So, you’ve decided to go Vegan. You’ve found delicious Vegan recipes to experiment with, figured out what materials to avoid when clothes shopping, and have spent time researching the minerals, vitamins and fatty acids that you need to incorporate into your daily diet. But, what about your beauty routine?
To help you create a Vegan-friendly beauty care routine, here’s our guide to the best foods for healthy skin, hair and nail growth and our top tips for shopping for animal and cruelty-free toiletries.
How to Keep Your Skin, Hair and Nails Healthy With a Vegan Diet
Whenever you make changes to your diet, it’s essential to ensure that you are still getting enough of the vitamins, minerals and fatty acids that your body needs. Luckily, balanced Vegan diets offer many incredible health benefits!
For Healthy Skin…
Everyone wants glowing skin, but you don’t need to fork out on expensive serums and moisturisers to keep your skin looking bright and clear. You also don’t need to rely on animal products like oily fish.
You just need to pack your diet full of the minerals, vitamins and acids needed for cell generation and hydration! For soft and supple skin, make sure your diet is rich in:
● Omega-3 fatty acids from walnuts, soybeans, flax seeds and algae;
● Zinc from chickpeas, cashews and almonds;
● Vitamin C from citrus fruits, broccoli and strawberries.
Don’t forget to drink plenty of water when switching to a plant-based lifestyle. Vegetable-heavy Vegan diets are high in fibre, so it’s important to up your daily water intake to aid digestion and prevent gut-related skin issues.
For Healthy Hair…
The vitamins and minerals associated with hair growth also play vital roles in many other bodily functions, so eating a balanced diet will offer more than just glossy locks!
To keep your hair looking full and shiny and to promote hair growth, make sure you’re eating plenty of:
● Protein, from tofu, tempeh and quinoa;
● Omega-3 fatty acids from kidney beans, linseed and canola oil;
● Biotin from sweet potatoes and sunflower seeds;
● Vitamin E from avocados and almonds.
It’s also important to make sure you are getting enough iron, as iron-deficiency anaemia can cause hair loss. To learn more about Vegan-friendly sources of this essential mineral, check out What Vegans Need to Know About Iron.
For Healthy Nails…
Consuming the recommended dose of 700mg of calcium every day is particularly important for strong nails, as this keratin-strengthening mineral can prevent your nails from becoming brittle. Vegan-friendly sources of calcium include fortified plant milks, fortified dairy-free yoghurt and calcium-set tofu.
In addition to calcium, other nail-boosting minerals include:
● Iron from lentils, quinoa, kale and pumpkin seeds;
● Vitamin C from peppers, cabbages and kiwis.
There are lots of products on the market designed to keep your nails strong (e.g. supplements, creams and oils), but as with your hair and skin, making great dietary choices is often the best thing you can do for the health of your nails.
How to Find Vegan-Friendly Beauty Products
Shopping for Vegan-friendly beauty products doesn’t have to be difficult; it just requires some label checking! There are lots of amazing Vegan beauty brands sold in mainstream shops and independent retailers, so you won’t need to give up your beauty routine any time soon.
You can also check out our Vegan Directory for some of our favourite brands!
When shopping for toiletries and makeup, there are two things you need to check. Firstly, make sure the products don’t contain animal-derived ingredients. Then, double-check that they haven't been tested on animals.
A product may have a Vegan ingredients list, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been developed using cruel animal testing methods - and vice versa. For a product to be truly Vegan, it must be free from both animal products and experimentation.
If you’re not sure whether a product is 100% cruelty-free, look out for a Vegan approved logo. This is the easiest way to check that a product is free from both animal-derived products and testing.
If a product isn’t labelled, read the ingredients list and look out for collagen, keratin, carmine, guanine, beeswax, lanolin or squalene. These are used in everything from lipsticks to eyeshadows and are extracted from animal tissue, hair, scales, horns and bones.
Conclusion: Vegan Beauty
In conclusion, creating a Vegan-friendly beauty routine is a natural extension of embracing a plant-based lifestyle. This blog offers a comprehensive guide to the foods that keep your skin, hair and nails healthy and looking their best, as well as practical tips for finding Vegan-friendly beauty products. Eating a balanced Vegan diet that's rich in minerals, vitamins and acids can provide several health benefits, such as promoting hair growth, skin hydration and supporting keratin-strengthening nails. When shopping for beauty products, it's essential to check the labels; products must be free from both animal-derived ingredients and animal testing to be considered truly Vegan and cruelty-free. With these tips and strategies, you can create a sustainable beauty routine that aligns with your values.
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