When I first went vegan almost two and a half years ago, I was focused on changing my diet. As I learned more, though, I discovered that most of our household products were not vegan. Some used ingredients derived from animal products, some were tested on animals, and some were doubly bad. My mom and I didn’t throw out the items we had, but we did replace them with vegan options when we needed to buy new ones. I keep seeing Facebook posts asking for recommendations for vegan and/or gluten free products, so I decided to write this blog post to show you the products I like best. All of them are cost-effective, and are priced lower than most other vegan products.
I get this laundry detergent at Kroger, and it works well. It also comes in another scent and unscented:
I get this dish soap at Whole Foods, and I really like it. I wash a lot of our dishes by hand, and this works as well as the Dawn that I used to use. We also use this in the dishwasher, but be sure to only use about 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon per load or you’ll have bubbles all over your floor!
I love the 365 line from Whole Foods! None of their products are tested on animals, and many are vegan (look on the bottle for “made without animal ingredients”). The prices are great, they come in a variety of scents and unscented, and they work really well!
My favorite lotion is the 365 maximum moisture body lotion. I use it as a face and hand lotion, and it works very well without leaving a greasy feeling on my skin. It only comes in a lightly scented option, which I like, but this may not be a good choice if you need an unscented lotion. They do have a fragrance free option in the regular lotion. I like it too, but I need to use a lot more of it than I do of the maximum moisture one.
I also love the 365 hand soaps! I like all the scents and there is a fragrance-free option as well. I also like that it comes in a large refill bottle so I don’t have to keep buying the little bottles. (Just be sure to refill the pump bottle before the liquid runs out, or the pump may not work properly again.)
The 365 shampoos and conditioners come in a variety of scents and fragrance free. They work well, but I prefer the Desert Essence ones for my very curly hair. If you don’t need extra conditioning, the 365 options are a great choice. The shower gels are great, and also come in a variety of scents as well as unscented.
Desert Essence makes a variety of shampoos and conditioners that I really like. The coconut and Island Mango versions both work really well with my curly hair.
I have tried quite a few vegan lip balms, and these three brands are my favorites. Vitacost sells quite a few flavors of the Hurraw brand and they are all great, but a little pricey. I got the Crazy Rumors one at Poison Berry Bakery in Cleveland, OH, and they come in lots of other flavors as well. The two Soothing Touch ones I got at Whole Foods. All of these go on very smoothly and do not clump at all. Vitacost has two inexpensive flavors of vegan lip balm under their own brand, but they are a bit waxy and tend to clump.
I use this baby wash from Vitacost. I use it as a face soap because it is very gentle, so I’m sure it works great for babies too!
I use the maximum strength ointment below as a skin barrier around my J-Tube (feeding tube that goes directly into the small intestine). The liquid in the small intestine is very caustic to skin tissues, and this ointment protects my skin beautifully. I never have any breakdown, even when there is leakage of liquid around the tube. Since it protects against that, it should work equally well to prevent diaper rash in babies. I didn’t have as good success with the original, though, so I recommend the maximum strength version. (They also have a “natural” version, but it contains beeswax.)
I don’t wear makeup very often, but I use e.l.f. brand when I do. They are vegan, really inexpensive, and I Iike all of the things I have tried so far. My only complaint is that the mascara goes on a bit clumpy unless I am really careful when applying it. (If anyone has another vegan mascara that they recommend, please me know in the comments below!)
I am allergic to something in most mouthwash brands, but this one by Spry works well for me. I like the coolmint flavor the best and get it from Vitacost. I use Tom’s deodorant and toothpaste, and really like both of them. It wasn’t clear from the toothpaste label whether on not any of the ingredients were animal-derived, but I called Tom’s and they said there are no animal ingredients in this toothpaste and none of their products are tested on animals. I get the deodorant and toothpaste from Vitacost as well.
I hope this post is helpful! Please let me know in the comments what vegan products you like the best and where you get them.