What Are Vegan Skin Care Products?
Vegan skin care products are products that have no animal ingredients, or ingredients derived from animals. They are plant-based and often much safer for our skin as well as our environment.
What Are the Benefits of Vegan Skin Care Products?
- Vegan skin care products are produced with natural and organic ingredients. There are no toxic additives. Because vegan skin care products do not have toxic additives, the risk of developing (or worsening) skin conditions such as rashes, eczema, acne, and skin inflammation are decreased.
- Vegan skin care products are plant-based and chock full of skin nourishing ingredients such as antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. This makes them a healthier alternative to skin care using products derived from animals. They are also cleaner and more sustainable than the animal-derived skin care products.
- Vegan skin care products are safe for all skin types including aging skin as well as those with sensitive skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis, rosacea, and acne.
- Vegan skin care products are better for the environment because there are no toxic chemicals that are washed away in water runoff.
- Vegan skin care products are never tested on animals, which means they are 100% free from animal cruelty.
What Are Non-Vegan Skin Care Products?
Non-vegan, or conventional, skin care products contain animal-derived products such as lanolin, collagen, carmine, or shellac (though there are many others). These ingredients can potentially cause allergies in some people leading to reactions such as skin rashes. Also, these ingredients are usually not cruelty-free, meaning the ingredients were obtained from animals in an unethical and often cruel manner.
Fun Fact: Our skin absorbs approximately 60-70% of what we put on it! What we put on our skin is very important for our overall health and wellbeing.
Aging Skin
Our skin begins to change as we age. Aging skin, or mature skin, often loses fat and no longer looks as plump and smooth as it once did, it can lose elasticity and appear “slack”, often referred to as sagging. Aging skin can also face conditions such as dryness, itching, (to see common causes of dry skin, click here), wrinkles, bruising and discoloration. Some of the ways we can improve the appearance of our skin is by protecting against excess sun exposure, eating a nutritious diet and applying products to our skin to help retain moisture.
What Is the Best Vegan Skin Care for Aging Skin?
The products that rank as the best vegan skin care for aging skin include products that work to eliminate or reduce the ailments that aging skin faces, such as: dryness, itching, wrinkles, bruising, discoloration, and dullness.
Ingredients to Help Aging Skin
- For dry and itchy skin: Emollient moisturizers such as shea butter
- For sagging and wrinkled skin: Collagen, pumpkin seed oil, coconut oil, olive oil
- For discoloration like hyperpigmentation: Pumpkin seed oil, olive oil
- For bruised skin: Pumpkin seed oil, olive oil
- For dull skin: Pumpkin seed oil, sandalwood
Pumpkin seed oil gets a special mention here, as it is is an excellent ingredient for aging skin. It contains vitamins A and C, which help slow down skin aging, boost collagen, smooth fine lines and wrinkles, as well as reduce hyperpigmentation or dark spots. It also contains vitamin E, which helps retain water in the skin, helping to keep it moisturized, and vitamin K which helps speed up skin healing, repairing the skin from bruises, stretch marks, etc.
If you're looking for a high quality cold pressed Styrian pumpkin seed oil, I recommend this one here.
What About the Face?
Raw, unrefined shea butter makes for one of the best vegan anti aging face moisturizers! Create a skin care routine for both morning and night, such as:
Morning
- Cleanse (make sure to use a gentle cleanser that won't strip your skin of natural oils, which could leave your skin more dry than before).
- Apply toner - this will help maintain your skin's pH balance.
- If you're looking for a toner for dry, sensitive skin try this one.
- If you have acne-prone and/or blemished skin, try this one.
- Apply vitamin C serum (an antioxidant that protects your skin from both sun damage and free radicals).
- Apply hyaluronic acid (draws moisture to skin, helps skin stretch and flex, reduces scarring, wrinkles and lines).
- Apply moisturizer (hydrates and seals in moisture, improving the skin barrier).
- Apply sunscreen (use a vegan sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or over)
Night
- Double-cleanse (use an oil-based product first to break down makeup and/or dirt from the day, then follow with a gentle cleanser).
- Apply toner
- Apply hyaluronic acid
- Apply moisturizer
- Apply retinol (triggers collagen and elastin production, works to prevent new wrinkles from forming, as well as smooths out wrinkles and fine lines that are already there).
- Eye treatment (it's important to keep under the eyes hydrated as the skin is thinner there and requires a little extra attention)
- Consider using a weekly face mask (works to hydrate and strengthen the skin barrier, they support collagen production which can smooth fine lines and wrinkles).
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Do We Offer Vegan Skin Care Products?
Yes! We at Gangsta Grease have some of the best vegan skin care products for aging skin, as well as other skin conditions such as dry skin, eczema, and psoriasis. Our products work to restore and renew the skin, giving it a youthful glow once more.
Not only do we offer vegan products, Gangsta Grease uses a base of raw shea butter and organic cold-pressed extra virgin coconut oil in most of our products. These ingredients have been proven to help with both skin dryness and itch as well as increasing collagen production which helps smooth out fine lines and wrinkles.
We have products that contain pumpkin seed oil (like this one, this one and this one), which work to reduce signs of aging such as reducing wrinkles and fine lines, and discoloration or hyperpigmentation. They help retain water in the skin and speed up skin healing.
Another ingredient that is excellent for aging skin includes sandalwood. You can find it in our products such as The Wood, which makes a great moisturizer for nightly skin care routines. Sandalwood contains antioxidants which have anti-aging effects. It also helps lower stress levels, as being under a lot of stress can worsen skin aging.
If you are sensitive to smells and prefer no added scent, we have an unscented whipped body butter that allows you to enjoy the unaltered nutty scent of raw, unrefined shea butter and the tropical scent of our organic cold pressed extra virgin coconut oil. This body butter is intensely moisturizing and skin loving, just like the others.
We hope you enjoyed this article and learned some new and valuable information.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions!
Leave us a comment letting us know whether you enjoyed the article or not! Until next time, Love Peace & Gangsta Grease 🖤✌🏾🧈