10 Remarkable Advantages of Vegan Skincare

If you’re into skincare, then you’ve probably encountered too many brands than you can remember on your search for the best products. Chances are, you’ve also heard of vegan skincare – the recent craze in the world of skincare. I owned a skincare blog for about 10 years without knowing what vegan skincare was. Now, I sold that website to someone who actually had a proper interest in makeup.

That being said, I really wanted to do a lot of research on how skincare could benefit our world and our animals. That’s why I spent 10 hours making this article. Hope you’ll enjoy it.

While you don’t have to follow a vegan diet to jump on this beauty wagon, it’s important to understand what vegan skincare is all about.

Today, we’re breaking down everything you need to know about this skincare trend, and introducing you to 10 remarkable advantages of vegan skincare for your skin and the environment.

Table of Contents

• What is Vegan Skincare?
• How to Identify a Vegan Skincare Product?
• What are the Advantages of Vegan Skincare?
• Wrap Up

What is Vegan Skincare?

Going vegan is becoming more and more popular, with an increasing number of people ditching meat and animal-based foods and opting for a plant-based diet.

This concept has made its way past food whereas vegan choices are now available in nearly every aspect including clothing, household products, cosmetics, and skincare.

In this sense, vegan skincare products are ones containing no animal-based ingredients or by-products. Accordingly, ingredients such as honey, lanolin, collagen, gelatin, beeswax, cholesterol, carmine, squalene, and stearic acid are not found in vegan beauty products.

What is the difference between organic and vegan makeup?

I can’t answer that in a few words. But this YouTuber can — and made short video that gives you the answer to that question:

How to Identify a Vegan Skincare Product?

The easiest and fastest way to tell whether a product is vegan is by checking for the several common vegan seals such as Vegan Action and The Vegan Society. They indicate that the product at hand doesn’t contain any animal-based ingredients.

Besides looking for certified vegan seals, you can also go through the product’s list of ingredients and try to spot telltale vegan ingredients such as aloe vera, green tea, shea butter, and grapeseed extract.

Unfortunately, there are some non-vegan ingredients that may be hidden throughout the ingredients’ list. This is why you should pay close attention to what the packaging states. If one of the following ingredients is mentioned, then it’s not vegan:

• Lanolin — extracted from the fatty substance occurring naturally in sheep’s wool and commonly used for its outstanding moisturizing and healing effects.
• Carmine — also known as cochineal extract or Red 4, this is a red pigment extracted from the Cochineal bug after being sun-dried, crushed, then mixed with carmine acid.
• Honey — there’s a bit of a debate here, but if you’re a strict vegan, you’ll want to avoid honey in your skincare products, even though it’s widely used in numerous natural beauty products for its hydrating and anti-aging properties.

That being said, you shouldn’t assume that a product is cruelty-free just because it’s vegan. While the majority of vegan skincare brands don’t test on animals, this isn’t always a guarantee. So unless it’s clearly labeled on the package, there’s still a possibility that a vegan skincare product has been through some animal testing.

If you want to make sure your vegan product is also cruelty-free, keep your eyes open for The Leaping Bunny logo which appears on certified cruelty-free products to indicate that they haven’t undergone testing on animals.

Is it easy to find vegan skincare on Amazon?

Well, I tried. And by typing in “vegan skin care” in the search box on Amazon.com, you will find 10,000 products.

However, only a few of them are actually vegan. Therefore, it’s super important that you check the ingredients list of every single product you buy if you want to be 100% sure that you’re buying the right thing.

What are the Advantages of Vegan Skincare?

Now that you have a better understating of vegan skincare – what it is and how to identify its products – you’re probably itching to find out all the advantages you can expect from switching to the plant-based side of the spectrum.

While you don’t have to be vegan to reap the benefits of vegan skincare, you may not be able to recognize all of them at first glance. So, here are 10 amazing advantages of vegan skincare products!

1. Soothes Sensitive Skin

Having sensitive skin can be a real struggle when shopping for skincare products. Unfortunately, being prone to breakouts, rashes, and blemishes makes finding products that won’t irritate your skin feel like your very own “Mission Impossible“!

Unlike conventional beauty products, vegan skincare products contain way fewer ingredients, which makes it easier to conduct thorough tests against skin sensitivity. Also, the shorter list of ingredients is almost always made using natural, nonaggressive compounds to avoid causing irritation.

Also read: Top 10 eco-friendly makeup companies

Consequently, if you’re rocking sensitive skin and should stay away from chemically-enhanced beauty products, vegan skincare products can do you wonders with their soothing approach and absence of harsh chemicals.

2. Helps You Get Softer and Younger Skin

Raise your hand if you want your skin to feel softer and look younger – exactly, it’s a unanimous demand!

I still remember when those wrinkles started to be visible in my forehead…and I went like: “Damn, will my forehead never look the same again? Why didn’t I appreciate my skin being so soft when I was 13?!”. 🙂

Whether you’re looking for skincare products to deeply moisturize your skin without leaving it oily, or trying to find beauty products with a strong anti-aging effect, you may want to consider the vegan route.

While many drugstore and luxury brands add drying agents, such as sulfates, to their beauty products (including moisturizers, conditioners, and lip balms), vegan alternatives almost never contain such ingredients. This allows vegan skincare products to do a much more efficient moisturizing job than their conventional counterparts.

Moreover, vegan beauty products can provide excellent anti-aging results for your skin thanks to their natural formula. By using a combination of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and botanical extracts, vegan skincare products can help rejuvenate your skin and achieve a healthy glow!

The best part? Since vegan products utilize plant-based materials, they can hydrate, nourish, and protect your skin without the side effects of harsh chemicals.

