What To Watch For In Beauty Products
Often when people hear all of the products we use are 100% vegan a confused expression creeps across their face. Vegan? “I thought that only pertained to food.” Or “how is a product NOT vegan”. You’d be surprised what lurks in a lot of products due to antiquated, low budget, corner cutting methods.
Vegan beauty means that there are not animal products or bi-products in the beauty product or its ingredients. This means no dairy bi-products, no shark liver oil, lac beetles etc. (Eww right?! I know it sounds gross but yea it’s real). Vegan is not the same as cruelty free. Not all cruelty free items are vegan and vice versa especially if they are sold in a country that requires testing (like China).
So you want to go down the road to a more ethical and beautiful hair and beauty routine. First and foremost it’s so easy to simply search an unfamiliar ingredient or use a database that lists out vegan friendly brands and products of brands that are not entirely vegan. Some of my favorites are:
Now, if you really want to get nitty gritty and examine labels yourself… more power to you! Examine your beauty product labels and verify they’re vegan via either certified logos, (vegan “V” or word) or tracking down the specific ingredients.
Here’s an infographic of some of the most common non-vegan items in beauty products to watch out for.
This may sound like a lot of work. I promise it’s not. It becomes habit and once you start doing it you could scroll labels in your sleep. I firmly believe there is no place for cruelty and especially in a field like beauty. Take the millisecond of effort to save a life and choose vegan beauty instead.