hero Foot Salve, Working Class Hero Bath Salt (all with essential oils of Peppermint, Blood Orange, and Lavender), Days Like These Bath Tea, etc. Smudgepot Cosmetics was founded in 2003 by Michelle Palmer, a Toronto-based esthetician and make-up artist. After many months of researching the cosmetics industry, Michelle discovered something she wished she hadn't - that animal by-products are not only used throughout the industry, but they're used excessively. And in many cases, these ingredients are obtained in a manner that is both cruel and unethical. It was then decided that Smudgepot would be an entirely vegan-friendly company. "We will never use animals for ingredients or testing purposes, and we only work with like-minded suppliers. All Smudgepot products are made by hand in small, made-to-order batches, which guarantees that
the products you receive are fresh, and of the best quality. All of our products are free of chemicals, as well as synthetic dyes and perfumes. And, of course, all of our packaging can be either recycled or reused. As you can see, Smudgepot is a socially conscious company." explains Michelle.
Phone: (416) 809-5859
Web site: www.smudgepotcosmetics.com
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Lamas Beauty founder, Peter Lamas, is one of the most respected make- up and beauty experts in the world. Peter has worked on numerous television, video, print and film projects. All Lamas Beauty products including hair care, skin care, and bath and body are certified vegan.
Phone: (888) 738-7621 or Phone: (877) 604-6521
Fax: (713) 869-3266
Web site: www.lamasbeauty.com
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Fresh Body Market sells only vegan products. The company owner is not vegan, however she says she's working on it. None of the staff is vegan. The company has been in business since 2001 offering body butter, milk bath (coconut milk), soap, etc. Delma Hernandez, founder and owner, tells us in her words about her company: "Tired of dry and scaly skin, I decided to "cook up" my own skin care recipes. I turned to my kitchen and its organic fruits and vegetables. After much trial and error I finally formulated a product that left my skin softer and better nourished than any product used before. Thus, Fresh Body Market was born. Two years later the skin care line has more than thirty different products. While most "natural" skin care lines use only food extracts which must go through a chemical process, Fresh Body Market uses only real fresh fruit and vegetables (organic when feasible) to provide skin with the most nutrients possible. The benefit of each ingredient is explained on the 'skin nutrition label' which has become the company's trademark. The environmentally- friendly packaging is modeled after food containers to emphasize the freshness of the products. In fact, the products are so fresh that an expiration date is on each label. A true animal lover, I promise that all products are tested on friends and family, not animals. Fresh Body Market is vegan certified by Vegan Action - a trend started in the United Kingdom and quickly sweeping the United States".
Located at 2030 Century Center Blvd., Suite H, Irving, Texas 75062
Phone: (214) 441-1861
E-mail: delma@freshbodymarket.com
Web site: www.freshbodymarket.com
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Pallas Athene Soap sells only vegan products. The company owner, Kerri Mixon, is a vegan and has been a vegan for 14 years, since 1992. 100% of company employees are vegan. Pallas Athene Soap has been in business since 2001. Products include 45 types of natural soap and bath salts. All products are manufactured by Pallas Athene Soap; they do not resell other brands. "All products are vegan, are biodegradable, are not tested on animals, and are made without artificial colorants, without chemical preservatives, and without synthetic fragrances" says Kerri Mixon. The decision to sell natural vegan soap as a nonprofit venture to raise funds for donations to charity came after Kerri Mixon, the owner, found there were few vegan, natural soaps (free of artificial ingredients) on the market; all other soaps contained some amount of sodium tallowate (tallow) or lard. Pallas Athene Soap operates as a nonprofit vegan business. Kerri continues, "For each bar of vegan soap sold, Pallas Athene Soap donates a bar of vegan soap to a southern California charity. Pallas Athene Soap has helped the community by donating natural vegan bars of soap to organisations. Their need to purchase animal-based soaps has diminished, because their needs for soap are met by the donation of Pallas Athene Soap's vegan soap. The overall goal of Pallas Athene Soap is to benefit the community and to see the day when no soap in the world is made with animal ingredients--because animal ingredients are not needed in soap! Pallas Athene Soap's natural vegan soaps won the Natural Soap Council's "Best Handmade Natural Soap" award and completed against other natural soaps that contained animal ingredients, yet our vegan soap won the award over all other soaps--even the competitors' animal-based soaps!" Pallas
Athene Soap, PO Box 133, Spring Valley, CA. 91976-0133
Phone: (619) 548-2378
Website: www.PallasAtheneSoap.com
E-mail: info@PallasAtheneSoap.com
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Cocoon Apothecary sells only vegan products. The company owner is vegan. (She was vegetarian for 4 years and now vegan for 1 year.) Staff consists of owner and husband, who is also vegan. The company has been in business for 2 years and offers body lotions, body scrubs, facial cleansers, moisturizers, toners, aromatherapy oils and balms, lip gloss. Jessica Burman lives in Kitchener, Ontario Canada with her husband and her four furry friends. She started her company with a passion for aromatherapy and an eagerness to bring essential oils and botanical ingredients into people's lives. Jessica, a huge animal lover, became a vegan after learning of the atrocities that are committed against animals in the name of profit. "The products are highly addictive", Jessica informs us!
