Beauty Vitamins
I get asked again and again by new vegans what vitamin supplements (if any) they should be taking. There is tons of information online about this, so I thought I would do this with a twist - Vegan Beauty Vitamins! Although vitamins are beneficial for your health, I’ll be honest and say my primary motivation for taking a cocktail every day is my vanity!
Although much of the evidence about whether Biotin etc.. has any effect on hair & nail growth or skin condition is equivocal, neither here nor there, anecdotally I will say they have made a difference to me. When I’ve been unable to take them for periods of time (broke uni student for approx 100 years) I did notice the condition of my hair, skin and nails was not as good as when I was taking them, all other variables were roughly the same.
Bear in mind, much scientific research could be ‘sub-clinical’ as in, there is an improvement but it is so small it isn’t statistically significant and isn’t justified recommending people to spend lots of money. It is a bit like glucosamine and joint pain. Not statistically significant, not clinically recommended, but still I know lots of people (including consultant doctors) who swear by it. Placebo? Possibly.
If you take pride in your appearance and you’re on a Level Up journey, I urge you to consider including beauty vitamins as part of your routine. Here are my six recommendations. This isn’t medical advice, speak with your doctor and nutritionist before starting any new supplements, different things affect people differently. This is just my list, there are no affiliate links no is paying me for any of this LOL.
Vitamins for Beauty
The best way to get your vitamins is from a healthy balanced diet. However, if you are vain like me you’ll want to get the most bang for your buck and consider supplements as well.
Beauty Multivitamin
I swapped out my Perfectil Original (which is vegetarian but not vegan) for Deva Vegan pre-natal. Although it is a pre-natal it is perfectly safe to take if you're not pregnant and has roughly the same proportion of B vitamins and others as Perfectil. It's not exactly the same composition as Perfectil but it will do for now. Eventually I'm going to recreate Perfectil by buying all the vitamins separately and getting the same quota- but that is expensive to do upfront as most vegan single vitamins come in bottles of one year's supply. Long term it will be cheaper than Perfectil and vegan friendly. Unless of course, Vitabiotics decide to make Perfectil vegan, in which case I’ll come back to you!
For the moment I'm on Deva. You need to go to American Amazon. As the shipping charge is quite steep (12 USD to England at the time of writing) consider bulk buying. I bought a year's worth for the same 12 USD shipping charge. Then it works out very cheaply.
Deva Pre-Natal Vegan Vitamins
2. Silica
I take a silica supplement from Holland & Barrett for hair, skin and nails. It really works for hair growth I've found. I started taking it years ago when I read about Jennifer Aniston re-growing her hair back after some movie role had asked her to cut it shorter. She said in an interview that Silica helped her. I think this was back in the 90s! Thankfully this supplement is vegan friendly anyway, so no chopping and changing required.
Silica Supplements
3. Omega 3
As a vegan you need omega 3 by itself. Don't buy any of the 3,6,9 combinations as the ratio is off. The 6 and 9s squash out your absorption of the 3, which as a vegan is the one you need the most of.
Don't mess about with flaxseeds or linseeds either, the best source of omega 3 is algae, that's how fish are so rich in omega 3 because they eat the algae. You also need to find a brand that has EPA and DHA.
This is one I recommend:
Omega 3 from Algae with EPA DHA
4. Vitamin D
If you live in the northern hemisphere then vegan or omni you're most likely vitamin D deficient as we don't get enough sunlight up here. Likewise, if you wear SPF every day, which anyone who wants to prevent premature wrinkles will do, you'll need to take vitamin D. Most vitamin D is not vegan friendly so find one that is. Here you can get an entire year's supply:
Vegan Vitamin D3
Beauty Vitamins
Although vitamins are great for your health, my primary motivation is my vanity
Even if you are not vegan I urge you to consider buying only vegan friendly vitamins. Many non-vegans insist upon cruelty free and vegan cosmetics, despite consuming meat and dairy.
This does make a difference. Every little step makes a difference. If you’re at a point where you can’t give up meat or dairy, switching all your vitamins to vegan friendly only increases demand for them. Eventually we’ll get to a point where only vegan vitamins are produced. Your choice here does matter, it does help.
Throughout this post I’ve given links (no affiliates) where you can source vegan vitamins.
5. Calcium
I prefer to take a Calcium supplement as well. I spent my teens reading Cosmo preaching the dangers of women not getting enough calcium and getting osteoporosis in their 40s and 50s. So long before I became vegan I wanted to ensure I was meeting my calcium quotient.
Unfortunately I'm yet to find a fairly priced vegan source, they are all prohibitively expensive or they have other trace minerals in which would mean I’m overdosing on certain ones- the Holland & Barrett Silica supplement mentioned above contains Zinc and so does the pre-natal Deva, which I’m OK with, (you might not be, check with your doctor) but to take a third supplement with Zinc in as well is pushing it. Many of the affordable sources of vegan Calcium also contain Zinc.
So I’m not really recommending these, they’re just what I’m using for now:
Vegan Calcium
6. Vitamin B12
Any decent vegan multivitamin will contain this essential nutrient. B12 is the only vitamin you can’t get from food as a vegan (everything else in this article is part of a healthy plant based diet, it is only my vanity that leads me to take supplements.) So even for those among us who prefer to get all of our vitamins purely from food, an exception must be made for B12.
You might find it interesting to read why vegans must supplement B12, it is due to intensive over-farming practices and soil quality. When soil is of a high quality (rare these days) it contains cobalt. The bacteria in our guts produces B12 from this cobalt. The B12 produced by our bacteria is too far down the human digestive tract to be absorbed but instead is excreted in faeces. Gorillas our closest relative get B12 from accidental eating of soil around their vegetables. As we wash our vegetables we don’t get the B12 we need.
Vegan Collagen
A final note about vegan collagen. So technically vegan collagen doesn’t exist, but there are plenty of vegan supplements which act to increase your natural production of human collagen. Vitamin C is one of the building blocks of collagen, so taking in Vitamin C is a great idea (it is in the pre-natal)
I did succumb and took a liquid vegan collagen supplement for six months. Unfortunately I didn’t notice a difference, but I think that is because I’m taking so many other supplements there was nothing ‘extra’ for the vegan collagen to do. I will say liquids are absorbed much better than pills and that’s probably part of the reason why they are so expensive, the transport and storage is much more involved. It was £60 per month and it tasted vile!
Ultimately I decided it wasn’t worth it for me, but you might find benefit from it. Always give these things a fair try (six months is generally a good ball park)
This is the one I used:
Vegan Collagen
So, there you have it. My recommendations for ultimate beauty and to nourish your body from the inside out. Am I missing anything? Do you take anything else which I haven’t mentioned?
If you’d like to discuss any aspect of levelling up or feminine energy with me then please schedule an appointment, subscribe to my newsletter and check out my book, Feminine Energy 101.