A cruelty free alternative to Pantene Pro V?

Hiya loves!

To those of you in the UK, I hope you're enjoying the bank holiday! To everyone else I hope you're enjoying your Monday.

When I decided to try to incorporate more cruelty free (thus forth referred to as CF in this post) products into my beauty arsenal about this time last year, initially I focussed on make up, as I didn't want to overwhelm myself and give up. As time went on I started to think about other things such as skin care, toiletries and even cleaning products.

I've tried a few CF shampoos and conditioners which at first I thought were great for my hair, but ended up either drying it out or weighing it down, but now I think I've found THE shampoo and conditioner for me. Even better for me, it's totally affordable, kind to animals and easy to get hold of. I used to use Pantene before I knew it was tested on animals, and am pleased to have found a CF equivalent.


My hair is dry on the ends and tends to be greasy at the roots. I need to wash it every 36-48 hours to keep it tip top. I tend to suffer with lack of shine if I'm using a product which isn't moisturising enough and because my hair is fine it's easily overwhelmed with a build up of product if something is too moisturising.  

In the UK there are two well-known chemists - or as they call them over the pond - drugstores. Superdrug could be easy to overlook in comparison to the 'sexier' Boots. They don't tend to have the bright lights, swanky displays and dedicated beauty advisors of Boots, nor a lot of the big brand names which Boots attracts, but what they do have is an entirely cruelty free own-label range (and usually more affordable prices than Boots.) As you can see on the close up of the labels above on the right, Superdrug own label products are BUAV approved - which means they're certified cruelty free. I have long been a fan of Superdrug as I'm a tightwad bargain lover, and when I started to do my research and discovered everything own label is CF the love affair just deepened.

I bought the Silky Smooth shampoo and conditioner for shiny hair a couple of months ago for £2.29 each (for a bargain 400ml.) Not only has it made a vast difference to the softness and shine of my hair, but other people have commented on their use of it, too. When my family came to stay a couple of times recently I told them not to bring any toiletries as I have a stockpile. My aunt and cousin both have thick, coarse, wavy hair which became noticeably soft and shiny after using this shampoo and conditioner - so much so that they both mentioned it to me. A couple of months in and I'm barely half way into the shampoo so the value for money is immense.

It's important to me to be able to have hassle free CF products - which for me is animal-friendly products on a budget which I can get my hands on easily AND which do the job they're supposed to. These products tick all the boxes, so I can forget about it and just enjoy having shiny, soft hair. I don't want to have to think about CF or non-CF products and hope one day everything will be CF, especially since there's no need for animal testing at all these days, with in vitro testing etc.

Products - £2.29 each. Available from Superdrug stores and Superdrug.com. Also available in Daily Nourish for normal hair, Full Volume, and Hair Defence for people who heat style frequently.

Thanks for reading.

P.S. As ever we're all the boss of our own underpants and I'm going CF because of my love of animals. There is no judgement whatsoever about anyone else's beliefs and I share CF posts for other CF beauty obsessives, not to 'turn' anyone or preach. 

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