{"id":57076,"date":"2025-04-30T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thegreenlist.nl\/?p=57076"},"modified":"2025-11-26T18:01:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T17:01:44","slug":"vegan-perfume-why-not-all-colognes-are-vegan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thegreenlist.nl\/en\/vegan-parfum-waarom-niet-alle-luchtjes-vegan-zijn\/","title":{"rendered":"Vegan perfume? Why not all colognes are vegan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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You might not immediately think about it when you spray on such a nice fragrance, but perfume is not always vegan. In the past, animal ingredients were often used, such as secretions from beavers, sperm whales and deer. Now that is thankfully less, but animal ingredients in perfume still occur. So yes, if you are a staunch vegan, that is something to watch out for. And by the way, even if you are not: why does a perfume contain animal ingredients? It's not necessary at all! And the tricky thing is that perfume brands don't have to reveal their secret recipe. So you often can't just check whether a fragrance is completely vegan. So we asked ourselves: how do you recognise vegan perfume?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Animal ingredients in perfume<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

OK, so what exactly about those animal ingredients in perfume? Anyone with a weak stomach may skip this paragraph and read straight on to the next one, because this is going to be an unpalatable story. Musk, for example, used to be a popular ingredient in perfume. Musk comes from the scent glands in the belly of the male musk deer, and to obtain it, the animals had to be killed. Fortunately, animal musk has now been banned and replaced by synthetic variants. But there are still other animal ingredients that may be used in perfumes and which - we think - are just as animal-unfriendly and unpalatable. One example is castoreum, a substance extracted from glands near the genitals of beavers, for which they are also killed. Pathetic, right! So Vegan perfume is no luxury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you find vegan perfume?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So it used to be quite normal to use animal ingredients in perfume. Fortunately, more and more brands are showing that this is not necessary at all. But how do you recognise a vegan perfume? Much of the ingredients are often kept secret, but we can look at labels. Think of the well-known PETA-Approved Vegan<\/a>-logo, the green-and-white sunflower of The Vegan Society<\/a>, the yellow-green V-Label<\/a> or the black heart of vegan.org<\/a>. That way, you can be sure you have a vegan fragrance on your hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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More and more perfume brands are proving that you can smell great even without animal ingredients. They make perfumes from plants and flowers. Note: a vegan perfume is not necessarily automatically better for the environment. It depends on how the plants are grown, for example. Was it done organically, without artificial fertilisers and pesticides? Or maybe extracts from waste streams have been used. If so, you're in the right place!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why there is a difference between vegan and cruelty-free<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Now you may be thinking: \u2018If I choose a vegan perfume, I have also made a choice that is completely free of animal suffering\u2019. Unfortunately, this is not always true. After all, there is a difference between vegan<\/strong> and cruelty-free<\/strong>. If you really want to make an animal-friendly choice, then you should pay attention to both and choose a perfume with a vegan or cruelty-free label. Coming up next!<\/p>\n\n\n\n