What Does Vegan Skincare Mean?

What Does Vegan Skincare Mean?

Have you heard? Veganism is on the rise. Lizzo’s disrupting the Internet with her body-positive vegan journey. Greta wants us all to go vegan to save the planet. New York City just got its first vegan mayor in history. Even fast food giants are throwing their hats in the vegan ring.

 If you didn’t know, now you do, so welcome to the party. Consider this your official invitation to the vegan cookout 🌱.

 

So What Exactly IS Vegan Skincare?

Let’s start off by emphasizing that veganism is not just a diet. As vegans, we do our best to avoid all kinds of animal exploitation. We often hear the word vegan being used in reference to food, but did you know veganism is actually more of a philosophy that applies to all things we buy and consume?

That’s right. It’s not just about what you eat. Here are some examples of what veganism looks like in various areas of our lives:

With food, vegans don’t eat meat, eggs, dairy, or other animal-derived ingredients, which can be sneakily found in the most unexpected food products like marshmallows and even gum (don’t worry—there are delicious vegan alternatives)!

In fashion, it means avoiding fabrics that come from animals like fur, leather, silk, suede, down feathers or wool.

In the beauty and skincare space, it means excluding products that have come from animals or contain animal byproducts.

You may be surprised to find out that cosmetics like makeup, nail polish, skincare, etc often have not-so-obvious animal-derived ingredients. Unless you’re a company like Hot Jupiter who prioritizes an ethical approach to products 👏🏾.

 

What Are the Benefits of Vegan Skincare?

When you buy vegan skincare, you’re voting with your dollars to support products that are kinder to animals, the planet, and in some cases your skin too.

 Better for Animals: Hot Jupiter was founded by two sisters, one of whom is an ethical vegan, and it was important to them both to keep animals OUT of our products. Not only is our skincare line animal-free, we don’t test on animals. By choosing vegan skincare, you are voting to protect our furry, multi-legged, winged and finned friends out there.

 Better for Planet: Raising animals for consumption, whether it be for food, fashion, beauty, or any other industry, is highly destructive to the environment. Animal agriculture is one of the top causes of climate change.

Better for Skin: While we can’t speak for all vegan skincare products, we can certainly attest to the safety of ours. Our carefully crafted, clinically backed vegan ingredients are formulated to make both your conscious and your skin feel good.  

 

What Are Some Common Skincare Ingredients That Come From Animals?

 We have another post that dives deeper into each of these ingredients, where they come from, and which products they are commonly found in, so check that out for further reading.

Here’s the summarized version:

  1. Carmine (AKA cochineal) = crushed female cochineal insects.
  2. Lanolin = sheep oily secretions.
  3. Squalane = shark liver (but there are vegan sources).
  4. Gelatin = boiled animal skin, bones, tendons and ligaments.
  5. Collagen = animal protein (most popularly sourced from cow or fish body parts).
  6. Keratin = crushed animal bones, horns, hooves and feathers.
  7. Guanine = fish scales.
  8. Shellac = secretions of the female lac insect.
  9. Stearic acid = animal fat (but there are vegan sources)
  10. Beeswax = hive construction material honeybees produce to protect their honeycombs (they need it to thrive).

Be sure to read our “Non-Vegan Skincare Ingredients” post for more info. It’s eye-opening to see how sneaky companies can be with animal ingredients under vague names that don’t transparently indicate what they really are.

 

Skincare Should Be More Transparent

So now you know a little bit more about what vegan skincare is, the benefits, and common animal ingredients to avoid when shopping for products.

Did any of this info surprise you? If it did, that’s actually quite normal. After all, companies know if they openly label their ingredients using the names of the animals they’re sourced from, they may lose some appeal. Crushed beatles isn't exactly giving what it's supposed to give when you reach for a red lipstick.

It can be crushing to learn the truth of what goes on behind closed doors in the skincare industry, but we hope it’s encouraging to also learn that you have pro-planet and vegan-friendly options to choose from. In fact, Hot Jupiter was born out of our love for people, planet, and animals. We have created a fully vegan brand for you that we are truly proud of so you will never have to sort through our collection of products trying to figure out if a product is vegan or not.