It’s a new year and decade and with it comes some major beauty and hair news. Global hair and beauty juggernaut Aveda has announced that they are now 100 per cent vegan, adding to their brand identity as a high performance, plant powered hair care brand with a mission of care, and affecting all of their hair care, hair colour, body care, makeup and aroma products.
The brand has been cruelty free since its 1978 launch, and was largely vegan aside from some ingredients of honey, beeswax and beeswax-derived components. This new step takes them and their partner salons even further in their sustainability journey, ensuring their portfolio of over 500 products now contains no animal derived ingredients.
“Removing beeswax was one of the biggest challenges for Aveda formulators because it helps to create texture, structure, colour payoff, and smoothness,” explained Christine Hall, Aveda’s VP of Research and Development. “One common alternative to beeswax for lip products specifically is synthetic beeswax, a wax that is petroleum derived. However, at Aveda, because we are committed to maximising our use of naturally-derived ingredients, we opted instead to create a unique blend of plant-based butters and waxes that are strong enough for application, but also feel good on your lips.”
“We used an ingredient called beeswax absolute in some of our aromas. It is extracted from honeycomb or from cakes of beeswax. It provided a sweet, warm, complex note and helped increase its ‘staying power.’ We have worked hard to recreate these formulas using only non-animal derived ingredients to ensure that our iconic aromas would not be affected,” added Kate Rosso, Aveda’s Principle Perfumer.
The decision is decades in the making and rooted in the brand’s central ethos and founding mission of caring for the planet. It is the latest in a long list of Aveda’s historic sustainability victories.
“Behind the Aveda brand is a team of people that are passionate and energised by our mission to care for the world we live in, and our transition to 100 per cent vegan formulations is a testament to the hard work of this team as they embarked on reformulating and repackaging our products,” said Barbara De Laere, Aveda Global Brand President. “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 per cent 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.”
Aveda caters to 900 partner salons globally and 50,000 hairdressers, with a range of collections that offer both quality hair results and ethical products. Their headquarters are situated on a 58-acre campus in Blaine, Minnesota alongside honeybee colonies, an employee-curated vegetable garden, electric vehicle charging stations and running trails, where the land is National Wildlife Federation Certified with boundless wildlife. The office is powered by solar and wind energy, is carpeted with recycled fibres, has composting and recycling bins throughout the building and has an organic cafe on the first floor.
The new 100 per cent vegan decision follows the launch of the brand’s Carbon Offset Shipping program in September 2020, which offsets 100 per cent of carbon emissions generated by online shipping requirements, at no cost to the purchaser. Another recent initiative is Aveda’s new online Ingredient Glossary, which showcases key components of the brand’s formulas and where they’re sourced.
Just the next step in Aveda’s never-ending mission to truly help the world within beauty and hair, we welcome this new vegan certification and look forward to another year with Aveda.
For more visit www.aveda.com.au
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