How to formulate vegan skincare and vegan haircare

Which cosmetic ingredients are not suitable for vegans?

If you are looking to buy vegan skincare or hair care, look for the following ingredient names on labels. More importantly, when formulating vegan skincare or vegan haircare, it is essential that you leave out the following ingredients:

• beeswax – this is commonly found in natural balms and sticks; and is often used in body butters to help build consistency. It may also be used in a variety of colour cosmetic formulas (make up formulas) for stability and longevity purposes.
  • Watch how to make vegan friendly, palm free balm here.
  • learn how to replace butters and waxes in formulas with our How to choose cosmetic oils, butters and waxes workshop.
  • honey, although not commonly used in cosmetic formulas, is also not suitable for vegans.
• carmine – providing a ‘natural’ red colour to makeup formulas, carmine is not very commonly used these days but still may be present very occasionally. There are lots of natural red pigments that can be used these days to avoid the use of carmine:
  • watch this video which shows a variety of natural plant pigments with colour that lasts that are also vegan friendly.
  • you will also enjoy our vegan friendly lip stain video here.
• hydrolysed proteins from animal sources – your skin, nails and hair are all made from protein, which makes hydrolysed proteins a fantastic cosmetic ingredient to provide structural support, moisture protection and even repair qualities to your skin and haircare formulas.
  • several years ago, the only hydrolysed proteins available were from animal sources, but now, there are loads of vegan friendly plant-based cosmetic protein ingredient available. Look for plant names when you are selecting hydrolysed protein sources for cosmetic formulas.
  • read this blog to understand how to select proteins – including how to select vegan friendly proteins for cosmetic formulas.
  • watch this video to understand how and why proteins, peptides and collagen are used in cosmetic formulas.
• collagen from animal sources – collagen is in the dermal layer of our skin, and provides the structural support needed to maintain suppleness and a youthful appearance. Collagen in cosmetic formulas has in the past been from animal sources; however there are more and more plant based collagen sources becoming available. Contact your raw material suppliers to source vegan friendly collagen cosmetic ingredients.
  • watch this video to see an anti-ageing formula containing vegan friendly collagen.

Vegan friendly cosmetic formulas should be palm free or RSPO also

Palm and coconut oil are used as a starting material for a lot of esters, emulsifiers and foaming (surfactant) ingredients used in cosmetic formulas, even if their INCI name doesn’t make it obvious. The issue with palm and coconut oil as a source of cosmetic ingredients is that they may be sourced from plantations that have a big impact on local animals. When creating vegan friendly formulas, it is important to source RSPO certified cosmetic ingredients where the starting materials may be of coconut or palm origin. Speak with your suppliers to ensure you are sourcing suitable materials if formulating vegan friendly skincare and haircare.

• watch this video to understand how extensively used palm oil is in cosmetic formulas – even if the INCI names don’t suggest it.
• Watch these videos to see:
  • How to formulate Vegan friendly cosmetics
  • How to formulate Vegan friendly foaming formulas
  • How to formulate organic vegan friendly palm free lotion

Where does cruelty free / animal testing fit in?

Despite what you read or hear on the internet, animal testing is now banned for cosmetics in most regions of the world (except for excessively high imports of new ingredients (1000kg+) where marine life toxicity is a concern, and a few ‘specialty use’ products exported to China for safety reasons). We know there is a lot of misinformation out there about animal testing so we created a video to explain this complex issue.

• watch this video which explains animal testing in cosmetic products – and how it is now banned (despite what you read/hear on the internet).

It is important to remember that once an ingredient has been tested for safety (e.g. as many cosmetic ingredients, even natural ones, were in the past), they never need to get tested again. You don’t need to prove safety twice, so regardless of what you read on the internet, animal testing of cosmetic products and cosmetic ingredients does not continue to happen except for the very few exceptions we mention and explain in the video. You can contact us for full proof and further information: [email protected]
 

How to create vegan friendly cosmetic formulas

As you can see there are a few ingredients you need to be aware of, but there are loads of vegan friendly cosmetic ingredient choices you can use in their place. We’ve also given you loads of vegan friendly cosmetic formulation tips and loads of resources you can access – for FREE – to get you started on your vegan friendly formulation journey. Access the extra information or learn even more with us today, to get creating vegan friendly skincare and hair care formulas.
 

Happy formulating!

Want to get formulating fast without needing to learn, but still want to pick and choose the ingredients you use in cosmetic formulas? Use our Create Cosmetic Formulas software to create:

• vegan friendly balm formula
• vegan friendly lipgloss formula
• vegan friendly lipstick formula

Take our super-quick quiz to see if cosmetic formulation software or cosmetic science training is best for you… access here.