The Ordinary Vegan - Naked Rescue Haircare

A few months ago I purchased Superdrug's vegan haircare range and whilst it is okay, it didn't leave my dry, very curly, very long hair feeling great. So I ventured down the high street in search of a vegan friendly haircare range which was more natural and hopefully better suited to my haircare needs without breaking the bank. I found it! Naked Rescue is a range of haircare products sold in Boots.

I found out more about the company on their website and found out that they are free from harmful chemicals, ethically sourced, have environmentally friendly packaging and don't test on animals.

So onto the products themselves. They have a range of bath, beauty and hair products. I have only tried the shampoo and conditioner so far, but they have left my hair feeling soft, shiny, feeling manageable and smelling good. I definitely want to try out more of the range now. All of the products are vegetarian and have not been tested on animals. The majority of the products are vegan. There are a few items which are not vegan friendly due to honey or beeswax but these are listed on the website and clearly labelled on the bottles. Naked also have a gluten-free range and a range for children and expectant mothers.

The items can be purchased online through their website and in Boots stores. They deliver overseas for those of you reading this outside of the UK.

What are your favourite vegan haircare brands? Leave me a comment below and share them with us all. Make sure you come back tomorrow for a brand new Vegan Recipe of the Week.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

From the company website:

The Naked story began when a mum of two was looking for affordable products to use on her children who had very sensitive skin. Scanning the list of ingredients she was not happy with what she read, considering all the other messages she was reading were about ‘nasties’ and ‘baddies’ in food and drink. At that point no one was questioning ingredients in branded toiletries so she decided to do something about it.

So Naked was born with a clear and simple concept – a brand that is safe, natural and free from harmful chemicals but is priced for everyday use. It can be used by women, men, babies, children and even the odd pampered pooch! We use the best natural ingredients with specific actions and real benefits, which still smell and feels like a special treat. But we don’t take ourselves too seriously despite our strict criteria!

From the beginning, we wanted Naked to use only ethically sourced ingredients and we pride ourselves on using the best environmentally friendly packaging available, currently 50% PCR (Post Consumer Recycled) in all our bottles. We are also proud to support initiatives like the Oxfam Shinyanga project which brings clean water to children in Tanzania, something we take for granted every time we jump into the shower.

Naked is not expensive and exclusive, yet it’s still desirable, ethical and environmentally friendly, but manages to look cool (and hopefully it will make you smile)! Above we want to give you fabulous products which feel and smell good despite what we leave out of the ingredient list..... We believe this is goodness in a bottle!

The Ordinary Vegan - Superdrug

This week's The Ordinary Vegan is a chain of shops rather than one product. This week I am choosing to highlight Superdrug. Since becoming vegan, it has been harder for me to find cosmetics, skincare and toiletries than food. There are specialist stores and organic online products available but many are expensive and you have to do your research. A few weeks ago, I went into Superdrug and saw this notice:

This got me thinking about whether many of their products were vegan as well as not tested on animals. Well, it turns out that not just do they have many vegan products, but they label them as vegan too. 

So I needed a few toiletries this week and popped back in, it's really easy as all of their own brand products which are vegan say so on the packaging and all of their own brand products are not tested on animals and are BUAV approved. I bought some hand wash, shaving gel, skincare oil, moisturiser and foot spray. All vegan, all not tested on animals and no animal ingredients. 

I also browsed around the shop and found they had vegan shampoo and conditioner, cleansers, toners, body creams, baby powder and baby wash, and much more. As Superdrug has branches in most high streets and towns, as well as shopping centres and an online store, I think they more than qualify for The Ordinary Vegan this week. They also sell vegan Original Source products which I featured here. It would be great if one day all of their products were vegan as I don't believe any beauty products need animal ingredients, by-products or animal testing but they have made a positive start and if we vegans go and buy these products they will only make more, which can only be a positive step in the right direction.

Come back later this week for a yummy Vegan Recipe of the Week and a Vegan Vox Reviews...

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

Vegan Vox Reviews...2 Moon Trading Co. Walsall, West Midlands

Last week I was fortunate enough to spend a lovely hour or so at 2 Moon Trading Co. in Walsall, West Midlands. I met with one of the co-owners - Georga, interviewed her, took some pictures of the shop, got given a couple of samples of the products to try for free and met her lovely puppy, Mylo!

First of all, let me tell you that this shop is a hidden little vegan gem! It is in a pretty mews, off a small side street behind the markets in Walsall, with grape vines growing over the archway. I would never have known it was there if it wasn't for the wonderful world of Twitter where I connected with the owners. 2 Moon Trading Co. are a bath, body and skincare boutique, selling all vegan products like bathbombs, soaps, solid shampoos, bath truffles, massage bars, shower gels, body butters, foot scrubs, eye gels and body jewellery. Think 'Lush' but on a smaller independent scale, much cheaper and 100% vegan! Yay! 

As you walk into the shop, you get the gorgeous smells of all of the bath bombs and your eyes are treated to a gorgeous array of pretty colours and packages, there is bunting around the walls and chalk displays and the owner's puppy to say hello to! What's not to love? They are open Monday-Saturday 10-6. But what's that, I hear you cry? You don't live anywhere near Walsall! Well, that's okay too because they have an online shop too at 2moontradingco.co.uk and they will post items out to your home (in the UK) within 3-5 days.

