For those taking part, we’re roughly midway through Veganuary – an annual challenge which promotes veganism and encourages people to switch up their lifestyle for a month. For most people, this usually means switching up their diet. However, with vegan haircare and beauty products becoming more prominent, it presents the opportunity to alter your lifestyle in this area, too. However, apart from the fact that the products don’t contain any animal-derived ingredients, are there any benefits to vegan haircare? We sat down with Jake Nugent, OSMO Ambassador, to find out.
He explains: “In addition to the other benefits of being vegan, committing to vegan haircare products means you will be using products which are much less harsh on the hair. As vegan products contain mainly natural and organic ingredients, they are better at promoting hair health. Vegan products are great if you want longer, more moisturised hair, as plant-based ingredients tend to be extremely nourishing. Vegan products are also better for things such as scalp health, as the ingredients used don’t tend to clog pores.”
Similar to vegan food alternatives, vegan haircare alternatives are often surrounded by misconceptions. Jake shares: “I find a lot of people are sceptical of vegan products due to the common misconception that they aren’t moisturising enough. The truth, however, is the opposite. Vegan products often include ingredients such as argan oil, jojoba oil and aloe, which are intensely nourishing whilst also being plant based.”
With vegan haircare having clear benefits, you might decide to incorporate them more into your salon. However, there are various ways that you can approach this. Jake explains: “Unless a client is vegan, I don’t think it necessarily needs to be the main selling point. “I would definitely highlight it, however this would be to educate non-vegans on how good vegan products actually are. I would take this approach rather than using it as the main selling point, as you can run the risk of non-vegans thinking the product may not be for them – when vegan products are for everyone.”
Whether you and your clients are participating in Veganuary or not, it seems there are various benefits to making the switch over to vegan haircare year-round – enough so that the product being vegan need not be it’s only USP to your clients.
