How to Find Vegan Body Lotion in India
Understandably, finding a vegan body lotion in India can be challenging IF information about how to identify them as vegan is incomplete and inaccurate. This article aims to help you get familiar with the ways to ascertain whether a lotion is vegan or not.
Two aspects that make any cosmetic non-vegan or a cruelty product are – 1. Non-human animal testing and 2. Animal-derived ingredients. This means a product is vegan when it is not tested on animals AND does not contain any animal-derived ingredients.
Therefore, a product might not have any animal ingredients but may have been tested on animals. Similarly, a product may not have been tested on animals but might have animal ingredients. In either of these cases, the product is not vegan.
How to Find Vegan Body Lotion in India: Animal Testing
What is animal testing?
The PETA video Testing 1…2…3 is among the most compelling videos that provide a glimpse into the cruel world of animal testing.
In today’s age of scientific achievements and advancements, animal-testing falls redundant, besides always having been unreliable. Most importantly, the torture that fully conscious sentient beings are put through is simply not justifiable. They have chemicals applied in their eyes and on their skin and are constantly caused to suffer through exposure to toxic materials. All this for a bunch of products to supposedly make our skin feel good, for ourselves to look vibrant and colorful.
The strong resistance from consumers against animal experimentation has got certain companies to stop testing on animals. There have also been phenomenal inventions in the field of science that can smoothly argue the case against animal experimentation. This has led to some countries banning the cruel procedure of animal-testing on cosmetic products.
India banned the import of animal-tested cosmetics in 2014 and testing animals on cosmetics produced in India in 2015, making them two of the most remarkable milestones in the animal rights movement.
Looking for the ‘Not Tested on Animals’ declaration
As you may be aware, certain signs/logos/wordings on packages indicate that animals have not been tested on for those products. Generally, one would find a PETA certified vegan logo or a symbol of a rabbit with a stamp. In some instances, one can find statements such as “We do not support animal testing” or “This product was not tested on animals” on the packaging.
Below are some of the symbols you will typically find on the packaging of products free of animal testing. Please be aware that the symbols and marks of identification keep changing their look from time to time.
How to Find Vegan Body Lotion in India: Ingredients
Several companies use animal-derived ingredients in their lotions. A few such ingredients are honey, milk, milk peptides, lanolin (extracted from sheep’s skin), and animal-derived glycerine (made from animal fat). For a lotion to be vegan, it must also not contain any animal-derived ingredient.
Generally, below are the symbols on the packaging of lotions that are vegan (not tested on animals AND no animal-based ingredients). One can purchase these products off the shelf without doubts about their cruelty-free status.
Knowing the various ingredients that make a lotion non-vegan could come in handy while finding a vegan body lotion in India. 14 Non-Vegan Ingredients To Look Out For In Make-Up And Beauty Products is an excellent article detailing the generally used animal-derived ingredients.
Enquiring about the ingredients
Another foolproof method to ensure there are no non-vegan ingredients in the body lotion is to write to the company requesting them to clarify the source of the ingredients – whether derived from plants or from animals. Every package includes an email ID and/or a contact number for customers to have their queries answered. Response from these companies helps to know whether the lotion is vegan or not.
As an incentive, such queries are likely to draw the company’s attention and possibly get them to stop using ingredients of animal origin if they are doing so. This way, you will be pushing companies to make ethical products while also finding a body lotion that is vegan.
Finding information on company websites
Companies often clarify on their website whether their products are certified vegan. In fact, some of them have the relevant logos right on their Home page. Some others might declare they are vegan, typically somewhere in the About Us section. Another section that can be looked into is the Ingredients section from the Main Menu of websites.
Some Recommendations
There are quite a few vegan brands that sell body lotions. You can easily find the names of these companies online or at 100% vegan stores. Certain company websites have PETA certified vegan logos on their home page.
In addition to these, e-commerce websites have become increasingly aware of the demand for vegan products. This has resulted in easing consumer searches for a vegan body lotion in India on their websites. For example, Amazon has a wide range of vegan lotions. Just type the keywords ‘vegan body lotion’ on their site and you will receive several search results. You can further validate by checking the description of the lotion on the site. The best part of doing this exercise is that you get to choose from a range of lotions at various prices. You can simply select the one that fits the price range that suits you.
Himalaya and Lotus Herbals promptly respond and confirm their lotions to be free of animal-derived ingredients. Such information is possible to gather by dropping them a query by email. As mentioned before, companies display their email addresses on the packaging. The packaging also contains a label declaring that they do not test on animals. Products from brands as common as Himalaya and Lotus Herbals are available at big and small stores in most cities. Additionally, specialized stores like Health & Glow also stock these common brands.
Summary
Choosing a vegan body lotion in India can be an easy exercise by just following certain steps and taking the relevant precautions as described in this article. To sum up, always try to identify symbols and statements on the packaging and on the company websites. Also, try to write to the company or make a call and enquire about the ingredients if you are unsure, especially for companies and products that are not PETA certified.
The choice is unlimited; however, please remember that regulations, along with formulations that go into the lotions are subject to periodic changes. Therefore, querying companies is highly recommended and encouraged to ensure that you are not inadvertently paying for animal abuse.
This sends the important message to companies that consumers are conscious and concerned about where they are spending their money. Consumers do not certainly want to fund animal cruelty.
About the author, Sowmya
“I have been vegan since 2013 and it originated from my love for animals as I could no longer make sense of the disconnect between my love for them on one hand and my actions that were contributing to their harm on the other hand. I eventually decided to take it upon myself to spread the message of veganism as widely as possible as I realized that veganism paves the way to animal liberation.”
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