Compassionate companies are choosing to make their beauty products without testing on animals. And there are some serious reasons to love them for it! For all those people who are looking to cut all animal-derived items out of their life and turn vegan, clean cosmetics are the way to go. But it can be a bit confusing if you’re new to the concept (especially with so many concepts like cruelty-free, organic, natural products, and so on). While cruelty-free refers to that product which was developed without performing any animal testing, vegan means that the product does not include any animal-derived ingredients, even as by-products.
To help you understand more and clear all doubts on vegan beauty and makeup, we got in touch with beauty expert Kaveeta Pol. She’s the founder of Orrganic Elemennt, India’s first-ever vegan & cruelty-free spa and beauty salon.
Busting 10 Myths About Vegan Beauty & Makeup
1. Cruelty-Free is the same as Vegan.
Cruelty-free only identifies if the product has been tested on animals or not, but a vegan product must check a lot of other boxes. It should not have any animal by-products, nor should it be unethically sourced.
Holistic vegan beauty entails 3 different aspects specifically in the beauty industry:
- No animal by-products
- No animal testing
- No unethical ingredients or sourcing of ingredients
Always look out for vegan and organic certifications in your everyday products to check.
2. Big brands don’t perform animal testing.
China is one of the few countries in the world to require mandatory animal testing for beauty products, specifically all imported cosmetics and beauty products. Any brand that sells its products in China has to test on animals, the PETA website lists many many big brands that we’re all familiar with. Maybelline, Clinique, Mary Kay, Clarins, Bobby Brown, Estee Lauder, OPI, Elizabeth Arden, Victoria’s Secret are some examples of brands selling in China and using animal testing.
3. Using clean or vegan beauty will actually not make any difference.
The problem with customers today is we want quick fixes and shortcuts. If that’s what you want then organic and vegan products are not for you. However, there is a segment of people who want results with no long-term damage and they are conscious about what they’re attesting with their purchase.
Products that are a combination of vegan and organic remove all unnecessary chemicals, artificial ingredients, pesticides, synthetic additions, and animal by-products just mean you’re left with all of the good stuff. And the results are better! We see it in our salon every single day.
4. Vegan Foundations don’t provide any coverage.
This statement is quite baseless (pun intended)! Just like any product, there are multiple brands for everything; some brands are of better quality than others. It has nothing to do with being vegan, just try another brand till you find the one that works for you.
5. Clean beauty brands don’t work on your skin.
You mustn’t forget that 60% of any product you apply on your skin gets absorbed into your bloodstream directly (as opposed to ingesting, which is filtered through organs like the kidney and liver). So if you have chemicals like Parabens, PPD, Sulphates, Ammonia, synthetic ingredients, or animal by-products like oil from sheep’s wool or fat from a cow’s tendon reaching a place where it does not belong – your bloodstream – you know that’s not going to do you any good.
For example, what your skin and bloodstream actually need for skin results are ingredients like vitamins A, C and E, and oils derived from the actual source. These ingredients in their most-effective form are used in vegan products and show evidence of effective results. We see it every day in our salon. Customers who use our curated brands are unable to turn back to their previous products anymore.
Another example is with hair products, the keratin in our hair smoothening brands use wheat and oats for protein and not boiled animal ligaments. The results are stunning and there is absolutely no damage to the hair, which is almost a given nowadays with hair smoothening services.
Apart from that, with organic beauty, in just a quick search you will find the internet filled with experiences of people from around the world having allergic reactions and experiencing long-term repercussions because of products with harsh ingredients like PPD or sulphates, and so on.
6. Since clean beauty products are free from preservatives, it goes bad quickly.
Yes, the shelf life is lesser as opposed to products with chemical-based preservatives. But the formulations with non-chemical preservatives also last a pretty good amount of time, for example, our Eternal Glow Face Oil has a life of 1 year.
7. Vegan makeup is really expensive and can make you go broke in no time.
Not at all, there is a multitude of price ranges with vegan makeup today. There are definitely high-quality expensive products, but we also have affordable brands. Disguise lipsticks are in the 500 range, Wet n Wild Eyeliners start from 200, Plum Kajals are 400, priced as any of their contemporaries in the non-vegan bracket.
8. It’s too time-consuming to find the right vegan makeup and skincare products.
All popular makeup websites have filters for vegan and chemical-free skincare. Nykaa has individual filters for paraben-free, cruelty-free, vegan and organic respectively.
9. There aren’t many shades available in vegan makeup.
This might have been the case a few years ago but today with the demand increasing, there are ample choices! Enough to build an entire makeup set with just vegan makeup!
10. Clean beauty products smell funny and look boring.
Clean Beauty or Chemical Free Beauty products do not use artificial colouring and fragrances, so when you think a product is smelling funny or looking boring, that should be a pretty big reality check. The colour you see and the fragrance is the REAL smell and colour of the formulation. Many formulations now use organic ingredients to add a fragrance, but it still won’t be as strong as a chemical-based fragrance. Smell and colour don’t reflect the efficacy of the product.
If you too are willing to dump your current beauty products and cosmetics to turn vegan, let us know in the comments below!
