18 produits d’origine animale auxquels vous ne vous attendiez pas dans vos produits de beauté. 

Do you know what’s actual­ly in your cos­me­tics? Ani­mal-deri­ved ingre­dients and by-pro­ducts, such as cru­shed insects, shark liver oil, or fish scales, are pro­ba­bly not what you ima­gine when you glance at the ingre­dient list of your red lips­tick, anti-wrinkle eye cream, or glit­te­ry nail polish. Howe­ver, these ani­mal-based com­po­nents are often used in cos­me­tics, skin­care, and hair pro­ducts to achieve spe­ci­fic tex­tures or serve par­ti­cu­lar functions.

For consu­mers loo­king to make more conscious choices, vegan cos­me­tics offer an alter­na­tive that can be bet­ter for both the envi­ron­ment and your body.

In this article, we guide you through some of these ani­mal-deri­ved ingre­dients, hel­ping you become more aware of what’s actual­ly in the pro­ducts you use.

Animal ingredients

Although ani­mal ingre­dients are often clas­si­fied as natu­ral­ly deri­ved and deri­ved in a way that does not harm ani­mals, there are mini­mal ani­mal wel­fare mea­sures cur­rent­ly in place in the cos­me­tics indus­try.
On one hand, ani­mal-deri­ved ingre­dients are often prai­sed for their effec­ti­ve­ness and unique pro­per­ties, offe­ring high per­for­mance in skin and hair care. They can pro­vide natu­ral nou­rish­ment and rege­ne­ra­tive bene­fits that syn­the­tic alter­na­tives may not always repli­cate.
Howe­ver, the down­sides are signi­fi­cant. Ethi­cal concerns sur­roun­ding the exploi­ta­tion of ani­mals, the envi­ron­men­tal impact of sour­cing these ingre­dients, and poten­tial aller­ge­nic risks pose chal­lenges. Addi­tio­nal­ly, the lack of trans­pa­ren­cy in label­ling often makes it dif­fi­cult for consu­mers to make infor­med choices.

Bee pro­ducts

1. Bees­wax is secre­ted by bees to build their honey­combs, which is where they breed lar­vae and store their pol­len. Bees­wax is used in cos­me­tics as an emol­lient, emul­si­fier and film for­ming agent.
Honey is pro­du­ced by the bees from the nec­tar on flo­wers, and is sto­red in their honey­combs. Honey is used in cos­me­tics as a seda­tive, mois­tu­ri­ser and humectant.

2. Pro­po­lis, also cal­led bee glue, is a mix­ture of tree resin and bees’ diges­tive juices. Pro­po­lis is used in cos­me­tics as an anti­se­bor­rheic, mois­tu­ri­ser, smoo­thing agent, and as an anti­mi­cro­bial agent in too­th­paste, sham­poos, deo­do­rants, etc.

3. Bee pol­len is col­lec­ted by bees and used to feed their lar­vae. Humans col­lect it using pol­len traps. The bee pol­len is then used in cos­me­tics as a skin condi­tio­ner just like royal jel­ly which is excre­ted by the wor­ker bees’ glands.

Ani­mal pro­teins and vitamins

There are many dif­ferent pro­teins and vita­mins found in cosmetics.

4. Kera­tin is a pro­tein found in various ver­te­brates’ horns, hooves, claws, nails, hair, scales, and fea­thers. Kera­tin is used in cos­me­tics as a hair and skin conditioner.

5. Col­la­gen is found in the connec­tive tis­sue of ani­mals, and is extrac­ted from bones, teeth, skin and car­ti­lage. It is used as an active ingre­dient against wrinkles and as a wet­ting agent in cos­me­tics. Pro­ces­sed col­la­gen is also used as a cos­me­tic ingre­dient, par­ti­cu­lar­ly col­la­gen ami­no acids, and hydro­ly­sed col­la­gen and its deri­va­tives. Col­la­gen is also used in cos­me­tic sur­ge­ry for anti-wrinkle injections.

6. Elas­tin is a fibrous pro­tein present in the connec­tive tis­sue of ani­mals, and used as a skin conditioner.

7. Bio­tin is a soluble vita­min that plays an impor­tant role in cell growth and meta­bo­lism. It is used as a hair and skin condi­tio­ner in sham­poos and cos­me­tic creams.

