When it comes to beauty products such as makeup or skincare products, up to 60% of their ingredients can be absorbed by the skin. Moreover, anything that penetrates it goes straight to our bloodstream. It’s a scary thought, especially if the products you use include preservatives and synthetic ingredients. Over time, they can build up in the body and cause serious health problems. So what should you do? The best option would be to go vegan with your beauty routine. Let’s take a look at the benefits this change brings.
What makes a beauty product vegan?
Same as for food, vegan makeup and other beauty products contain no animal-related ingredients – be it animal parts, by-products, or any other animal-derived ingredients. Everything is natural and comes from plants.
There’s one catch, though – being vegan doesn’t automatically mean that the given product is also animal cruelty-free, especially when it comes from beauty industry giants. This means that vegan cosmetics or their ingredients may still be produced with animal testing.
So if the well-being of our furry (and not so furry) friends is close to your heart, make sure that the vegan products you pick come from cruelty-free brands.
Why are vegan beauty products better for your skin?
Without further ado, let’s get to the point – here’s how your skin benefits from switching to vegan options for your beauty products:
1. All-natural ingredients
Vegan makeup brands guarantee 100% organic, plant-based ingredients that help you maintain your natural beauty. There are no synthetic additions, nor any potentially toxic and dodgy materials that could hurt your body in the long run.
This also means that your body can use all the delivered nutrients better, as it’s easier for it to process ingredients that come straight from nature.
2. No more sensitive skin problems
Due to being free of any animal-based ingredients, vegan skincare products are far less skin-irritating – there’s a far lower risk of clogged pores, over-dried epidermis, or heavy irritation. So vegan cosmetics are a far more soothing alternative to the “mainstream” products. But you should keep in mind that some plant-based ingredients can still cause allergic reactions, so make sure you use the appropriate products.
3. Many more nutrients
Plant-based ingredients contain more minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants that will help your skin flourish. This includes vit. A, C and E, natural oils (e.g., coming from hemp seeds, coconuts, rosehips, and algae), zinc, iron, selenium etc. Remember – all of this goes right into your bloodstream and can be quickly transported to the furthest reaches of your body.
4. Overall higher quality
Vegan makeup and cosmetics aren’t mass-produced, which means fewer shortcuts and “filler” involved – vegan products include only the absolutely necessary ingredients. Thus, vegan organic beauty products won’t put anything harmful on your body just to save a few bucks on the production process. Most vegan beauty products are a labor of love from local companies dedicated to their craft and the well-being of their clients and the environment.
What else makes vegan beauty products better?
Vegan makeup and other beauty products are not only beneficial for your skin but also have other advantages that cannot be ignored. The most important are:
1. Vegan makeup brands save animal lives
The best vegan makeup brands sell completely cruelty-free products – there are no cages, no suffering, and no animal testing involved. The majority of local vegan manufacturers have completely cruelty-free policies that can be easily verified. When it comes to bigger companies, look for vegan and cruelty-free certificates issued by officially recognized organizations/associations such as PETA, Leaping Bunny program, Vegan.org or Vegan Society UK. When in doubt, check if a given vegan makeup brand is included on the official lists issued by the aforementioned organizations.
2. Vegan ingredients are grown sustainably
Caring about the environment is one of the main principles of the vegan lifestyle. With this in mind, vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics use ingredients that are grown and harvested in an eco-friendly manner. Vegan crops are fully sustainable and thus don’t have a permanent impact on the environment.
3. They use eco packaging
There’s no denying that plastic waste is a nightmare that plagues our planet – there’s a 1,6 million square kilometers big “island” (The Great Pacific Garbage Patch) made mostly from plastic, that floats in the northern Pacific. To put it in a perspective – that’s twice as big as Texas and three times bigger than France.
Vegan and cruelty-free makeup brands aim at reducing the amount of plastic waste in the industry by using 100% recyclable packaging.
4. They’re cheaper than you think
One of the myths surrounding completely vegan makeup products is their obscenely high price. In reality, vegan beauty products aren’t more expensive than good quality “mainstream” cosmetics – you can go vegan with your everyday beauty routine without spending millions on cosmetics.
Final thoughts
Beauty products free of animal ingredients benefit both you and our planet. Now’s the best time to start using them – they aren’t as expensive as they used to be. In fact, they’re cheaper than leading non-vegan brands and have a far less negative impact on your body and the environment while being as, if not more, effective.