What Is Veganuary?

Never heard of Veganuary? Don’t worry, you’re in the right spot. Here's a breakdown of everything you need to know about this vegan movement and how to create a super-powered routine to join the plant-based revolution.

Veganuary (/viːˈɡæn.ju.er.i/ ) started as a non-profit organization founded in the UK back in 2014 to encourage people to follow a 100 percent vegan lifestyle for the month of January. This annual challenge has grown rapidly over the years, impacting thousands of people and brands who commit every year to embracing and promoting a vegan lifestyle.

What are the benefits of vegan cosmetics?

Some of the benefits of vegan cosmetics are their effects on your skin. Vegan cosmetics are made with plant-based ingredients and essential oils, which are rich in antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins that nourish your skin and keep it happy and healthy.

At Lush, we are committed to 100 percent of our all year round product range being vegetarian and more products being added all the time.

When shopping for vegan cosmetics, it's not about the length of the ingredient list but the quality and sources of the ingredients themselves. We always aim and advocate for total transparency when it comes to the ingredients we use and how we source them. You'll notice that our labels show natural ingredients in green and synthetics in black for every packaged product. And you can always refer to our website to learn more about our buying stories. If you're shopping with us, look for the V logo on our product labels. Or if you’re shopping online, use the filter for "vegan" and you'll get a list of only 100 percent vegan products.

We’re going lanolin-free!

Lanolin is a waxy substance naturally secreted by sheep to protect their skin, and it’s similar to our own skin's natural oil (called sebum). After shearing, sheep fleeces are washed out with solvent to make the wool suitable for use. Lanolin is recovered during that process and widely sold for use in cosmetics.

Over the years, we have searched for and found good, fully traceable, clipping-free sources with high animal welfare standards. However, this ingredient is still obtained through animal farming and, as part of our commitment to leave the world lusher than we found it, we kept looking for vegan alternatives. After many trials, our inventors found that orange peel wax and cupuaçu butter were satisfying, plant-based alternatives with very similar benefits for the skin and hair.

We're happy to announce that nine products previously containing lanolin are now being made with some of these alternatives—including the fan-favorite American Cream Conditioner and Lemony Flutter—and for five of them, we’ve succeeded in making them 100 percent vegan like Ocean Salt and Pink Peppermint.

This rich and lanolin-free conditioner is packed with strengthening soy milk and olive oil for soft, sleek hair.

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More vegan alternatives we love

The plant world really is abundant in ingredients that benefit your skin. There are so many vegan alternatives we love and use in our products that have the same (or better) results, making them super-powered.

We've been learning so much through this journey of removing unnecessary animal-derived ingredients from our products. It's been a challenging but positive experience to research, go back to the kitchen and test them out. And it allows us to remove raw materials individually and replace them with vegan alternatives that provide the same benefit without affecting the formulas.

In 2019, we succeeded in removing eggs from all of our products and began using innovative animal-free alternatives like aquafaba, Bentonite powder, hydrolyzed wheat protein, silken tofu and soy yogurt.

We’re always looking for new and creative ways to make our products plant-based. In the last couple of years, we’ve reformulated many beloved products. And today we can proudly say that 95 percent of our year-round range is vegan.

Have we piqued your vegan beauty curiosity? Check out our vegan skincare guide and explore some of our bestsellers like Ultraplant, made with just six simple ingredients, along with our whole range of vegan face masks to find one that suits your skin’s needs.

Ready to start your vegan journey? We’re here to help. You can shop our entire vegan range on our website or app, or stop by any of our stores to chat with a member of our team and they’ll be happy to guide you.