You know it’s important to do your part to protect the planet and the creatures that share the world with us. That’s why you’re trying your best to cut back on your consumption of animal products and educate yourself on the benefits of veganism. Now you’re noticing the word ‘vegan’ on beauty products and you’re wondering what was in them before to make them not vegan. A lot of these products also claim to be ‘cruelty free’ and of course, you wouldn’t want to be giving your money to a business that harms animals.
So, does that mean that vegan beauty products are always cruelty free?
Are cruelty free beauty products always vegan?
Are they inherently the same or can they be mutually exclusive?
What does vegan mean in beauty?
Going vegan isn’t just a dietary thing. Historically, the beauty industry has used animal parts and products as ingredients in cosmetics, such as:
- fish scales (often labelled as guanine) in shimmery make-up
- beeswax in lipsticks and lip balms
- albumen (derived from eggs) in moisturisers
- shellac (derived from insects) in nail polish
- lanolin (derived from sheep wool) in some creams
However, there are now an increasing number of beauty brands shunning these traditional ingredients for more animal-friendly alternatives. All of our body bars are proudly vegan!
If a beauty or skin care product is labelled as vegan, it simply means that it contains no animal products and that no animal-derived products were used in the production process. Strangely, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it wasn’t tested on animals.
What does cruelty free mean in beauty?
Cruelty free means exactly what you think it means -that no animal testing took place in the production process of a beauty product. Of course, by the time a product is on the shelf and in your hands, you have no idea what process it has been through, which is why certification is important.
If a beauty product claims to be cruelty free, it will have been certified by Leaping Bunny, which is the gold standard of cruelty free testing. It’s worth looking for a bunny logo on the packaging or website product page to see if a product really is cruelty free. At Beauty Kin, we are extremely proud to say that our body bars meet that gold standard!
Can a product be vegan but not cruelty free?
You might be thinking that if a product is definitely vegan, it must be cruelty free, right? Well, that’s not always necessarily the case.
Some beauty brands who sell vegan products will test on animals, as sometimes the law states that they must. These products therefore cannot be labelled as cruelty free, despite being vegan.
The other way round is true too. A product can avoid animal testing but that doesn’t mean that it contains no lanolin, beeswax, guanine or other common animal-derived ingredients. So, it’s always worth looking beyond a Leaping Bunny logo if you want to really know a product and a brand.
We love animals at Beauty Kin!
The only way to really know for sure that a product is both vegan and cruelty free is to look for both certifications on the packaging. We’re very happy to be able to say that our body bars wear both badges because we know that means that no animals were harmed in our production process.
With that said, why not stock up on a Hydrating body bar for the cold winter months ahead? Simply lather up a creamy cocktail of squalane, tomato seed oil and bergamot and watch your skin soak up the moisture!
Or treat your dull tired skin to a new Clarifying body bar made of salicylic acid, tamanu and neroli. It will clear up your blemishes while soothing the ravages of acne.
It has never been easier to be kind to animals and the planet, so let’s ditch harmful products and behaviours and get back to healthy, natural beauty!
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