In the world of cosmetics, the demand for vegan products is now on the rise. The perfume industry is not left out of the trend, although the trend is growing at a slower pace in the perfume industry. Vegan perfumes are perfumes that totally shy away from the use of any animal-derived ingredients and no form of animal testing are done for such perfumes.
Animal-derived ingredients in perfumes
Animal ingredients have been a part and parcel of perfume making for centuries. These ingredients are usually used as fixatives to stabilize the other volatile ingredients in the perfume and to help boost longevity of those perfume formulas. Also, such ingredients are used as base notes for the perfumes.
- Musk: this was used as both a fragrance note and a fixative in perfumes. But did you know that it was usually gotten from removing the musk pods of musk deers? We guess not.
- Civet: the civet is usually held captive for the purpose of gathering its ordure which will be used in perfumery.
- Castoreum: beavers’ castor sacs have to be collected in order to extract the musk scent.
- African stone: although gotten without cruelty, a vegan perfume lover should still know that it is usually derived from the dried viscous urine (known as hyraceum) of the hyrax.
- Ambergris: used in both synthetic and natural perfumes. It is collected from sperm whale digestive secretions. In the past, whales were killed to collect his but now, ambergris is usually collected as ocean waste.
Why the demand for vegan perfumes?
Oftentimes, getting those ingredients from animals involved cruel methods that harmed those animals. In addition, the process of animal testing is usually cruel even though they are still not accurate predictors of how humans will react to those products.
Currently, less harmful ways of extracting these ingredients are being employed in the perfume industry. Also, similar smelling ingredients are now being made synthetically.
You should also know that there are animal derived ingredients such as honey and beeswax which may be gotten without harming the animals. But perfumes made with them can only be called vegetarian and not vegan. You want to be aware of all these distinctions and details before you purchase that perfume.
Related: Some Amazing Facts About Perfume You Should Know
How to find a vegan perfume
The first step to getting the vegan perfume you desire is to get a perfume labeled as vegan and cruelty-free. Double check to make sure that the perfume is actually registered as cruelty-free.
If you want a purely organic, vegan and cruelty-free perfume, you want to look out for the animal-derived ingredients. Unfortunately, many perfume companies are not favorably disposed to giving detailed and transparent ingredient lists on their product labels. So, even if you don’t find any animal–derived ingredients on the label, but the perfume is still not labeled as vegan or cruelty-free; best believe there could be some unlisted ingredients gotten from animals or that it has undergone animal testing.
One of the most trusted ways to double-check that you are getting a vegan perfume is to check out the brand’s positioning statement on animal testing, or see if they are registered with a cruelty-free certifying organization.
Another quick hack is to limit your options to products by brands specialising in natural perfumes. This is because those brands are more likely to shy away from animal-derived ingredients due to the brands’ ethical dispositions.
