Is your skincare product Vegan? Hidden, NON-VEGAN ingredients that might be in your beauty products.

Are you sure that your skincare, cosmetics and other beauty products are 100% vegan andcruelty-free? Do you read your labels and ingredients list carefully?

I wanted to show you the most common animal diverted ingredients that you should watch out for. As you might know, the ingredients of animal origin can be divided into substances that are produced from the body of animals (bones, claws, fat) and materials that are produced by animals (eg lanolin, which is produced by sebaceous glands of sheep and is obtained through the chemical treatment of wool).

Animal diverted ingredients that you can find in some beauty products:

Beeswax is used to build honeycombs of beehives - it is secreted by worker bees using wax glands and is a mixture of rich unsaturated fatty acids. Taking it from the beehives exposes animals to unnecessary stress, not to mention the cruel practices applied to insects during breeding.

Beeswax is very often found in lip balms, soaps and candles. Vegan brands can easily replace it with plant-based waxes. 

It looks on a label like this: Cera Flava, Beeswax

Collagen is a protein responsible for elasticity and durability of your skin, and keep you looking young. However, most of the time, collagen is obtained from the skin and bones of animals and chicken embryos. In recent years, marine collagen derived from fish skin has gained immense popularity. Collagen diverted from mammals has excellent composition and physicochemical properties, making it an extremely popular ingredient among cosmetics manufacturers. Sadly collagen from the connective tissue of very young calves is one of the most desirable collagen varieties.

It looks on a label like this: Collagen, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Atelocollagen

Often diverted from pigs and cows stomach, this ingredient is commonly found in soaps, deodorant, moisturizers and hair products. A vegan version of stearic acid comes from cocoa and shea butter and the extra good news is that this one will not irritate your skin. Unfortunately, both vegan and animal diverted version can be called Stearic Acid on the label so please double check with the manufacturer.

It looks on a label like this: Stearic Acid

It should not be confused with plant-derived glycerine (present in natural soap bars), but in practice, it is very easy to make this mistake. Unfortunately, beauty brands do not have to specify whether they use animal diverted or plant-based glycerine on their packaging. Some brands would use the term "Glycerin Vegetal" which is great but If you not sure I always recommend to ask the right person responsible for the formula.

It looks on a label like this: Glycerin

Shellac is the natural resin obtained from lac bugs, a substance intended for the protection of larvae. Thousands of these insects are killed to create small amounts of this product. Often found in cosmetics and your nail polish.

It looks on a label like this: Shellac

Lanolin is produced by sebaceous glands of sheep and is obtained by chemical treatment of wool. Often found in the face creams and body lotions and hair products because of its intense moisturizing properties. There are many plant-based alternatives like coconut oil, shea butter or cocoa butter.

The above ingredients contain amino acids, carbohydrates, lipids and phospholipids, nucleic acids, enzymes, vitamins or mineral salts that have a fantastic effect on the condition of our skin, improve its health, delay the ageing process, but unfortunately, are produced from animals. And if you are vegan, you should stay away from them!