Ace-Vegan

Why Vegan Beauty Is On The Rise

Dominika Piasecka from The Vegan Society reveals why vegan beauty is growing in popularity

This year’s Natural Health International Beauty Awards features a vegan category with a range of products registered with The Vegan Society’s Vegan Trademark. Here, Dominika Piasecka from the association offers her top five reasons why vegan beauty is so popular…

The image of veganism is undergoing the most radical change in its history, while shedding some tired old stereotypes. People now closely associate the lifestyle with health, fitness and wellbeing, while the beauty market is increasingly recognising the importance of the vegan label.

Around 6 percent of beauty and personal care products launched in the UK in 20198 carried a vegan claim. Despite this looking like a small number, it was a significant surge from just 4 percent of products launched in 2012 and a Market Research Future report predicts a further 6 percent growth in cruelty-free cosmetics in the next five years from now.

Here’s why vegan beauty is becoming more popular:

People care about animal use

With veganism now one of the fastest growing social justice movements, the lifestyle is taking over not just restaurants and supermarkets, but also the beauty industry as more and more people choose not to contribute to animal exploitation.
No one wants to support a company that pays others to pour products in bunnies’ eyes! You’d be forgiven for thinking animal testing shouldn’t be a concern today, but sadly it is; thankfully, people are turning their backs against it.

A spotlight is being shed on animal testing

Anti-animal testing laws in the EU have been strengthened in recent years, but they still don’t guarantee a company hasn’t tested a product or its ingredients on animals. Conflicting laws in other countries can make searching for non-animal-tested cosmetics a minefield.
Choosing vegan and cruelty-free beauty cosmetics is part of the vegan lifestyle as it avoids supporting animal use. Buying such products is important to show there’s demand for them and to encourage the development of more products. This can then inspire other businesses to offer the same.

Vegan cosmetics promote a kinder future

Companies are realising that it’s not just vegans who care about animals being used to produce beauty products, and market their lines by shouting about their vegan and cruelty-free status. What can we say – it works!
With the number of vegans up by 250 percent in the last decade, there is a growing demand for products made without the use of animals. The rise in the cruelty-free market correlates with an increased public awareness not only about animal rights, but also environmental issues and health concerns.

The yuck factor

From animal fat in cream blushers and eyeshadows, and crushed cochineal beetles in red lipsticks, you don’t have to be vegan to be put off by this. Vegan cosmetics are also often favoured for containing natural ingredients.

There is a huge demand

What was once an underexplored market is now quickly expanding with vegan companies and mainstream brands alike offering brilliant and innovative cruelty-free products.
Modern customers are very aware of how much unnecessary stuff is added to the things we buy. Beauty products are notorious for sneaking in nasty animal products which we then unknowingly apply on our faces.

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About the Vegan Trademark

The term ‘vegan’ isn’t legally protected when it comes to labelling cosmetics and body-care products, which is why The Vegan Society invented the Vegan Trademark. Created by vegans for vegans, it guarantees the product carrying it does not contain animal ingredients and that the company has not tested it or its ingredients on animals.

The Vegan Trademark has been trusted internationally since 1990, and appears on many thousands of cosmetic products worldwide. Among the high profile makeup brands registered with it are Arbonne, Lavera, Beauty Without Cruelty and Inika.