CRUELTY MISSION: PART III

I have updated a link to Nature's Organics and Astonish Cleaners sometime back under the links to Cruelty Free Companies.

Just thought that I should let everyone know that products from Nature's Organics and Astonish Cleaners are environmentally friendly and cruelty free. And the good news is that a number of their products are available in Malaysia.

So far I have managed to purchase (from Cold Storage and Isetan) Nature's Organics : Earth Choice's Dishwashing Liquid, Multi-Purpose Spray and Floor and Surface Cleaner. I have also seen Laundry Liquid and Eucalyptus Woolwash. I will start using their Laundry Liquid as soon as I finish my current one.

I have also just switched to the Himalaya range of shampoos as they do not test on animals and this is clearly stated on their products. Other than that there are no harmful chemicals used and all ingredients are natural... so I guess this means that it's safe for us to use too...

Stuff that I love and have been using for years which are cruelty free:

L'occitane en Provence is against animal testing, and do not use any animal products or by products, with the exception of beehive products. They subscribe to very high ethical standards whereby no child labour is used, packaging is minismised while using environmentally friendly materials. L'occitane supports sustainable development. L'occitane's products are accessible to the visually impaired with braille labelling on most of their products.

Clinique (and the Estee Lauder group of companies), my favourite skin care brand does not test its ingredients nor finished products on animals and has no intention of testing on animals. They use state of the art in-vitro tests for all their products. I would also like to point out to all those who love designer cosmetic brands, that Clinique is a great brand and interestingly is one of the most affordable designer brands. This is especially so in Malaysia as their price range is not as high as many other brands. At the same time Clinique has numerous promotions where you get loads of freebies with your purchases.

Other than that, Yves Rocher, a botanical beauty care range, is environmentally friendly and cruelty free. All their products are derived from botanical ingredients, and are actually very good. I used Yves Rocher all through my university days and was really happy when they finally opened in Malaysia a few years ago. There are quite a number of stores in KL now.

At the moment one of my biggest problem is finding a toothpaste that is NOT manufactured by the Procter & Gamble group or the Colgate Palmolive Group. This is proving to be quite a hard task. I only know of one company that is cruelty free and that is Oxyfresh, but apart from their mouthwash and pet antioxidants, I have not seen any of their other products.

My current strategy is to finish using all other products that I have already purchased (prior to my being enlightened) and switch to environmentally friendly and cruelty free products as far as possible.

A number of my friends have indicated that their reluctance to switch to environmentally friendly and cruelty free products is due to the higher cost of these products. Admittedly these products are expensive, sometimes even twice as expensive.

However, you should note that by switching to these brands, you will be helping the world's environment and saving lives; and more importantly you will also be ensuring that you yourself will be consuming goods that are safer and less harmful towards your health. This is because most eco-friendly and cruelty free products have either no harmful chemicals or very low amounts of chemicals. This in the long run means lower medical bills!

So here's hoping that I will be able to find more products that are environmentally friendly and cruelty free!!!

THE PLACE AT CHERATING

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A bunch of us, 11 humans and 2 dogs, made our way to The Place in Cherating last week. The Place is literally right next to Club Med and the Turtle Sanctuary in Cherating. We loved the fact that it was almost completely isolated from civilisation. The beach was right next to us and we were surrounded by intense greenery, with monkeys and wild boars!!!

We had a brilliant time there, and I guess it was even better for us cause we were allowed to have Cleo and Zizou with us. They were also allowed into the chalets / rooms as long as they didn't mess up the place. The hospitality was great as we were made to feel right at home.

We spent the days lazing about or going for long walks on the beach. This stretch of beach was relatively quiet and very clean. This also meant that the dogs had free reign of the place. Cleo was off leash most of the time and was incredibly well behaved. We were so proud of her.

The evenings were spent barbecue-ing on the premises of The Place. They had a great barbecue pit and a lovely patio/gazebo like thing where we could have our food. We even managed to get some fresh fish from the local fishermen who literally caught the fish right under our noses from the shore...

We also had hte opportunity to release baby turtles into the ocean at the Turtle Sanctuary...

Here are some pictures of all the fun that we had...

Cleo dozing in the car...

Me and Cleo

Cleo taking us for a long walk into the jungle...

Cleo running around the fenced compund of the Place

Cleo and Douglas on the beach

Cleo admiring the view...

A shell and a crab on the beach...

Cleo's foot prints...

A very happy Cleo

Cleo playing fetch with Christoph...

Cleo and her tennis ball...

Cleo and Douglas playing fetch...

Cleo and Bernie in the water...

Cleo having a grand time in the sea...

Baby turtles at the Turtle Sanctuary

Barbecue time!!!

Iskandar and Zizou... Christoph and Yvonne and their sand castle...

Bernie and Yvonne - the builders of the sand castle

Sarah, Zizou and Iskandar

Cleo, Me, Sarah and Yvonne

Christoph & Yvonne

Fishermen on the beach..

Cleo watching the fishermen

Desmond & Tamara cleaning the fresh fish!

Barbecue-ing again!!!