I've been on a strict vegan diet for two months now. I've got past the stage of wanting dairy and it's actually starting to disgust me, just as meat and fish already do.
There's a lot more to being vegan than giving up dairy and eggs and we're slowly turning our household vegan. We've got rid of most of our leather goods, but Ian will need some new work shoes and I'll need a new jacket before it will all be gone. It'll take us a while to use up all the cleaning products and toiletries that contain animal-derived ingredients or that were made by companies that test on animals, but we hopefully won't be buying any more in the future.
I've been doing some research on toiletries recently and have been surprised to find that a few companies that I thought were vegan (Avon, The Body Shop, Clinique, Liz Earle, Lush etc) have a "cruelty-free" policy of no animal testing, but still use animal-derived products. Luckily I've been moving towards using more natural products for cleaning (both ourselves and the home). I love the idea of not using anything on your skin / hair that you wouldn't be willing to eat, but I'm not sure if I'll ever quite get there.
I'm thinking of trying soap nuts for washing our clothes. Has anyone tried them?
I've never even heard of soap nuts. It seems to be readily available in NZ. The claims made are such that one wonders why anyone buys 'ordinary' washing detergents. I shall be very interested in your post on your findings. I might well try it when I get back to the UK (assuming it's readily available there).
ReplyDeleteWe can buy them on amazon GB. I've been meaning to try them for a couple of years, but have been suspicious. As you say - if the reviews are accurate then why aren't they more widely known? Shall get some and let you know how we get on.
DeleteWe tried them, Helen, but were not convinced they cleaned the whites white and also felt that there were more bits of fluff on the clothes, as though they had rubbed the clothes rather a lot. But I shall be interested to see what you think.
ReplyDeleteI always thought ambergris was extracted from Sperm Whales (and therefore the whales were killed) but have recently discovered it is washed up on the shore having been expelled by the whales. Would such a product still be unacceptable?
Thanks for that - I shall let you know how we get on with them.
DeleteGenerally vegans avoid all animal-derived products, but the main thing is to avoid cruelty to animals so I think that ambergris could be ambiguous.
I've thought of a better example - the discarded antlers of a stag. I presume that would be acceptable if the issue was cruelty alone. It would be interesting to get the views of other vegans on this.
DeleteI think that would depend on the purpose of keeping the antlers (assuming that's what you meant). If people saw them and thought you were justifying hunting then I think it would be a very anti-vegan thing to do. I guess we have to both not be cruel to animals and also not encourage cruelty to animals.
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