Are Crayola Markers Vegan?

Art supplies frequently don’t quite conform to vegan standards. Most crayon, marker, and paint products contain animal fats, animal by-products, and petroleum derivatives, but some are derived from plants, minerals, or alcohol.

Some could argue that these animal-based materials only come from inferior art supplies, but what about the top-tier manufacturer? Are Crayola markers vegan? As per VeganTab, Crayola markers are made from animal stearic acids. So, they are not vegan.

Are there any vegan Crayola markers?

The brand Crayola is deeply ingrained in the culture. Nearly a century has passed since the founding of Crayola. Children everywhere have benefited from their ability to relax and be more creative.

Crayola washable markers do have a few features, though, that vegans might not find enticing.

Crayola markers are categorically not suitable for vegans. Permanent markers also contain gels, bone char, cows’ milk, bee wax, honey, shellac, egg whites, glue, water solution colors, tempera and oils. They’re used to add color, bind, hold, spread, and stick the paint and pigments together.

We’re delighted to announce that we don’t test our products on living creatures, said Crayola in one of its tweets. Although many Crayola products contain animal by-products, we cannot provide more information because our product formulae are confidential.

 It will help if you also read our article about the best vegan facewash in 2022.

Here are some specifics on why Crayola markers are not suitable for vegans:

1. Crayola smells like beef fat

If you’ve ever smelled a Crayola marker, you can identify it even when you can’t see it. This served as the foundation for a study in 1982.

In a study by Professor William Cain of the Yale University School of Medicine, Crayola crayons were one of the twenty scents most commonly identified by test subjects. As mentioned earlier, stearic acids are the primary components of most Crayola crayon waxes; These ingredients come from animal ingredients such as lard and tallow. They are added to give the product a waxy texture.

We’ve associated it with the smell of cooked beef fat! It’s not vegan-friendly, either. Furthermore, this isn’t vegan-friendly.

2. Stearic acids are used in Crayola markers.

According to Crayola, some Crayola products include animal by-products. You may wonder why we need these fats for producing markers, so let’s take a closer peek at them. We can tell you that stearic acids improve the markers’ efficacy.

Stearic acid is a long-saturated fatty acid generated from bovine fat, to get a bit more technical. Here is what that indicates, in case you were wondering. This acid turns into a waxy solid at ambient temperature.

Stearic acids allow this fatty alcohol to combine with glycerin to form esters. This means they can stack on each other. This property makes stearic acids good hardening agents for organic compounds.

Stearic acids are used in crayons, candle waxes, detergents, soaps, and other similar items to keep final products stable and in their intended states. They’re made from either plant or animal fats. For this reason, stearic acid can be found in crayons, candles, detergents, and soaps. Stearic acid is made from vegetable or animal fats.

Since Crayola acknowledges that some of its products contain traces of meat, we can eliminate vegetable oils as sources of this fatty substance. Therefore, stearate used in Crayola crayons comes from animals.

What are the ingredients in Crayola markers?

We’re sure you wouldn’t expect to see an animal-derived ingredient in children’s art materials. We cannot disclose the exact formula for Crayola markers because they are trade secrets and are not disclosed to the general public. According to the experts, the color pigments and paraffin in Crayola markers make them special.

All Crayola marker colours contain the same basic ingredients. Some colour pigments may or may contain other chemicals. Crayola markers might also include other ingredients, such as the following;

• Tree nuts
• Peanuts
• Almonds
• Milk casein
• Red marker dyes
• Latex

The fact that CRAYOLA® prints “non-toxic” on its packaging is just a form of marketing.

It indicates that a particular marker does not have enough toxins to qualify as harmful. There could be hazardous materials within.

For example, oil, petroleum, or coal can be converted into paraffin wax.

Paraffin wax may be exposed to various dangerous compounds throughout the production process if they aren’t removed during the melting phase.

To keep its special secret a secret from the rest of the world, Crayola has done so. However, some of the compounds that might be included in the crayons include the following:

• Filler (talc, kaolin)
• Tallow (Beef)

After melting paraffin wax, mixing it with color pigmented ink, and pumping it through the molding equipment, the resulting vegan crayon boxes are ready to be used.

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How hazardous are Crayola markers?

Crayola says that its crayons are safe for kids to eat or breathe. Silly Putty, another item from Crayola, is also non-toxic. It’s reassuring to see that the results of an outside expert confirm that the safety of using Crayola products has been well established. But, eating a crayon could cause stomach upset.

Substitutes for Crayola markers

Letting children chew on things just because they look cool is never a good idea. These items contain dangerous chemicals which could harm their health.

However, there are a few substitutes for Crayola vegan-friendly markers if you’ve decided to live a vegan lifestyle in its purest form:

1. Azafran crayons.

Azafran crayons are completely vegetarian! They’re available on Amazon.

2. Wee can too.

Wee Can Too crayons are made by Wee Can Too and are sold on their website. They are made using ingredients that are suitable for vegans.

3. Spectra markers and chartpak markers.

Vegan alcohol-based colorful markers like Chartpak ADMarkers and Spectra ADMarkers perform on par with, if not better, the so-called “leading brand.” Another company that creates refillable, eco-friendly alternative vegan markers that save plastic waste is Copic.

It’s rather simple to avoid animal-based products with so many art supply stores to select from. Because people are becoming increasingly concerned about animal welfare, there should be various choices for vegans and non-vegan products.

Be on the lookout for art supply companies that don’t list their ingredients clearly, and be cautious of those that don’t list them.

Conclusion

If you truly want to live a vegan lifestyle, we are convinced that you will exercise caution when making purchases, especially regarding crayons. And if Crayola crayons are no longer your cup of tea, many more solutions are available. Crayola isn’t vegan because the company acknowledges that its stearic acids come from animal sources.

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Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs

Can vegans use Crayola?

It turns out that “no” is the correct response, at least in the opinion of Vegan Tab. Since stearic acid is used to produce Crayola Markers, they are unsuitable for vegans. Stearic acid can be made from either plant or animal material. Crayola says theirs is derived from animals.

What animal products are used in Crayola?

According to research produced by the Congressional Research Service in 2004, the manufacture of crayons frequently involves animal fat usage. This is because rendering is an industry that disposes of otherwise useless animal waste. The most widely used crayons include paraffin as their primary component; nonetheless, few people would anticipate seeing mammalian leftovers in children’s art tools.