Halal and wudhu friendly makeup - everything you need to know!

“what is halal makeup?”,

“what does whudu friendly mean?”,

“can i pray with it?”,

“do I have to remove it?”, “

is the makeup I am using halal?”,

“what ingredients should I avoid?”,

If you have found your way to this article, you probably have asked yourself at least one of these questions (I had them all!!)

Because this is what was on my mind when I started to realize that I wanted the cosmetics I was applying on my skin to be in line with my faith.

When I converted to Islam in September 2012, I had no clue.

I was 26 years old when I discovered the religion that my heart was looking all my life and I wanted to make everything in my life be in harmony with my new lifestyle.

And in many areas this transition was easy because I was able to find a lot of advice, information, video lectures, books, etc. about the many different aspects of Islam.

But in one of the areas that I could not find a lot of information was:

Makeup and Skin care

Seems hard to believe right? But I I felt so lost after looking and trying to find other sisters who had figured out how to deal with the prayer and the usage of cosmetics and not being able to find anyone.

So I took it into my own hands to read and research and find out everything I needed to know about makeup, skin care and the prayers, and now I want to share it all with you:

First, What is halal makeup?

The word Halal in arabic, simply means what is permitted or lawful. So in terms of makeup, the ingredients in it, need to follow this.

Ok, simple enough, so what could make cosmetics not permitted? (Or haraam, which is the word in arabic).

disclaimer: as muslims there are lots and lots of things that are Halal, and just a few that are haraam (and these are actually things you don't really want slathering on your face anyways) so when any of these ingredients are present in our food, skin care or clothing, etc then these cannot be considered halal anymore.

Ok, now let's see which things we can't have in our products:

1. Pork and pork derived ingredients,
2. Alcohol (there are certain alcohols that are Halal, but I have chosen to exclude all Alcohol from my products)
3. Carmine (Carmine is the Red color used in many makeup products that is derived from the crushed dried up Cochineal insects, and all Insects are Haram to consume

COULD BE HALAL, COULD BE HARAAM INGREDIENTS

• Glycerin/glycerol is found in Moisturizers, cleansers after shave. If glycerin is obtained from pork fat then it will be Haram .If it has a vegetable source, then it's halal to use. (the glycerin used in all of my products is vegetable based and free of  pork)
• Gelatin: Gelatin is the boiled skin, tendons, ligaments and bones of animals. Haraam, unless you know that there was no pork involved in obtaining it.
• Tallow: Tallow is a common ingredient in many cosmetics including eye makeup, lipstick, makeup bases and foundations, in simpler terms is rendered animal fat. The process involves boiling the carcasses of slaughtered animals until a fatty substance is produced, ready to add to cosmetics and apply to one’s face. Haraam if there is pork involved. Halal if it's pork free.
• Collagen: Found in cosmetic lip-plumping glosses, this is a fibrous protein from animal tissue that has no proven effect on your own collagen reproduction. If the source includes pork it will be Haraam.
• Ambergris: This is an ingredient that i consider to be harmful to the animal and therefore unethical and un-islamic, because it is derived from the waxy oil that lines whale’s stomachs. This oil substance is used to make the scent “set” in perfumes, but in some instances whales are hunted and killed for this sole purpose, sharks are also in great danger because of the cosmetic industry and you will see with the next ingredient. (Because of the damage the sourcing of this ingredient has caused to the population of whales, it is not illegal in many places to harvest it, and there are also synthetic version of this ingredient. So always do your research when purchasing perfumes to find out the origin of the Ambergris)
• Squalene: This substance is extracted from the livers of sharks and then added to your eye makeup and lipsticks, but the biggest use is in facial moisturizers. The practice of hunting sharks for the oil in their livers is not in line with a humane and islamic practice for my business. There is a squalene that is Halal, when it is derived from Olive oil.
• Stearic Acid is another ingredient that can be both obtained from an animal or vegetable source, the stearic acid in my products is from a vegetable origin, but unless you know what is the origin of this ingredients, then is best to stay away from it.

BUT CLAUDIA, MAKEUP IS NOT INGESTED...

You might not be consuming these ingredients as you would a regular meal, but given that the skin is porous, it absorbs whatever you put on it. So what you apply on the largest organ of your body is just as important as what you put inside of it. And if there are ingredients that are not permissible for us to consume, it makes logical sense that we should not be applying these on our skin, since they will also be absorbed into our bodies.

“I don't consider halal makeup one idea that prevents us from using this ingredient or that ingredient but it's a whole system that is meant to purify us and to keep our bodies as clean as possible both physically and spiritually.”

NOW, LET'S TALK ABOUT THE WHUDU-FRIENDLY ASPECT OF MAKEUP...

So now that you know which ingredients are halal, let's talk about this term: wudhu-friendly. Let's break it down this way: wudhu is the ritual cleansing that we as muslims must to before we pray.

One of the guidelines of wudhu, is that the water must reach the skin. 

So when we have a wudhu -friendly product, it means that it will not stand in the way of us purifying ourselves, and it will not interfere with our prayers. 

Now here is where you might be stuck, (I know I was!) and where I could not find a clear approach.

Most of the advice I could find came in the form of comments from other sisters under YouTube videos, Facebook or Instagram pictures where they guessed and tried to give their best opinion, which would most of the time fall into one of these 3 views:

• Wear no makeup whatsoever
• Remove your makeup completely and then reapply,
• Or you know what? makeup is not that strong, it will not prevent the water from reaching the skin, so don’t worry about it,

Now I am all for the no makeup look, but for some is easier said than done. And i think removing all your makeup and reapplying after is also a good option, if you have the time. But i disagree with the opinion that you shouldn't worry about it, and let me tell you why:

The current makeup industry is obsessed with getting makeup to stick to your face no matter what, and for this they use silicones, oils and waxes to make sure that no matter how much you sweat, wipe, rub or wash your face, your makeup won't come off.
And now it is estimated that  70% of cosmetics products in our shelves today contain these layer-forming silicones.

So, it's easy to see why we must be more careful with the things we have on our skin before praying.

Learn more about silicones , how to spot them and why you should avoid them!

I hope this was beneficial, if you want to stay up to date with all things halal, all natural and wudhu friendly, come join me on instagram or facebook. 

 References: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-ambergris.html#:~:text=Ambergris%20is%20often%20described%20as,a%20unique%20phenomenon%20for%20millennia.