Is Vaseline Vegan?
If Vaseline does not take you back to your childhood I don’t know what will. Any problem we had as kids in our skin the solution to it was Vaseline. Be it our cracked lips, dry flaky skin, or our dry heels. And sometimes we used to find the box of Vaseline and applied without any excuse at all.
Little did we know that these simple products that we use are tested on animals? Today we are about to put Vaseline under our scanner. We are going to find, is vaseline vegan and cruelty free or not.
Is Vaseline vegan?
To be vegan a product should not contain any animal or an animal-derived ingredient in it. What Vaseline is made of is the question for now. It’s a very simple product that only contains petroleum jelly. Petroleum jelly is a blend that has mineral oil and wax in it.
So this proves that Vaseline contains no animal product whatsoever. To be a vegan this is not enough. Because the vegan lifestyle does not believe in cruelty towards animals. That cruelty could be animal testing or other procedures. Only not containing animal-derived products does not make Vaseline a vegan-friendly product.
Does Vaseline test on animals?
Vaseline is a sub-brand of Unilever which has at least 40 brands under them. Unilever has stated that they do not believe in animal cruelty. But they are continuing to do so because some of the countries they sell their products have regulations to do animal testing first. Vaseline is not on the list of 6 among 40 brands of Unilever that is called cruelty free. They test Vaseline on animals.
That is maybe because of a lack of inclusivity from PETA who made the list. Or maybe their suppliers are involved in animal testing. Vaseline is imported to china and that can be a reason as well because china strictly wants animal testing to be done. So
Is Vaseline bad for the environment?
The petroleum-based ingredients worry us who care about the environment. But we simply cannot stop the consummation of fossil-based mineral oils and limit what we can buy in the market. Because we cannot stop driving the car as it uses fuels like petrol or gasoline. Yes, we sure should strive towards limiting the consumption but we simply can’t stop it.
Are there alternatives for Vaseline?
There are always alternatives to everything. If you are used to using petroleum jelly all your life here are some alternatives that you can go for. These brands are all 100% vegan and cruelty-free.
- Sun Bum with SPF 30:
This one is more beneficial than the Vaseline one. Because it contains SPF. It will protect your lips from sunburn. And SPF in the vegan product is rare to find.
- Eco lips:
It contains sunflower seed oil, cocoa butter, and coconut oil that you can use as a lip balm. Petroleum jelly is not so great for the lips or when it goes to your tummy after you lick your lips. So you should use all the beneficial oil containing lip balms that make your lip better.
- Plum:
If you will miss Vaseline as your foot cream then just get this plum Choco latte foot cream. It contains cocoa butter, shea butter, and glycolic acid. The glycolic acid will scrub away the dead cells and the butter will repair your foot.
Natural alternatives for Vaseline
Vaseline is pretty cheap, to be honest. You may not afford or not willing to invest so much on a vegan product that costs so much. There are so many natural alternatives that we can start using.
Cocoa or shea butter is one of them that is so much better for cracked lips or dry skin. You can also use cold-pressed coconut oil or aloe Vera. Make sure you are not allergic to aloe Vera before you apply it.
Final thoughts:
There is no proof that Vaseline does animal testing or uses any animal-derived product in them. It does not even have much environmental effect. But because of the ambiguity from the PETA or the brand itself, vegans are not sure about it.
From the technical stand, we can call Vaseline vegan. But for some ambiguity, it’s not vegan because of some other stuff. Nonetheless, If you decide to use Vaseline that does not make any less vegan.
Also Read:
Never thought about if Vaseline vegan or not. By the way, thanks for the good read.