Guest blog written by Grace Marrero (crueltyfreegracefully)
In our latest guest blog, Grace Marrero aka crueltyfreegracefully delves into her own personal cruelty-free journey. Grace is a true cruelty-free advocate who created her platform after struggling to find cruelty-free and vegan options while dealing with severe eczema and lupus– two autoimmune deficiencies that affect the skin. Her hope is to educate and inspire others to join her journey to cruelty-free as well as open the doors to all the possibilities of products still available to those who seek a cruelty-free lifestyle, even under tight restrictions and sensitivities.
The cruelty free movement is seeing incredible strides and advancements across social media and store shelves. Not only are more cruelty-free and vegan brands stepping up, but we are seeing a growing wave of awareness and demand from consumers, as well.
When we think of animal testing, we think of the inhumane tests being done on live animals. When we think of vegan ingredients, we think of what’s listed on the back of the ingredient label. But what a lot of consumers don’t realize is that even certified cruelty-free and vegan products can still undergo tests that utilize animal by-products, begging the question, is it really cruelty-free and vegan, then?
As a cruelty-free consumer of 8+ years, and more recently, a cruelty free and vegan content creator, I’ve always pigeonholed cruelty-free and vegan products as those that didn’t contain animal derived ingredients and were not tested on animals in any step of the manufacturing process, but completely neglected to even consider the possibility of animal by-products being used in the “cruelty-free” testing process.
It wasn’t until I connected with XCellR8 and learned more about their vegan laboratory that I was positively whiplashed by this new information. Now, I’m no scientist, but when I commit to vegan products, I want to know that they never touch an animal or animal by-product in any step of the process. Imagine buying a vegan oat milk, but learning it was processed using cow’s milk. This would be absolutely absurd! So why should our cruelty free and vegan beauty/skincare products be treated any differently?
XCellR8 is pushing the needle and redefining the meaning of cruelty-free and vegan products by finding new and innovative practices and techniques to test the efficacy and potential side effects of ingredients and formulations without the use of animals or animal derived ingredients in any step of the process in what I can only hope will become the norm in the future. In the meantime, I hope more laboratories will learn from XCellR8 and adopt vegan testing practices, and I hope more cruelty free and vegan brands will go the extra mile in seeking out vegan labs for their ingredients and formulations as we continue to demand justice for animals and step away from animal by-products.
Want to start your journey into cruelty-free? Watch Grace now on YouTube for all the tips.
