The Cruelty Free Way to Keep Your Hair Healthy This Summer

As most of us have discovered firsthand, it can be difficult to keep your hair looking its best in the summer months. 

Higher temperatures and drier days combined with an increasingly active lifestyle packed with swimming and other potentially hair damaging activities make it hard to keep your strands happy, healthy, and under control.

Fortunately, there’s a better way to keep your hair happy and healthy this summer: vegan hair care. Packed with naturally sourced and inspired ingredients, vegan hair care products are a wonderful way to summer proof your strands in an ethical, cruelty free way.

Here’s why you should consider going vegan this summer—and the cruelty free products you need to make it happen.

Skip the Sulfates

While there’s some controversy about sulfates in the hair care world, many people find that these cleansing agents are drying for their strands. While you may not notice a difference at first, many experts say that prolonged sulfate use over time can cause a buildup effect, making your scalp ramp up oil production in an effort to fight back against all that dryness. And to make things worse, they’re not great for the environment either. This summer, switch to a deeply hydrating shampoo and conditioner set created without the use of sulfates, which will gently cleanse your hair and scalp while retaining and replenishing essential moisture. Cruelty free and vegan, it’s a great way to be kinder to mother nature while keeping your strands hydrated and happy through whatever the summer brings your way.

Nourish Your Strands 

Because vegan haircare can’t rely on standard animal sourced beauty ingredients like lanolin, collagen, and keratin, all of which are conventionally created using animal parts, vegan beauty products tend to be packed with all natural ingredients that will help your hair shine. Vegan hair care basics include marula and moringa oil, as well as bioactives like turmeric, mung bean, red clover, and other medicinal plants which studies suggest may help support hair health and wellness. These plant based ingredients deliver the essential minerals, vitamins, and micronutrients your strands need to thrive. Free of harsh man made chemicals and the animal sourced compounds that many of us seek to avoid, vegan haircare is the better for you alternative to turn to this summer.

Keep Your Scalp Happy 

Your scalp is literally at the root of all your hair health and wellness issues—so it makes sense that nourishing it is the best way to support the growth of stronger, better looking strands. Vegan hair care is not only better for your strands, it’s better for your scalp health, too. Those same bioactive ingredients help support scalp health by boosting blood flow and circulation as you gently cleanse buildup and debris that can clog hair follicles, preventing healthy new growth. Scalp health is critical to supporting the growth and health of hair strands, so by nourishing it you’re setting yourself up for a lifetime of good hair days to come.

Minimize Your Carbon Footprint

Going vegan in your dietary choices is one of the best ways to minimize your carbon footprint from day to day. Studies show that vegans have a much lower environmental impact than people who consume the standard American diet, which researchers say can be the equivalent of driving your car 20 miles a day! While there are fewer studies on the impact of buying vegan, companies that prioritize creating vegan, cruelty free products seem to be more likely to make environmentally conscious decisions in their packaging, shipping, and formulation practices. 

Eat More Fruits and Veggies 

Last but not least, one of the most powerful vegan hair care tips we can offer doesn’t have anything to do with your hair at all! In fact, you’ve probably heard it from your mother—eat more vegetables. Hair health starts on the inside, and when you eat a diet high in meat, salty foods, and processed goodies like snack and junk food, you’re not giving your strands what they need to thrive. Improve your hair health by striving to “eat the rainbow” of fruits and vegetables every day, adding an additional fruit or veggie to every meal to dramatically boost your hair’s health. Citrus fruits, berries, and greens are especially critical, as are healthy fats from avocados and seeds. Tasty and ethical, a more plant based diet could be the key to your summer hair success.

By following these four tips, you’ll be nourishing your strands from the inside out, helping them resist the strain summer can cause. Whether you’re swimming every day, spending time in the sun, or enjoying the myriad other outdoor activities warm weather brings, vegan hair care can help your hair and scalp stay strong, resilient, and lovely long past the end of the summer season.