Silk

8. Silk forms when the natu­ral excre­tions of cater­pillars come into contact with air. Unfor­tu­na­te­ly, for that to hap­pen, the cater­pillars have to be boi­led alive in their cocoons. The silk ami­no acids are then extrac­ted from the raw silk, and used as an addi­tive in skin and hair care pro­ducts due to its high serine content which has excellent mois­ture-pro­tec­ting pro­per­ties. Silk glue, hydro­ly­zed silk and silk pow­der are all used as smoo­thing agents in cos­me­tics and hair conditioners.

Pearls

9. Mother-of-pearl is the inside lining of mol­lusk shells. A pearl is a round depo­sit of mother-of-pearl which forms in these shells under cer­tain condi­tions. Pearls form natu­ral­ly but to satis­fy indus­trial demands, the pro­cess of arti­fi­cial­ly pro­vo­king these condi­tions has deve­lo­ped. 
​“Cultu­red” pearls are crea­ted by inser­ting an irri­tant into the shell which causes it to pro­duce mother-of-pearl to defend itself against the irri­tant. Over half of shells howe­ver do not sur­vive this ordeal. A hydro­ly­zed pearl (i.e. che­mi­cal­ly modi­fied mother-of-pearl pow­der) is used as a skin condi­tio­ner in cos­me­tics as it helps improve the appea­rance of the skin.

Fish and marine animals

10. Squa­lene can ori­gi­nate from either ani­mals, or vege­tables. It occurs natu­ral­ly in fish liver oil, such as shark liver oil, but also in many vege­table oils, such as olive oil… It is an emol­lient for hair condi­tio­ners and a wrinkle filler in cosmetics.

11. Gua­nine can be extrac­ted from fish scales, but it can also be syn­the­si­zed. On an indus­trial scale, Gua­nine is made from the scales and skin of fish, but it can also be extrac­ted from uric acid (a com­ponent of urine). It is used as a colou­ring agent in cos­me­tics such as sham­poos, nail polish and eyeshadow.

12. Glu­co­sa­mine occurs natu­ral­ly in the exos­ke­le­tons of insects and crus­ta­ceans. It is also indus­trial­ly extrac­ted from the shells of crabs and shrimps. It is an ingre­dient in hair and skin conditioners.

13. Chon­droi­tin is extrac­ted from the connec­tive tis­sue of ani­mals. It is an impor­tant com­ponent of ani­mal car­ti­lage, and is used in hair and skin conditioners.

Cow’s milk

14. Lac­to­fer­rin and lac­tose are com­po­nents of milk. Cows are arti­fi­cial­ly inse­mi­na­ted to pro­duce more milk. The calves are remo­ved from them and used for human consump­tion. Lac­to­fer­rin is an iron bin­ding pro­tein and is used in skin and hair condi­tio­ners. Lac­tose is used as a humec­tant and in skin condi­tio­ner. Che­mi­cal­ly-alte­red pro­teins are also used in conditioners.

Insects and mollusks

15. Slug mucus is col­lec­ted from live snails on farms and pro­ces­sed for use as a cos­me­tic ingre­dient. Slug mucus sup­po­sed­ly improves skin elas­ti­ci­ty and helps with the hea­ling of scars.

16. Car­mine is a red dye made from scale insects. Over 150 000 insects are nee­ded for 1kg of dye… It is used in lips­tick, lip gloss and foods.

17. Shel­lac is dark brown resin made from the secre­tions of lac bugs. This resin is col­lec­ted from the branches where the bugs live, killing many of them in the pro­cess. It is used most famous­ly in nail polish, but is also used in sof­te­ning agents, film for­ming agents, vis­co­si­ty regu­la­ting agents and hair fixatives.

Sheep

18. Lano­lin is secre­ted by sheep’s seba­ceous glands, and is extrac­ted by washing the shea­red wool in hot water. Lano­lin is used in cos­me­tics as an anti­sta­tic, emol­lient, hair and skin condi­tio­ner, sur­fac­tant and carrier.

Rea­dy to embrace a more conscious beau­ty rou­tine? Vegan cos­me­tics let you prio­ri­tise ethics without com­pro­mi­sing on results. Take your more sus­tai­nable jour­ney fur­ther and explore vegan skin­care pro­ducts that ali­gn with your values through the COSH! shop­ping guide.

Rea­dy to explore fur­ther? Dis­co­ver conscious skin care and cos­me­tics for dif­ferent skin types, unco­ver the truth behind your shi­ny make-up and learn more about the ABCs of cos­me­tic ingre­dients for a gree­ner vani­ty.