AVEDA Ingredient Frequently Asked Questions
OUR INGREDIENT PROMISE
At Aveda, The Art and Science of Pure Flower and Plant Essences, we believe that Nature is the best beauty artist of all. This is why we continually strive to increase our use of naturally derived ingredients whenever possible.
Naturally Derived: Aveda uses the ISO standard 16218 when calculating the naturally derived percentage of its ingredients derived from plants, non-petroleum minerals, and other natural sources, including water. Naturally derived means that over 50% of the ingredient is natural (by molecular weight).
Our commitment to deliver high performance, botanically-based products that are kinder to the planet – which is good for all of us -- goes much deeper than our use of naturally derived ingredients.
1. Do Aveda products contain parabens?
At Aveda, we are guided by a fundamental philosophy where health and safety are our first priorities. Delivering a microbiologically safe product to our network is one of our most important commitments. Aveda's mission and principles, on which the company was founded, have always steered us toward preferring pure flower and plant essences to petrochemicals. Because the Company constantly targets and tracks expanded use of plant-derived content in its formulas, Aveda actively researched plant-based alternatives to parabens and no longer manufacture any products formulated with parabens.
2. Do Aveda products contain sulfates?
We do not use SLS or SLES in our shampoos. However, we do use ammonium lauryl sulfate derived from coconut and coco-babassu sulfate derived from coconut and babassu (utilizing Aveda’s exclusive Babassu technology). Both of these are foaming ingredients used for cleansing, but the Aveda difference is that we always use babassu or coconut as the source for these foaming ingredients where some other companies will use petroleum or animal by-products. Although these ingredients have the same name on the label regardless of its derivation, in Aveda products you know they have a plant origin.
As part of meeting the preferences of all our consumers, as well as achieving certain specific product benefits, Aveda has offered sulfate-free shampoos since 1996 and currently offers 5 shampoos formulated without sulfates: Scalp BenefitsTM Balancing Shampoo, Damage RemedyTM Restructuring Shampoo, Dry RemedyTM Moisturizing Shampoo, Men Pure-FormanceTM Shampoo and InvatiTM Exfoliating Shampoo.
Aveda shampoos are carefully formulated to provide specific product performance benefits, which may require the foaming characteristics provided by plant-derived sulfates, and all Aveda shampoos thoroughly evaluated to deliver desired outcomes in protecting color, treating dry hair, adding shine or other attributes for the particular shampoo.
Aveda also currently offers ten sulfate-free skin cleansing products. Caribbean TherapyTM Body Cleanser, Green ScienceTM Perfecting Cleanser, EnbrightenmentTM Brightening Cleanser, Outer PeaceTM Foaming Cleanser, Personal BlendsTM Smoothing Body Formula, Pure ComfortTM Eye Makeup Remover, Botanical KineticsTM Purifying Creme Cleanser, Botanical KineticsTM Purifying Gel Cleanser, Smoothing Body Polish and Tourmaline Charged Exfoliating Cleanser.
3. Do Aveda products contain gluten based ingredients?
At this time we do not have a listing of Aveda products that are gluten free to offer you. We apologize for any disappointment this may cause you.
Consumers will find ingredient listings on our packaging, in accordance with US and international regulations, using names which are standard throughout the cosmetic industry. Because of the vast number of raw materials from different sources, it is not possible to guarantee that our products are completely free of any gluten.
We are happy to provide the ingredient listings for any Aveda product you are interested in using. Please contact us at ConsumerCare-US@gcc.aveda.com with the names of specific Aveda products. We recommend reviewing these listings with your physician.
We invite you to call Aveda Customer Relations at 1.800.328.0849 to discuss any questions you have.
4. Do Aveda products contain nuts?
As you may be aware, people allergic to peanuts may also react to soybeans, peas, other legumes and tree nuts, such as walnuts and Brazil nuts. It has been acknowledged in the medical community that tree nut allergic reactions coexist in nearly one third of the peanut allergic population. For this reason, Aveda takes a very serious and conservative approach in responding to this question. A vast number of raw materials from many different suppliers and sources are used in the manufacture of Aveda products. It is therefore not possible for us to fully guarantee that our products are completely free of ingredients that may elicit an allergic response in highly sensitive individuals who react to legumes and nuts. For example, it is possible that small amounts of a soybean sourced ingredient or trace amounts of peanut oil may remain on shared manufacturing equipment even after a thorough cleaning. Even trace amounts of allergens may trigger a severe reaction when a peanut sensitive individual comes in contact with them (i.e., hugging/kissing your peanut sensitive child while wearing cosmetics). We therefore recommend that you discuss this with your physician because consumer safety is of utmost concern to us.
5. Are Aveda products vegan/vegetarian?
Although Aveda products are not certified Vegetarian or Vegan, the majority of our retail products contain no animal derived ingredients. A small number of products may contain beeswax or honey.
Have further questions about a specific product or ingredient?
Please contact us at Aveda Customer Relations at 1.800.328.0849
AVEDA AND GREEN INGREDIENTS
We connect our Mission with product development by using what we define to be green ingredients whenever possible.
At Aveda, our goal is to ensure our products will benefit our guests through exceptional performance, while we deliver our continued promise of environmental and social responsibility.
Aveda's products are formulated without parabens, phthalates and sodium lauryl sulfate.
We work hard to ensure that ecological and cultural diversity is represented by responsibly sourcing key ingredients from different habitats all over the world.
Through fair compensation, we positively impact the people and economies from which some of our products' ingredients are sourced.
Aveda firmly believes that we will succeed in our goal by striving to use what we call green ingredients in our products whenever possible. Our definition of a green ingredient requires that it meet at least one of the following criteria:
• Naturally derived, which we define to be those for which more than 50% of the molecule comes from a plant, non-petroleum mineral, water, or some other natural source.
• Certified organic.
• Sourced from sustainable or renewable plant-based origins, and does not negatively impact the ecosystems from which they are sourced.
To Aveda, continued progress and improvement in the number of green ingredients we use in our products is an essential part of ensuring we honor our Mission commitment to care for the world we live in.
Aveda's use of green Ingredients in practice:
• Since 2000, Aveda has substantially increased our purchases of organic raw herbal ingredients and organic essential oils from 20%-25% of total tonnage to more than 90% for both while also increasing our total tonnage significantly. The exact percentage varies slightly from year to year due to product mix and availability of certified ingredients.
• Aveda has established Soil to Bottle™ traceability for certain key ingredients, which allows Aveda to progressively document and expand the source of these ingredients while promoting quality through its supply chain.
• Aveda's development of its exclusive Babassu Betaine technology is part of its efforts to develop and use sustainable plant-based alternatives to replace the use of petrochemicals whenever possible.
• All of Aveda's essential oils are processed in an environmentally responsible manner through steam distillation
INGREDIENT SOURCING
Journey with us—to trace Aveda's ingredients back to the farm or harvesting co-op. We call it Soil to Bottle℠, and we do it to ensure fair compensation throughout the process.
Aveda develops close working partnerships with certain communities and/or suppliers and seeks to use them as our primary source for specific ingredients. We frequently reference these relationships in our promotional materials. However, sometimes due to conditions beyond our control (e.g., drought, pests, and capacity limitations) these communities and/or suppliers are unable to meet our needs for an ingredient, including being unable to supply some or all of it. When such situations occur, Aveda uses additional suppliers to provide high-quality alternative sources until we are able to resume sourcing from the primary supplier.