Vegan Male Grooming

Wednesday (1st November) was World Vegan Day and also saw the start of World Vegan Month and so I thought I would kick off this month with a post about my male grooming kit (it is Movember after all too). It sounds tenuous but please bear with me…

I work extensively for an international broadcast company on their (often high profile) sports coverage and over the summer one of my regular TV sporting faces made the decision to become Vegan (not the one I’m making up in the image above). As an ex-footballer he is remarkable shape (although I’m sure he would argue nowhere near as much as he was when he played) and has great skin (and fabulous hair) but part of the motivation for the decision was health related.

Over the past few months we have discussed Veganism at great length (I am not Vegan but as a twenty five+ years vegetarian I can understand his motivation) and in amongst the extensive dietary and ethics chat and receive swapping (we natter a lot), one thing that came to light. Until I raised the issue, he hadn’t considered the use of animal derived ingredients in beauty products. I offered to use only vegan products on him from that point onwards, to which he agreed (although I think my offer consequently set off concerns as to the potential animal content in the products he uses at home!).

My male grooming kit contains predominately natural and organic products (about 90% at a rough guess), however I am not particularly vegan focused when choosing products for my kit as I tend to choose products based on their effectiveness at doing the job I need them to do rather than their vegan-friendly-ness (not that I’m saying vegan products aren’t effective before anyone misunderstands my statement), so despite my offer I did have to do a mental check of the products I currently have and check some ingredients lists!

So what am I using?

Kicking off with mattifying primer, I use Zao’s Sublim’Soft (post coming soon) which gives a lovely smooth finish and gives the appearance of minimised pores (you can’t actually reduce their size!) as well as reducing shine. It can be worn over or under make-up so is perfect on onset touch-ups!

Cream foundations are my base of choice and prior to his new found Veganism I had used Kjaer Weis Foundation as his base however this contains Beeswax, so for the time being I have swapped it out for either Jane Iredale Pure Pressed Foundation or the non-natural but vegan friendly Louise Young Smooth Powder foundation.

I do have a selection of the Zao Compact Foundation (post on these coming soon) in my kit however in the darker shades so may invest in some lighter shades when I next place an order but I have a couple of other (vegan) bases which are in the testing stage so this may well change in the coming months.

I nearly always use Nvey Eco Nourishing Bronzer on male clients however this does contain glycerin which can be plant or animal derived. It is unclear from the website and packaging where the glycerine is derived from however Nvey Eco is listed on the Logical Harmony cruelty free list and I have contacted the company for further information.

Jane Iredale Beyond Matte HD Powder is my pressed powder of choice and this is vegan so no worries here. Ditto with the skincare products I use to remove products once we go off air; Madara Micellar Water is the product of choice amongst my sports boys (that or wipes!) – for some reason they are not fans of the traditional cleansing lotion. This alongside the moisturiser, which flits between various brands including Pai and Green People (depending on what I have to hand), are also fine for vegans.

All is good so far, however concealer is where I am struggling and where currently we are having to compromise (by mutual consent) on the Viseart Concealer Palettes which do contain Beeswax (but are free from many of the nasties I usually avoid). Finding natural or organic concealers which work for me is an ongoing struggle when it comes to my pro kit. Not only does it have to actually conceal but it has to look good on screen in 4K. None of the concealers I have in my kit at this time are formulated for vegans however I am in the process of trying out a couple of vegan options, so hang fire for an update on this.

 

Do you have any favourite vegan products?

 

Images: LJS – OMUA