How Are Vegan Skin Care Products Created?
Vegan options are becoming more and more prevalent in every aspect of our lives, whether it is our food or our bath and shower products. These days, you can find entire sections in the grocery store devoted to vegan foods, and many restaurants are offering vegan selections on their menus. The skincare and cosmetics business is also an industry that is heavily promoting veganism to create a wide variety of products that are kinder to animals in a similar way to cruelty-free skincare products. With that rise in popularity for vegan products in mind, how are vegan skin care products created? Let's take a look at exactly what vegan skincare products are before we answer that question.
What is Vegan Skincare?
Simply put, vegan skincare consists of skincare products that are entirely natural and plant-based. This means that there is absolutely no use of animal-based products within vegan skincare items. A fair amount of cosmetics and skincare brands use some kind of animal byproduct in their items, such as collagen (a protein that usually comes from animal sources such as fish or beef), cholesterol (a lipid, also known as a “blood fat”), carmine (a kind of colored dye taken from a scale insect known as the cochineal), stearic acid (a fatty acid that is common in vegetable oils and fat but also animal-based oils and fats), gelatin (a protein made from animal collagen made up of various body parts such as skin, tendons and bones), and squalene (a compound that can be found in shark liver oil). These kinds of animal byproducts are nowhere to be found in vegan skincare. Much like a vegan diet, which is focused on only consuming plant-based food with no trace of animal products found anywhere in the diet, vegan skincare uses natural and organic products and is created via the use of plant-based ingredients.
Cruelty-Free and Vegan Skincare
We mentioned that cruelty-free skincare products are similar to vegan ones - highlighting the fact that it is possible to create brilliant skincare items without having to harm animals to do so - but there is a difference between cruelty-free skincare products and vegan ones. If a product is labeled as being cruelty-free, this does not necessarily mean that there are no products derived from animals used in their creation. There could still be elements such as lanolin, a substance taken from sheep’s wool; honey or beeswax from bees; and milk from cows used in cruelty-free products. However, a vegan skincare product is completely free of any animal involvement whatsoever.
Common Vegan Skincare Ingredients
What kind of ingredients can you expect to find in skincare that is strictly vegan? There are plenty of plant and mineral-based ingredients that are synthetic and safe to use in skincare products. Here is a look at some of the more common ingredients you might encounter.
Polyacrylamide
Polyacrylamide is a common ingredient in skincare and cosmetics made up of water-soluble linear synthetics, and it is often used to bind other ingredients and stabilize them.
Peat Extract
A highly popular ingredient in skincare, peat extract is a substance that is made up of the decomposed residue of plants and is often used as an anti-aging ingredient thanks to its richness in antioxidants and minerals.
C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate
This substance is an organic compound found in benzoic acid. Benzoic acid itself is found in benzoin, which originates from the resin found in various kinds of trees. Benzoic acid can also be found elsewhere, such as in coconut oil, prunes, cranberries and apples.
Peptides
Peptides are an interesting ingredient as they are actually a form of collagen, albeit a vegan version. Peptides are amino acids that form a chain, which will then become a bond as various chains connect together. They are proteins that can often be found in vegan protein powders and energy drinks on account of the importance of including protein in your diet when exercising. However, peptides are also popular ingredients in skincare products such as anti-aging serums or moisturizers.
These are just a few of the vegan skincare ingredients that are available in a multitude of different types of products, from lotions and creams to toners and moisturizers. If you would like to start including more vegan skincare products in your collection, consider those found on Jai Eden Beauty, such as this All-Natural Cleansing Oil Makeup Remover made with vegan ingredients like jojoba oil and castor oil.