The Difference Between Vegan and Cruelty-Free Beauty

The terms vegan and cruelty-free are often used interchangeably but they don’t mean the same thing.

Vegan beauty means that products that don’t contain any animal-derived ingredients.

Cruelty-free, on the other hand, means that products were not tested on animals.

Vegan beauty is not a synonym for terms like bio, eco-friendly, organic, or natural beauty — that’s just another misconception that many people have about this term.

A product can be labeled as bio but containing animal-derived ingredients. And another one can be vegan but not bio.

Before I went vegan I wasn’t fully aware of the animal-derived ingredients that go into the making of these beauty products — to be fair, I wasn’t reading the ingredients list of a product.

Ok, maybe I knew about beeswax but had no idea about lanolin — the wool grease, carmine — the red dye made from crushed beetles, tallow — animal fat, gelatine — boiled skin and bones of animals, glycerine — derived from animal fats. And the list goes on.

These ingredients are used in so many products, like moisturizers, foundations, mascara, lipsticks, etc.

There’s no need for them to be there because there is a vegan alternative for each one of them. In this day and age, why would you want to put wool grease on your face when you could use shea butter or coconut oil instead.

It’s honestly that simple — we have options so why not use them?

Many people are concerned that vegan make-up is not as good or it doesn’t perform the same as the non-vegan one but that’s no true. The effect is most of the time the same or even better.

Labeling products as vegan and cruelty-free doesn’t only apply to cosmetics but also to make-up tools. For example, most brushes are not vegan because they use animal hair. Some lashes are not cruelty-free or vegan because they are made of mink hair.

When it comes to animal testing things are getting somehow confusing for many people.

For example, a beauty brand that is cruelty-free might be owned by a parent company that tests on animals or even have another company carry out animal testing for them.

Animal testing although is banned in some countries, in China is required by law. What does that mean? Well, if a brand wants to sell its products there they have to perform animal testing.

Also, a cruelty-free company might have its products made in China but without selling them there.

Animal testing doesn’t only happen on finished products but on individual ingredients too. Some companies use ingredients from suppliers that test on animals.

How do you know when a product or a company is cruelty-free and vegan?

There are companies that are both cruelty-free and vegan. There are companies that are not cruelty-free but have a large variety of vegan products. There also companies that sell vegan products but have them tested on animals. And of course, there are many companies that are neither vegan nor cruelty-free.

My advice is to always check the ingredients. See if the products are labeled as vegan, cruelty-free, or both. Check the company’s website to see what products are vegan or if they sell their products in China, if they do animal testing or if they have this statement that they don’t test on animals unless they are required to do so.

That means they are not cruelty-free.

And when in doubt, do a research — there are many websites dedicated to educating people about vegan and cruelty-free beauty.

That's how I've learned about vegan and cruelty-free beauty. And that avoiding animal suffering doesn’t only resume to the food we eat, the drinks we consume, the shoes and clothes we wear but also to the beauty products we use.