Photo Credit: Brighter Darling
Vegan vs Cruelty-Free
While “vegan” and “cruelty-free” are often used interchangeability by beauty brands and consumers, they actually mean two different things. With all lifestyle brand and product analyses we produce at Veg Knowledge, we use the same definitions for vegan and cruelty-free. These definitions are:
“Vegan” products are those that contain no animal-derived ingredients.
“Cruelty-Free” products are those that no animal testing occurs on the product or any of its ingredients.
Therefore, it is possible that a product could be “vegan” but not “cruelty-free” if the product contains no animal-based ingredients, but it is tested on animals due to a certain country’s regulations.
We choose to use these definitions in our analyses because they are often the definitions used by those in the beauty industry. In our option, it is hard to justify that a product is cruelty-free if it includes animal-based products, but this is how the beauty industry labels their products. If you’d like a full breakdown on this topic, check out the Ethical Elephant’s article.
Is Olay Vegan?
Unfortunately, there is very little regarding the sources of Olay’s ingredients online. Our best option was to see if their primary ingredients come from animal or plant-based sources. Olay lists its primary ingredients here.
Only one of the ingredients Olay lists (Glycerin), states that it is sourced from plants. For the rest of the ingredients we had to compare them to known vegan ingredient resource guides. These resources includes Peta’s Animal-Derived Ingredients List, VRG’s Questions About Ingredients, and EM-J’s Common Vegan & Not Vegan Ingredients List. While most of Olay’s ingredients have both plant or animal sources, the vast majority are usually derived from plants except one. Olay lists “Retinol” as its source of Vitamin A. According to Peta, “Retinol is Animal-derived vitamin A.” Also, according to EM-J, “A Vegan version (is) available but (Retinol) is almost always derived from an animal.”
Since Retinol appears in almost all of their products, Olay is NOT vegan.
Both Knoji and a forum on veggieboards.com confirms that Olay is not vegan-friendly.
Is Olay Cruelty-Free?
Olay and its parent company P&G have posted multiple articles online regarding Olay’s animal testing. The first article is titled “5 Facts About Olay’s Push for Cruelty-Free Skin Care in the Industry.” The five facts they list are copied below.
(1) Olay is calling for an end to animal testing in skin care and the beauty industry, and we do not test our products on animals.
(2) Olay tests its products on “lab skin.” This Olay invention has the same physical properties as natural skin but is created wholly in a lab setting from non-animal materials. Testing on lab skin helps ensure our products work as intended and are safe to use.
(3) Olay’s parent company, P&G, has devoted a total of $410 million – more than any other beauty company – to develop cruelty-free alternatives. Additionally, we have given beauty and other companies free access to our patents – such as invitro “lab skin” – so that other skin care brands and the industry-at-large can end animal testing and move toward cruelty-free skin care.
(4) Olay does not ask suppliers to test products on animals. We believe that animal tests are not necessary in skin care, and we partner with our suppliers to provide them with cruelty-free skin care methods for safety testing.
(5) Olay is working closely with governments around the world to provide alternative methods to eliminate testing on animals, enabling cruelty-free skin care in the beauty industry. For example, in a few countries, governments mandate animal tests. We are strongly encouraging these governments to use alternative methods to end animal tests in the industry.
Proctor & Gamble’s consumer support group also has a FAQ on Olay’s testing. This has once again been copied below.
Q: Does Olay test on animals?
We do not test Olay products on animals and we are calling for an end to animal testing in skin care and the beauty industry.
Olay is working closely with governments around the world to provide alternative research methods to eliminate testing on animals, enabling cruelty-free skin care in the beauty industry. For example, in a few countries where Olay is sold, governments still mandate animal tests.
In those cases, Olay can be required by law to submit our products to labs where we know animal tests are happening. This is why we do not claim cruelty-free on our packaging. We do not believe these tests are necessary to evaluate safety or performance. But today, they won’t accept alternative non-animal testing methods. We remain steadfast and will continue to advocate for alternative methods to end animal tests in the industry.
Olay also supports the Humane Society International’s #BeCrueltyFree campaign to ban animal testing for cosmetics in all major global beauty markets by 2023. You can read more about this important work here.
While Olay is a little vague in their “facts” about animal testing, Proctor & Gamble’s consumer support group flat out tells us that governments mandate animal tests in a few countries where Olay is sold (including China). They go on to state that they “do not claim cruelty-free on (their) packaging” for this very reason. While it is respectable for Olay to use invitro “lab skin” for testing where possible, the fact that they sell in countries that mandate animal testing is unacceptable.
Therefore, Olay is NOT cruelty-free because they are subject to animal testing in a few countries where their product is sold.
Olay’s non-cruelty-free status is confirmed by Peta and the lack of the Leaping Bunny certification.
Proctor & Gamble's Animal Testing Stance
It is important to note in this article that Olay’s parent company, Proctor & Gamble, supports a worldwide ban on cosmetic animal testing. As such they are supporting the Humane Society International’s #BeCrueltyFree campaign. Proctor & Gamble is also a leader in developing non-animal test methods for beauty products. In recent times they have developed a alternatives to eye testing and skin allergy testing with cell cultures. With Proctor & Gamble‘s work in this area, we might see animal testing in the beauty industry end in the coming years.
Vegan and Cruelty-Free Olay Skin Care Alternatives
Below is a list of skin care alternatives to Olay to ensure your products remain both Vegan and Cruelty-Free.
According to Teena Skincare, their CLAR-I-TY Face wash is organic and is a “cruelty-free face wash that actually works.” It is also made with all vegan ingredients.
You can purchase CLAR-I-TY on Amazon.
According to LilyAna Naturals, some* of their products are both cruelty-free and vegan-friendly! These products include there Face Cream, Eye Cream, and Vitamin C Serum. All are stated to be anti-aging and anti-wrinkle. You can purchase their products on Amazon.
*Please note that LilyAna Naturals does sell a very popular Retinol Cream. As mentioned in this article, Retinol is most likely animal derived and LilyAna does not state that it is vegan-friendly, but it is cruelty-free.
TruSkin Naturals’ Daily Facial Moisturizer is stated to be cruelty-free, paraben-free, corn-free, soy-free, and uses a vegan formula. it is also suitable for all skin types. It helps with anti-aging, wrinkles, age spots, skin tone, neck firming, and dark circles. TruSkin’s Facial Moisturizer is available on Amazon.
Summary
At the time of this writing, the skin care products from Olay are neither vegan nor cruelty-free. However, with Proctor & Gamble’s devotion to ending animal testing this will hopefully change in the coming years.
You can read our other vegan and cruelty-free lifestyle analyses here.
