Cruelty-Free cosmetics. A few words on Vegan beauty products

Vegan cosmetics are deprived of animal-origin substances including silk (fibre produced by silk moths) or lanoline (a substance obtained during sheep wool purification process). If you aren’t certain whether a particular cosmetic is vegan or not, you can try to find its composition on various websites devoted to the issue of veganism, and these are PETA or Vegan Society, for example. Even if you aren’t vegan, find out why it’s beneficial to buy cruelty-free cosmetics.

Why it’s worth buying vegan cosmetics?

Everyone should reach for vegan cosmetics. Why? There are two reasons to mention. Although not everyone is concerned with the ideological aspect of veganism, everyone should be concerned for their health. Vegan cosmetics aren’t only produced without doing any harm to animals but also they are free of substances that can cause ailments and even serious diseases in humans. Here are some toxic substances that many popular non-vegan cosmetics include:

Diethanolamine DEA / Dietanolamina / Triethanolamine (TEA) / Monoethanolamine (MEA) / Cocomide DEA / Cocamide DEA – substances added to cosmetics as emulsifiers and detergents. To deceive consumers, names of the very ingredients often feature prefixes which are supposed to imply their natural origin. When combined with other azote compounds, also present in cosmetics, they create carcinogenic nitrosamines. Moreover, they irritate mucosa and groin skin. They must not be used during breastfeeding and pregnancy.

Mineral oil / Petrolatum / Paraffin Oil / Paraffinum liquidum – these are products of crude oil distillation process. They are absorbed neither by bowels nor skin. Instead they clog skin pores as well as attract dust and bacteria. Moreover, these substances accelerate ageing processes and break the most precious compounds cosmetics feature. Why are they used in beauty industry? Because they are cheap and easy-accessible. Also, they increase the volume of a cosmetic.

Animal-originated substances in fragrances

Animal-originated substances are also included into various fragrance compositions because they help to extend lifespan of perfumes and smell nice. Ambre is a substance that can be found in sperm whale bowels, civet is a substance secreted from glands of mammals living in Africa, castoreum is a dried out substance secreted by glands of Canadian and European beaver, and musk is a fragrant substance secreted form rim glands of Siberian musk deer.