Aveda goes 100% vegan

Aveda is out of the starting blocks for a new year, new beginnings, new goals. This plant-powered, sustainable haircare brand with a mission of delivering ethical hair care announces a new milestone in its journey; all Aveda haircare, hair colour, bodycare, make-up and aroma products are now 100% vegan. The Aveda portfolio of more than 500 products contains no animal-derived ingredients from the 1st of January 2021.

Of course, Aveda has been cruelty-free since the brand was founded in 1978 and was largely vegan with the exception of some products that contained honey, beeswax and beeswax-derived ingredients. Today, all products, globally, available on Aveda.com, in Aveda partner salons and in Aveda Experience Centres are now 100% vegan! This is quite a coup and worth investigating. A move to more sustainable, responsible and ethical products is demanded by the global market; it’s what your clients are thinking about.

Eliminating animal ingredients

Vegan products are defined as those that are created without any animal or animal-derived ingredients. The red flags to look for when identifying animal-derived ingredients in beauty include beeswax and honey, as well as silk, keratin, glycerine, non-vegetal squalene, lanolin, collagen and carmine. Although Aveda only used honey and beeswax-derived ingredients in a limited number of products, it was no easy task to remove them.

“Removing beeswax was one of the biggest challenges for Aveda formulators because it helps to create texture, structure, colour payoff, and smoothness,” explains Christine Hall, Aveda’s VP of Research and Development. ”We opted to create a unique blend of plant-based butters and waxes that are strong enough for application, but also feel good. We have worked hard to recreate these formulas using only non-animal derived ingredients to ensure that our iconic aromas would not be affected.”

Aveda Global Brand President, Barbara De Laere says: “Behind the Aveda brand is a team of people that are passionate and energized by our mission to care for the world we live in, and our transition to 100% vegan formulations is a testament to the hard work of this team as they embarked on reformulating and repackaging our products. This work has been in progress for more than three years and it is a big milestone for us: it is part of our brand promise to create high-performance products that are 90% naturally-derived (on average) and formulated with our mission of sustainability in mind. We believe in no-compromise formulas at Aveda: there is no reason why we can’t have sustainable, animal-friendly products that work for all hair types and textures!”

A brand with a vision

Going 100% vegan is not the only thing Aveda is proud of. In accordance with the brand’s mission to care for the world we live in, they have pioneered new benchmarks of environmental responsibility in beauty for decades. Here’s a reminder:

• Aveda was the first company to sign the Ceres Principles for corporate responsibility in 1989, which calls for the safeguarding of the Earth and its inhabitants; this commitment remains strong today
• In September 2020, Aveda launched its Carbon Offset Shipping program, which offsets 100% of carbon emissions generated by shipping products purchased online and  shipped to U.S. guests at no cost to the guest
• The brand launched the  Ingredient Glossary  which details what the brand’s key ingredients do and what they are sourced from
• Aveda’s headquarters are situated on a 58-acre campus in Blaine, Minnesota alongside honeybee colonies, an employee-curated vegetable garden, electric vehicle charging stations and miles of running trails. The land is National Wildlife Federation Certified, and employees enjoy frequent sightings of a variety of wildlife. The main office is powered by solar and wind energy. The solar panels collect sunlight throughout the day, converting the light into electricity and supplying it to the manufacturing facility on campus, sending excess energy back to the grid. The new array is part of the brand’s vision to be a renewable energy generator.

High performance ranges

With more than 9,000 partner salons around the globe, there are 50,000 artists – and their clients – that depend on the performance of Aveda’s hair care, hair colour and hair styling products. In addition to being cruelty-free, vegan and 90% naturally derived on average, the products deliver the most competitive results for all hair types and textures.

• Botanical repair: a high-performing, vegan, 93% naturally derived range of both retail and professional products powered by an innovative 3-layer hair repair technology that transforms hair with the power of plants. Plant-powered molecules help repair hair by multiplying bonds critical to reinforcing hair’s strength and integrity.
• Nutriplenish: Aveda’s Nutriplenish collection is an advanced hydration system from Aveda that offers high-performance, nutrient-powered hydration through our Superfood Complex. Silicone-free, vegan, cruelty-free and 94% naturally derived, specifically formulated to address hydration needs for all hair types and textures providing hours of nutrient-powered hydration.
• Invati Advanced: the Invati Advanced system strengthens and instantly thickens hair, reducing hair loss by 53%. This system features a powerful blend of Ayurvedic herbs including ginseng and certified organic turmeric that help invigorate the scalp when massaged in, and certified organic amla instantly thickens the hair from roots to ends.

Great to see brands taking it further and adapting to a constant demand for sustainable and ethical options. This is only the beginning of a new era, a more conscious one, as it’s the only way to conserve biodiversity and maintain our ecosystems. We hope to see more following their example.