Ethical question......

[frenchie]

I'm a hairstylist and makeup artist for a living. It's been a dream of mine since I was 3, that I achieved at 18 right out of high school. I've been in the indusrty for 10 years now. I've always tried to be aware of the products I use, and what role the companies play in animal exploitation or conservation. One thing I have *had* to compromise on is haircolor. I'm completely ignorant as to what the ingredients are, and where they are derived from. I know *key* ingredients, and how the chemicals work...this I need to know for obvious reasons. There are 2 totally vegan professional haircare lines that I LOVE, and have been using for a long time. ABBA, which is one of those lines also has a perm solution that is vegan, so the only thing I'm left to compromise on is the haircolor. NOW, here is where my question comes in. I use Wella, which *at least* is a company that doesn't test on animals......well, Proctor & Gamble just bought the Wella Corp. I've been using Wella color for almost my entire career. My color clientel is based on Wella color. Do I just continue to compromise, or do I switch color lines? I know the right answer, but I just need some other opinions:D Thank you in advance.

[Erin Pavlina]

I've seen herbal hair color dyes in my natural foods store. Could something like that work for you?

[molly]

Be sure to let P&G/Wella know how many customers they are losing until they "at least" ban animal testing, & how many customers they would gain if they also reformulated their products. :)

[frenchie]

There is a huge difference between professional haircolor, and herbal hair color. There is just no comparison! There are also state board laws that we have to abide by. To complicated to try and explain. I'm looking into a new color line, and I'm going to try and get a listing of the ingredients. I would like to learn more about the other chemicals in haircolor. Thanks for the suggestion though:)

[Erin Pavlina]

Ah,I see. I hope you can find something.

[duckie1978]

I have geard that Adeva has come up with a totally new Japanese style of hair dying that is totally vegan, maybe you could contact them about their products? You could also sell the "fun" coloured dyes by RAW which are vegan (blue, green, red, purple etc); they also have a bleaching kit it think. Sally's Beauty sells RAW, but I don't know if those are near you. Plus you could use henna dyes and herbal dyes/rinses.

Hope this helps.

[frenchie]

Thanks for the heads up on the Aveda color! I wasn't sure if the color was vegan...good to know! I use Fudge color for the "punky" colors...it's a vegetable dye. As far as Hennas go, they contain metallic fillers that react with other chemicals such as perm solution and permanent haircolor, so I can't use those. I will definately look into the Aveda color:)
EDITED: WOOHOO!! It appears the color line I planned on switching to is vegan! I need to look into it a little more to be 100% positive, but I just checked the ingredient list, and cross checked it with a vegan ingredient list. The ingredients I was a *little* iffy about I'm going to look up on the internet for more information. I feel SO much better!