11 May Competition Entry: Review: My Vegan Beauty Month Thoughts
Guideline for the entry requirements and topics suitable for entry.
The entry requirements for individual bloggers is someone who creates their own blogging content and is created and managed under a blog name and for the purposes of that blog alone, “(i.e. not on behalf of a brand/company/business.)”. This can be for business or pleasure. The agreed output was my personal blog account as it is managed under a blog name and that alone and this meets the inital entry requirement. There are 27 categories that the UK Blog Awards cover, I chose to enter for beauty as that is the main topic I discuss on my personal blog page. 4 choices are given as a sub-topic for my chosen category, all of which I cover on my blog. I chose to do a beauty review as i was in the midst of trialling a vegan skincare and hair range, which made sense as it was recent and relevant. As well as being in the line of work that i aspire to start off with once i graduate. My competition entry follows the outlines of the entry, it is all original content and was produced during my module time.
Original format, Link to my website: Mahria’s World
You see the term “vegan” all over social media, beauty shops and even supermarkets. Both term and trend have had a huge international impact, filtering through social media influencers, celebrities and stores. Many people invest in the trend without even really knowing what it means or what it is supposed to do for you.
First of all…
What is a veganism?
A vegan is a person who does not consume (eat or use) any animal products.
Technically being a vegan does not actually do too much for you, it is more of a personal choice as to how you choose to live your life with consideration to animals.
While doing my research I discovered that there has been some contrevosry when it comes to pet owners feeding thier pets vegan food. The majority of results have ended up with poorly pets and questioning whether this trend is going a little too far. While we as people have the free will to be vegans or not, pets do not!
Hair
I didn’t realise that I actually already used vegan haircare products, I have been using OGX haircare for the better part of the year.
I have loved the results and have been reluctant to change my shampoo since i started using it. However although it is a vegan shampoo, I researched into the ingredients a little more and the majority of the ranges include parabens!!!. Only the recent ranges and a few new formulated products are paraben and sulphate free. Which made me question how trusting the public is in trends and the beleif it is the better choice for them. Just because a product is labelled “vegan” does not necessarily it is good for you. None of the ranges I used included parabens or sulphates, but be sure to check with any haircare products.
What are parabens/sulphates?
Parabens are known to have the potential to copy the activity of estrogen, disrupting hormone function which have been associated with breast cancer, skin irritation and reproductive issues. So Parabens are an absolute no go.
Sulphates are harsh synthetic detergent/foaming agents that break down layers of skin in order to “clean”. This results in dry skin and super problematic for people with eczema. Sulphates are present in many beauty products and create more problems than they temporarily solve.
Sulphates in hair care products = dry scalp, brittle hair, split ends.
Skincare/Makeup
Again it came to my attention that I was already a lover of vegan skincare, The Body Shop is my go to place for simple skincare that works. I immedietly thought to myself that I shop there for the quality and result of their products, not for the label. Imagine if you stripped off all vegan labels in the shops now and people actually had to make a real conscious effort to be vegan. (non vegan joke, sorry). But I really did think about buying into the trend a lot more, literally. How many people switched up their entire routine to cleanse themselves of their non-vegan past. When really they probably already used vegan products without the vegan label, insane.
But I had to give up some of my favourite skincare go-to’s, I did realise a huge difference after a month without my favourites from Hermetise. Particularly my undereyes, vegan or not my skin was in better condition when I was using Hermitise. In general my skin was not so bad, being on an entire Body Shop diet but I definetly realised a lack of brightness, i was prone to spots and my skin did not stay as smooth in texture.
I used a combination of products from different ranges including Seaweed, Vitamin C, Vitmin E and Tea Tree. All of which were great for small problems but not great for spots or discolouration and I didnt feel like they improved the texture of my skin. This proved to be a really big ugly problem for me by the end of the month, my skin was not in great condition and my spots were prominent on the surface of my skin. I was not looking good.
Vegan makeup, my skin completely started to purge! I lasted around 1 week before I could not wear any makeup because my skin broke out, completely out of control. I invested in 1 high street brand called ELF cosmetics which is your standard drugstore price for makeup and 1 slightly more high brand called Cover FX at available in Selfridges and Harvey Nichols. Now if i’m being honest my everyday makeup routine consists of MAC, Nars and Charlotte Tilbury, all of which use animal products in their makeup.
I started off with ELF for the first 2 days and noticed my skin looked really texturised and I was beginning to get small spots on my forehead. I thought it was probably due to the quality of the makeup itself and decided to switch to Cover FX on day 3 to get more coverage and calm my skin. I used Cover FX for the rest of the week and my skin totally broke out, being a vegan beauty month trial I couldnt opt for my usual go to spot remedy creams. I went to the aid of my vegan Body Shop friends but the products were not enough to fix my skin in the slightest, I took refuge in the Tea Tree range but it didn’t do much for me.
By the end of the month my skin looked like moutain terrain, it was in pretty bad condition and I am not a great fan of ONLY vegan products in my routine. As I could see an obvious difference in my skin. This made me question, do vegan products actually work? Are they really the best option for your skin?. As I realised that I used non vegan products before and not using them had a major impact on my skin. The vegan products I used just did not have the same effect on my skin, both skincare and especially makeup.
Result: My Opinion
I do not believe that vegan labled products are superior in any way compared to other products, as I previosly stated there were already so many “vegan” products on the market, just without the label. I have always used “vegan” products alongside with products that are not, I can say after a strict month of only vegan products the results are not that life changing.
I think this trend is more to do with influence and following the crowd. As vegan products have existed on the market for a very very long time, without pointing out that they are vegan. The reality is everyone that has suddenly changed their beauty routines for this trend to “feel better” has always had the choice and many options to choose from. In terms of beauty it does not do wonders for your skin and vegan products can still be harmful even if they are not made with any animal traces, as can vegan haircare.
My Advice
Being vegan is a choice in respect to your feelings about animals. That is completely fine, the products are pretty normal, in my opinion they still need to make certain amendments to the ingredients. My advice would be to check the ingredients and make sure that they are all suitable for your body.
Things to look out for typically in vegan labelled products:
Lots of different types of alcohol (bad) in 1 product and the percentage of each one. Ingredients are put in order of most to least %, if you find you come across many types of alcohol at first, chances are it is not good for you. Alcohol is an irritant for skin, period. Alcohol is used in products to give a “clean” feel (scrubs, shampoos etc) and also to prolong shelf life. Which explains why you see such cheap prices around for vegan products, but in reality its actually watered down chemicals and that can still be vegan.
Or… You can shop The Body Shops haircare range which is sulphate, paraben and alcohol free and totally suitable for vegans and affordable!