Video: how going vegan will help your acne problem

3. Good for Your Health

Did you know that skincare products don’t affect your skin only? In fact, our skin absorbs all sorts of compounds from whatever products we apply to it via multiple pathways including intracellular and transcellular mechanisms.

So if you’re using chemically-enhanced beauty products, you’re not just exposing your skin to dangerous ingredients, but you’re risking your body as well.

Luckily, vegan skincare products are made using natural, plant-based materials that are free of such harsh chemicals. As a result, you won’t have to worry about any skincare-related health issues such as rashes or skin cancer.

Additionally, since vegan skincare products contain natural compounds only, they generally have shorter ingredient lists. This should help you keep better track of exactly what you’re applying on your face and body.

4. Can Help Clear Up Your Skin

How the skin reacts to the different ingredients found in skin care products depends on its tolerance towards these products, which itself varies from one person to the other.

However, the chances of breaking out are always higher when you’re using beauty products containing harsh chemicals. In such a case, switching to vegan skincare products can be the key to clearing up your skin as you’ll be dealing with natural ingredients only.

Keep in mind that applying pure ingredients, such as jojoba oil or raspberry oil, might be particularly irritating to your skin. So if you’re prone to breakouts, it’s a good idea to try new products one at a time to test out your skin’s tolerance.

5. Always Smells Good

When products are made using organic or natural materials, they’re usually naturally-scented. Since vegan skincare products contain natural ingredients, they’re no exception to the naturally-scented rule.

For example, if you got an organic rose cream, then it’s made from real rose water. If it contains essential oils, then it sources these ingredients from the actual plants instead of synthetic laboratory-produced imitations.

The difference between natural scents and artificial fragrances is so evident when it comes to authenticity, quality, and even skin sensitivity. Naural, vegan products will maintain pleasant scents for longer periods than their chemically-enhanced counterparts.

That being said, you should keep in mind that just because a scent is natural, doesn’t mean it’s not going to irritate your skin if you’re allergic to it. So if you’re prone to breakouts, the best approach to vegan skincare products is to test your target product on a small area of skin before applying it on your entire face or body.

If you want to make sure that the scent of a certain product is natural, look for a “fragrance-free” or a “natural fragrance” label on the packaging. Also, check its ingredients list for chemicals that serve as a fragrance. For example, limonene is a chemical solution that’s often used in beauty products to add an orange-like scent.

6. 100% Cruelty-Free

This one is pretty obvious – vegan skincare products are 100% cruelty-free. As per definition, vegan means “no animal products used” as well as “cruelty-free”. This also indicates that vegan products are not tested on animals, so no living being has been abused for their realization.

If it’s important to you that no animal suffers during the making of products you use, then you’re in the right to consider switching to vegan skincare products.

Unfortunately, many conventional beauty products are tested on the skin and eyes of small animals. Choosing to go for vegan alternatives will save these animals from being harmed.

7. Contains No Animal By-Products

If you take a closer look at the ingredients list of a traditional beauty product, you may be shocked to learn some of the stuff they put in it. Many of these non-vegan skincare products contain the by-products of alive or even dead animals.

For example, these beauty products often include lanolin from sheep wool, beeswax, uric acid from cows, gelatin from pig’s skin, or extracts from dead insects. Not only are these materials unethical and gross, but they’re also not very gentle on the skin.

On the contrary, vegan skincare products are 100% free from animal by-products. Nothing animal-related is incorporated in their ingredients, making, or packaging.

8. Reduces Exposure to Pesticides

Minimizing the chances of exposing your skin to pesticides is another advantage of using vegan products that contain no animal by-products.

Let’s take the lanolin (a popular animal by-product widely used in conventional beauty products) obtained from sheep wool as an example. During the lifetime of the sheep, it’s usually dipped in pesticides to prevent vermin. The used pesticides can leach into the lanolin when it’s extracted.

As we mentioned above, the skin absorbs whatever ingredients included in the beauty products that are applied to it. So, you want to make sure that pesticides aren’t a part of your beauty routine!

9. Good for the environment

While it’s true that animal cruelty is a major concern when it comes to animal-based beauty products, the harmful effects of such products can extend beyond animals to include the environment as well.

The animal-based beauty industry can cause air pollution, water pollution, and deforestation. In fact, scientists at the Smithsonian Institution calculated that seven football field’s worth of land is bulldozed every minute to provide more room for farmed animals and the crops that feed these animals.

However, with vegan skincare products, sustainability is not an issue. There’s no need for deforestation (if anything, more plants are always welcome!), and pollution is out of the equation because there are no animal by-products involved.

What’s more, the packaging of vegan skincare products is almost always made out of recyclable materials to reduce the negative impact on the environment. So not only does your vegan product invest in using non-harmful particles, but the box itself has an eco-friendly approach.

10. Has Options for All Budgets

One of the most common misconceptions regarding vegan skincare products is that they’re expensive. As they’re made from all-natural, eco-friendly ingredients, people assume they’ll have to pay hefty money to own a tiny portion of the product.

However, this is quite exaggerated. Granted, vegan beauty products may not be as cheap as traditional animal-based products, but you can still find amazing brands that won’t break your budget.

Additionally, the growing popularity of vegan skincare products brought about the existence of brands addressing all possible price ranges. Also, let’s not forget how the streak of advantages we discussed above offers incredible value for money!

Wrap Up

From soothing and moisturizing your skin, all the way to keeping animals from harm and being eco-friendly, vegan skincare offers a bunch of remarkable advantages that are just too awesome to miss out on!

The best part? These products are available in a wide range of prices so you can enjoy beautiful, healthy skin while safeguarding mother nature no matter your budget. Remember, vegan skincare products are for everyone!