Phone: (519) 497-9546
E-mail: info@cocoonapothecary.com
Web site: www.cocoonapothecary.com
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Sappo Hill Soap company sells only vegan products; a creamy vegetable glycerin soap. The owner is not a vegan, though. Perhaps 20% of the staff consider themselves to be vegan. They have been in business for 34 years, so I guess they make good soap!! Varieties include: Almond, Aloe Vera, Oatmeal, Cucumber, Desert Sage, Jasmine, Lavender, Aloe Oatmeal, Sandalwood, Natural, Gardeners Lemon, etc. The soaps are biodegradable, eco-friendly, use minimal packaging, and use organic oats and cornmeal polenta. Fragrance-free bars available, as well.
Sappo Hill is located at 654 Tolman Ck. Rd., Ashland, OR. 97520
Phone: (541) 484-4485
Web site: www.sappohill.com
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Auroma International, Inc. markets only vegan products. The owner and his wife are vegetarians for 36 years, but not 100% vegan. The staff is not vegan. The company has been in business since 1980 and they offer 2 varieties of Chandrika Ayurvedic Soap, Herbal Vedic Ayurvedic products including; toothpaste, soaps, clay skin cleanser, pain balm, and amber resin, as well as a wide assortment of incense in many fragrances. Santosh Krinsky started the company due to his connection to the project of Auroville, a new city of human unity being built in S. India. Auroshikha was located there and needed representation in the USA. Since that time, the company has expanded its offerings to provide 100% vegetable and herbal-based personal care products. In 1970, Santosh became a vegetarian, which he has been for his entire adult life. At that time, he included milk, butter and cheese in the diet (no eggs) and basically has maintained that diet for 36 years, except that he has switched to soymilk and dramatically reduced butter and cheese from the diet. While not 100% vegan diet, Santosh has a clear understanding and support for the vegan diet and lifestyle from personal commitment. He has experienced the difficulties of finding "clean" products as well as the difficulties of travel with special dietary restrictions for his entire adult life! Today he and his wife Karuna both continue with their vegetarian lifestyle after having raised two vegetarian children! Santosh concludes by telling us, "Our company is run by practitioners of yoga and focuses on products of value to a yoga lifestyle including natural incense from India and vegan personal care products."
Auroma International is located at P.O. Box 1008, Silver Lake, WI. 53170 USA
Phone: (262) 889 8569
Fax: (262) 889 2461
Website: www.auromaintl.com
E-mail: auroma@lotuspress.com
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Essential Wholesale (and private label Von Natur ) sell only vegan products. The owners and staff are not vegan. The company has been in business for 2 years offering a line of 36 SKUS, all vegan-certified, naturally derived, containing organic ingredients and are aromatherapy based. Their products are for facial skin care and most are unisex. They also have a body & bath line. "Von Natur isn't currently known as being Vegan Certified, so we're needing to get the word out there. It's surprising how many vegans don't realise what ingredients are animal byproducts!" says Laura Craig, Von Natur representative. The CEO isn't a vegan, but she is a cosmetic formulator and registered and certified aroma therapist. She actually has another company, Essential Wholesale, that makes private label products for other businesses, and one day she decided she wanted her own private label. Thus the birth of von Natur (which means "from nature" in German). She wanted to give our skin the integrity that she felt it deserved, so started a line with no cheap ingredients, no animal byproducts, no fillers, no chemicals, no parabens, no sulfates, and gluten-free. von Natur is a vegan certified and cruelty- free cosmetic line. von Natur never has and never will test on animals."
Von Natur, Laura Craig (Sales Director),
8850 S.E. Herbert Court,
Clackamas,
OR. 97015.
Phone: (503) 722-8828
Web site: www.vonnatur.com
E-mail: laura@vonnatur.com
M. 'Butterflies' Katz is the co-author of Incredibly Delicious; Recipes for a New Paradigm which is published by Gentle World www.gentleworld.org
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