Why would a cosmetic contain animal ingredients? Some of them provide results that people believe in, or have a use that does not have a plant-based equivalent. Three common ingredients are:
Tallow
Tallow is animal fat, commonly of bovine or pork origin.
Does it work? Yes. Tallow derived ingredients actually will make your skin and hair feel better. Fatty acids and oils make excellent conditioning ingredients for both hair and skin products. But you can get these same fatty acids from plant oils like sunflower or soybean. The animal derived ingredients don’t provide much added benefit.
Keratin
Keratin is a structural protein found in mammals that makes up hair, nails and horns.
Human hair is composed of keratin.
Does it work? The cosmetic industry theory is you can replace the lost keratin in your hair with more protein, then damaged hair will be repaired. While protein in general has been shown to provide some benefit when applied to hair, keratin protein in particular is not more effective than some other protein source. More effective hair conditioning ingredients are silicones. Silicones, however, do not breakdown in the marine environment.
Collagen
Collagen is a protein and the main component of connective tissue. It is primarily used in anti-wrinkle creams. As the collagen in your skin naturally degrades over time due to environmental and age factors which results sagging, wrinkly skin. Collagen in your skin products is supposed to rejuvenate damaged collagen to firm up your skin and reduce the appearance of wrinkles. At best, collagen provides a temporary tightening of the skin.
Not all collagen is animal derived. There are plant derived alternatives. They are equally as ineffective.
Ingredient labeling laws in North America and Europe dictate the use of INCI (pronounced "inky") names for ingredients. This is the use of an internationally accepted list of latin or chemical names to avoid confusion with regional or colloquial names. If you want to avoid animal products in your products, look for these names in the partial listing below on their own or as part of the ingredient name. To avoid using animal ingredients, make sure the label states it is free from animal products.
Animal Origin Ingredients:
Adepts Bovis (obtained from tallow)
CI 77267 (bone charcoal) used as colourant
CI 77268:1 (black bone charcoal) used as colourant
Collagen
Elastin
Fish Oil
Gelatin
Hyaluronic Acid
Keratin
Mink Oil
Serum Albumin (from blood serum)
Sqauli lecur, Squalene and Pentahydrosqualene (from shark liver oil)
Tallow - look for variants containing the name "tallow" or "tallowate"
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