Skincare products are items that we use to improve or maintain the health and appearance of our skin. These products have been around for thousands of years. In Ancient Rome olive oil was used to make face masks, the Ancient Egyptians would bathe in cold water and made cold creams to keep their skin moisturised in the heat of North Africa. Beauty continued to be important as trends changed over the centuries. It was Queen Elizabeth I that started the trend of looking incredibly pale skinned. She used a mixture of lead and vinegar to lighten her skin, as this mixture damaged her skin her veins became very prominent on her face. This created the trend of painting blue lines on your face to imitate Queen Elizabeth's visible blood vessels.
With the invention of photography, television, the internet and now social media, the use of creams, lotions, and powders to improve the quality and health of skin are more popular than ever. The global skincare market is currently worth roughly £83 billion and this is expected to rise to £121 billion in the next 4 years. Of this the global vegan cosmetics market size was valued at £12.5 billion in 2021 and is expected to see an annual growth rate of 6.3% to 2030. Vegan skincare and cosmetics are increasing in popularity as people move away from using animal derived and synthetics products and embrace veganism more generally.
Vegan Skincare
People have always been conscious of their appearance, nobody likes having patches of dry flaky skin and spots are not considered a good look. On social media, gorgeous and flawless influencers and the use of filters has made people more conscious of how they look. Youtube, Instagram and TikTok vloggers are always ready to show us how to get glowing skin, how to prevent acne, black spots, scars, dullness, and tanning damage. This has lead to a boom in the number of skincare products available. Traditionally, skincare and cosmetic products have used animal ingredients, carmine from beetles, lanolin from sheep, even beef fat.
Animal based ingredients that can be found in skincare:
Lanolin from sheep
Beeswax from bees
Royal jelly from bees
Honey from bees
Silk amino acids from silk worms
Collagen from animals (vegan collagen is available)
Animal based glycerine (vegan glycerine is available)
Stearic acid from animal fats
Milk derivatives from cows
Squalene from sharks
Snail mucin, also known as snail slime
Vegan cosmetics don't include any animal or animal derived ingredients, many of the ingredients are natural, such as aloe gel, but some are synthetic, man-made. Bars of soap, shampoo, and skin creams are just some of the products that can include animal products, but now it is easy to find vegan skincare and cosmetics. Supermarkets and drug stores sell many brands that have vegan products in their line-up. Beauty websites have pages of vegan products and the prices range from £1 to £100+, there is something for every budget.
100% Vegan Skincare Brands
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Benefits of Vegan Skincare
Vegan skincare products are usually made from natural or organic ingredients and are often cruelty-free. Vegan skincare products tend to be more gentle on the skin and people with sensitive, easily irritated or allergy-prone skin can find vegan products work well for them as they tend to contain fewer ingredients that aggravate any skin conditions or cause reactions.
Parallel to a vegan diet, plant-based skincare is kinder to animals as they do not use animal by-products and they are usually produced without animal testing. Some vegan products do go through animal testing so check the packaging to make sure that all items are cruelty-free. Using vegan skincare products also helps the environment, the United Nations Environment Programme states that animal products are a key cause of environmental problems including climate change, water depletion and soil erosion. Using vegan products is a positive move for your skin, the animals and the planet, reducing toxins in products, your carbon footprint and pollution caused by animal agriculture.
Sources
The United Nations
The Body Shop
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