Are All Plant-Derived Ingredients Truly Vegan cosmetics?
In the late 2000s, a major company released a fermented cosmetics product called S Cosmetics, which became popular. However, its unique scent and consumer base mainly consisting of older women caused its popularity to gradually decline.
Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in fermented cosmetics, targeting a younger consumer base. Moreover, the fact that the fermentation ingredients, known to be good for the skin, are vegan has captured the needs of today’s young consumers who pursue valuable consumption.
But, is every fermentation ingredient truly vegan?
When looking at the ingredient names of fermentation products, such as Lactobacillus ferment, black tea ferment filtrate, and rice ferment filtrate, they seem to be plant-derived ingredients.
However, when trying to produce vegan products, it’s often found that they don’t meet vegan standards.
Why is that?
Even if the cosmetic ingredients are extracted from fermented plants, it is common for animal-derived ingredients like whey protein and gelatin to be used in the fermentation process. With the trend towards veganism, many plant-based replacements and vegan-certified ingredients have been introduced, but the use of these animal-derived ingredients is still prevalent.
Why are ingredients like whey protein and gelatin used?
In case of whey Protein, It is a high-quality protein source that supports the growth and metabolic activities of microorganisms during fermentation. Additionally, whey protein can break down into functional peptides, which can enhance the functionality of the fermented extract.
And gelatin, It helps control the viscosity of the fermentation medium, ensuring smooth fermentation. Gelatin also provides a protein source for microorganisms and helps improve the physical stability of the final fermented product.
If many fermented extracts themselves do not achieve vegan certification, how are vegan fermented cosmetics produced?
It can be done by using a vegan fermentation method. Instead of whey protein, plant-derived proteins like pea protein and rice protein can be used, and pectin can replace gelatin.
Since vegan cosmetics not only avoid using animal-derived ingredients but also ensure that no animal-derived ingredients are used during the manufacturing process, careful inspection of these processes is necessary to obtain vegan certification.
Therefore, if you are interested in genuine vegan cosmetics, it is important not to be swayed by the keyword ‘fermentation’ alone but to thoroughly check the product’s ingredient list.
Now is the era where ethical consumption becomes self-beneficial consumption! Do you want to create cosmetics for consumers who appreciate such values? Contact the vegan specialist OEM ODM company WITH.C KOREA.