The best thing about 2 Moon Trading Co. though are the prices. The products start at £1.50 and the most expensive item in the entire shop is only £6 for a large tub of body butter! The bath bombs are around £2 each which makes them more of a regular treat than an expensive luxury item. They have a huge range of fragrances - around 15 different bath bombs and soaps, 8 different bath salts and 3 different body butters, for example.

I asked Georga about the store's origins. Georga and her business partner and co-owner Al live together in a house-share and started 2 Moon as a market stall, frequenting the Black Country Markets of the West Midlands, as their popularity grew, they found these premises in Walsall and decided to set up their own shop - much warmer in the cold months than a market stall! The shop opened in April 2013 and is growing in popularity.

The owners, whilst not vegan themselves, have many vegan friends and they believe that all skin and body care should be cruelty-free and that everyone should be able to buy their products regardless of your beliefs, lifestyle choices, religion or financial status. So they decided to go for natural, vegan products at an affordable price so nobody has to be excluded from purchasing there. This is a refreshing stance for non-vegan business owners to take and let's hope others will realise that this is the best way to get more customers.

Georga is really passionate about what goes in to their products and works on the products from concept to testing and development and she checks all of the ingredients and their provenance before letting her wholesalers go ahead with a product to sell in their shop. She insists on strict ingredient checks and makes sure items are free from all animal testing as well as animal ingredients or by-products. They do not use palm oil in any of their products and their 'honey' products do not use real honey from bees, just honey fragrances - all vegan! If 2 Moon don't currently stock an item that you would like to buy, they will look into the feasibility of the product and try and develop the product with their manufacturers for you. This kind of service only comes from a small independent shop where the owners still have such control over their supply chain.

I asked Georga where the name came from and she told me that she and her business partner had been friends since childhood, and their nicknames for each other at school had always been 'Moon', so 2 Moon Trading Co was born from that early friendship! Aww!

So let's get to the important part of this review - the samples! I am a lucky vegan blogger and Georga gave me a gorgeous Bath Bomb and some Coconut Bay Body Butter to take home and sample :-) They were divine! It felt like a proper luxury treat rather than my usual boring bathtime! These are the kind of products I get bought as birthday gifts from friends and save for a special occasion but at these prices I might just be popping back next payday for a few 'weekly treat' baths! I also purchased a Pink Fizz shaving soap bar as a gift whilst I was there. It is a gorgeous bright pink and I know the recipient will love it, even though they are not vegan. That's the beauty of vegan body products, no one will complain that animals aren't in their bath products or that kittens and rabbits were not harmed in the testing of the products. Vegan beauty products should be the norm for everyone and 2 Moon Trading Co. are starting that revolution right here in the West Midlands!

So, please show some support for this small independent business by visiting the shop, purchasing online or just spreading the word. Too many small companies like this go under because people don't know they exist as they don't have marketing budgets of big chains like Lush or The Body Shop.

You can find 2 Moon Trading Co. at: 

Unit 2, Guildhall Mews, Goodall Street, Walsall WS1 1QJ. 10am-6pm Mon-Sat.

You can connect with them online at: 

https://www.facebook.com/2moontradingco

twitter.com/2moontc

http://www.2moontrading.co.uk/

Read previous Vegan Vox Reviews here.

Until next time,

Big Vegan Love,

VVx

The Ordinary Vegan - Original Source

It's Monday which means it's time for TOV, a regular feature on the blog which looks at ordinary items available at most shops and supermarkets which happen to be vegan. In a rare departure from food, today it is the turn of Original Source products. If you haven't tried them yet, you should, they are gorgeous! They have a range of shower gels, scrubs, hand washes, a men's range, shave gel, bubble baths, shampoos and conditioners. Many of these products are vegan and are approved by The Vegan Society. In addition to this none of their products are tested on animals and they only use natural ingredients and local ingredients where possible.

Here is a quote from the Original Source website:

WE WILL:

• Never ever consider, or even think of, showering or bathing as a routine
• Always remain curious (enough to worry Laura from Health & Safety)
• Use our senses to discover intense experiences
• Use natural ingredients
• Never tire of looking for new ingredients
• Never stop messing around with new ingredients and packaging
• Never test our products on animals
• Always test our products on ourselves
• Never be wasteful

THE PEOPLE WE WORK WITH:

We are a member of the Aromatherapy Trade Council and also work closely with the Vegan Society. Our products contain either pure and natural essential oils or natural extracts. We're not big fans of flying our products in from here, there and everywhere, so we source and produce as much as we can in the UK. After all, it's nice here.

In our bathroom, we use many of the products including the shower gels and scrubs, hand wash and shave gel. The bottles clearly have the Vegan Society logo on, so it is clear which items are suitable. The Men's range has the logo on the back of the bottle and the Womens/Unisex range has it on the front. The products can be bought from all supermarkets in the UK, as well as Superdrug, Boots, Lloyds Chemist, Bodycare etc. They retail for around £2 a product but can often be found on offer for 99p/2 for £2. They come in a range of delicious fragrances such as Coconut, Mint & Tea Tree, Chocolate Mint, Vanilla & Raspberry, Lime and even a Black Pepper & Chilli for the men! I smell so nice when I get out of the shower! This is my favourite hand wash:

Whilst I know there are many vegan and organic skin care and body care ranges out there, Original Source is available at most High Street shops and that's why I am recommending them for The Ordinary Vegan this week.

Let me know which skin care and body care products you use in the comments below.

Big Vegan Love,

VVx