World Vegan Day is just around the corner on November 1 and it got us thinking about veganism.
If you’ve been around the Happy traps for a while, you’ll know that we’re a vegan brand. But what you might NOT know is that we didn’t start out that way.
Waaaay back in good ol’ 2010 (gosh, we’ll be 8 years old in December!) our very first product, the Anti-Ageing and Repair Cream, wasn’t vegan. It had silk amino acids in it.
Back then we were young and bright eyed and didn’t know a whole lot about the cosmetics industry and the animal cruelty that was playing a big role. But the longer we spent in the skincare world the more we wanted to separate ourselves from the big multinationals who were conducting routine animal testing with their products.
Did you know…Any brand that exports to China has to test their products on animals as a condition to get into the country? This wasn’t for us.
So we decided to reformulate and go vegan
This led to that, and we made the commitment to become an accredited vegan brand.
It has been more challenging than we thought!!
Sometimes it’s a breeze, but when it comes to sourcing our ingredients some of them have been real “gotchas”.
It took yonks to find xantham gum that wasn’t refined using egg whites. Or going through our supply chain to make sure our citrus essential oils had no shellac coating. But we forged on :)
Why vegan? Because animal testing sucks.
Usually when someone becomes vegan, it’s for the love of animals. And that’s why we did it it too.
We wanted to make the ultimate stance that a brand can make against animal cruelty. There are so many astoundingly healthy and safe ingredients out there that DON’T involve an animal in their production, that we just couldn’t continue on our merry non-vegan way.
Not only does this mean that we do not test on animals, but that we don’t use any animal-derived products in our products (or in their manufacture) either.
Hurrah!
Why non-vegans should care about vegan skincare
Truth bomb time - being a strict vegan can be HARD.
You always have to be thinking about what you’re putting on your body, and animal-derived ingredients and components can pop up in the most unexpected places.
So we’re not going to sit here and ask you to be vegan. Far from it :)
Sure, you might make plenty of non-vegan choices in your life, but … if you mix a few vegan ones in too, then that REALLY does help make a difference.
By choosing skincare that has been accredited as vegan and cruelty free (that’s us!), that’s a bit less animal testing that has to go on in the world.
Maybe you’ll save a little furry friend’s life. That’s pretty special :) And it’s even better when your skin feels amazing too.
Putting our money where our mouth is
We’re a proud 1% for the Planet brand which means 1% from every sale goes to helping this world of ours.
All thanks to you, over the last couple of months we’ve sent some much-needed donations toTake 3 For the Sea andOzharvest. Well done, Happy friends!!!
For the next 2 months we’re saving up our dosh to donate to theHumane Society International (HSI). HSI are an inspiring mob who work to create a world in which people change their interaction with other animals and their environments, evolving from exploitation and harm to respect and compassion.
We hope you’ll agree that this is a fabulous cause and that you’ll get some joy from knowing you’re making a difference.
xx Aaron and Phoebe
