Differences between vegan and cruelty free products

Vegan or cruelty free cosmetics?

With the diffusion and awareness of the diminishing animal exploitation and vivisection, more and more people are beginning to approach for the first time the world of vegan and cruelty free products.

Although the ideas are still a bit confusing and there isn’t always clarity between the two terms, we start by saying that cosmetics and vegan and cruelty free products definitely make their part in the industry in favor of animal protection. In this article we will discover the slight differences between the two words and see how you can contribute to the protection of animals.

Cruelty free: what does it mean?

Let’s start with understanding the word cruelty free and what it means. When you find the label “cruelty free” on a product, often accompanied by a logo that represents a running rabbit, it means that the product adheres to the “Non-tested on aminals” International Standard, which we mentioned in the article previous one.

There is a law in Europe that forces manufacturers to test on animals all the new ingredients used to formulate products that will be introduced on the market. The tests are carried out on animals, mainly laboratory animals such as guinea pigs and rabbits, who every year die or suffer terribly because of the chemicals they are experiencing.

Fortunately, the law does not oblige manufacturers to test finished products on animals, but only new ingredients.

A company is therefore defined as cruelty free when it adheres to international standards supported by anti-vivisectionist associations and states that the finished product is not tested on animals but also that the individual ingredients used for the formulation have not been tested in vivo since they belong to The category of ingredients experienced before a certain year, date called cut-off dates. This means that the manufacturer only uses ingredients that have been tested in the past, so that they do not need to re-use the ingredients and avoid deaths.

If you want to find out the topic of cruelty free cosmetics, I’ve talked about it here.

Vegan cosmetics: what are they?

What often confuses the consumer is the list of the ingredients of the cruelty free products. Products labeled with the bunny hoopin’ around only indicate that this product has not been tested on animals, as well as the ingredients that make up it. This does not mean that the ingredients list is devoid of elements of animal origin.

For a product to be composed only of vegetable substances, this must show the “Vegan OK” sticker.

Vegan cosmetics are free from animal ingredients like collagen, elastin, squalene, lanolin we mentioned earlier. The list of ingredients of vegan products is based on the processing of minerals and synthetic substances.

There is another product category, vegetarian ones. In this case, the ingredients are obtained from the animals, but without killing or creating damage. This is the case of beeswax, honey, milk and lactose. Some cosmetic cases, in fact, make it very clear that the use of these animal products, however, specifies the method they use to obtain the elements.

This makes us realize that not all cruelty free products are vegan.

If you want to deepen the topic of vegan cosmetics, I’ve talked about it here.

Vegan and cruelty free cosmetics: conclusions

If you also care for animal health, and believe that buying cosmetics and cruetly free / vegan products can make a difference, then you’re in the right blog.

Thanks to the technology and the studies carried out in the field, so many brands are now marking this production policy. The offer on the market is really vast. There is no excuse for not preferring these products to the “classic” ones that every year cause death to so many animals.