What do you think, is it important that cosmetics are vegan?

I was very interested in your ideas and thoughts about vegan products. So that’s why I put the statement on my Facebook and Instagram accounts, ‘It is important to me that a product is vegan’. As I had expected, many readers and followers do think that this is very important. Vegan isn’t an absolute must for everyone though. And not everyone thinks about it in cosmetic products. Those people did write to say that they are becoming increasingly aware about the environment and the use of animals though.

That goes for me too. For those who don’t already know, that is why my products are all vegan. I just don’t advertise it. It is not highlighted on my website or on the packaging. The important thing for me was actually going vegan. But I would like to add some more to this…

Animal ingredients and vegan alternatives in cosmetics

At the same time, I think that a tremendous amount of good ingredients come from nature. And yes, this also includes ingredients produced by animals or that come from an animal source. Fortunately, though, most of these ingredients can easily be replaced with vegan variations. For example, Candelilla wax is also referred to as ‘vegan beeswax’. And there is also a vegan variation for keratin that is often found in shampoos and conditioners for damaged hair.

In fact, there is also quite a lot of misunderstanding about this subject. I regularly see warnings on the internet saying that, as a vegan, you need to avoid commonly used ingredients such as glycerine, hyaluronic acid and lactic acid because they (possibly) originate from animals. And although all of these ingredients can indeed come from animals, the plant based version is always used in cosmetics. Why? The vegan variations are much more readily available.

Vegan doesn’t automatically mean natural

Another good thing to know is that vegan means that no animal products have been used. Many people think that the claim ‘vegan’ also means ‘natural’ or ‘plant based’, but that is not the case. By the way, I have already written a blog about ‘natural’ cosmetics.

Remember that products which have 100% natural displayed on their packaging may still contain animal ingredients. At the same time vegan cosmetic products aren’t always 100% natural. Are you still with me? What I am trying to say is that vegan products may also use synthetic ingredients.

There are many vegan products, but they aren’t always labelled

There are now many labels for cosmetics on the market. There are also labels for vegan products. So, if you are vegan it will be easier to decide which products are suitable for you. What makes this search challenging, though, is that it is not mandatory for manufacturers to have such a label. Therefore there are lots of good vegan products available which aren’t labelled. The only way to find out is on the website or the ingredients list. And I can understand what a puzzle that can be. My advice would be to just ask the manufacturer.

What do you think? Is it important for you to have all vegan products? Or is it something you haven’t really thought about?