Horse on a Handle (The origin of the hair in cosmetic brushes)

(Which one of these logos does not insure you of buying animal cruelty-free products? Apparently it’s the middle one. Always go with the Bunny!)

Misled by animal-cruelty free policy


When you see these logos on websites of cosmetic companies you might think that all products you buy from their brand(s) are animal-cruelty free. Well let me tell you one thing, you’re wrong. This may surprise you as much as it surprised me.
I always buy products from companies that have a so-called cruelty-free policy and don’t think twice, because I thought I could rely on them to sell cruelty-free products. I really regret that I’ve been so stupid. Because recently I bought some brushes from one of these companies and I featured them in my previous article together with brushes I bought before again from another so-claimed cruelty-free company. So I did some research on the brushes while writing about them and I found out that the hairs of some of the brushes are from horses and sables. It hit me then: that can’t be right, can it? Cause how on earth can brushes be cruelty-free when they contain hairs(fur) of animals? The answer is very simple: they cannot.  I went to check on the company’s website to see if I had been mistaken, that I somehow had read it wrong and that they didn’t claim to be animal-cruelty free at all. So here is what their website said, and I quote:

“We do not test any products on any animals and we do only support suppliers that do the same. All the products we carry are produced cruelty free and no animals are harmed.”

Well I'm confused!? Is testing on animals the only thing that falls under their definition of animal-cruelty or what?

So here’s what animals are on our handles and how they got there:

(Mink)

(Sable)

Sable & Mink: These brushes have hair that are mostly obtained from the fur industry. I think we all know that animals in the fur industry suffer a great deal. Animals are being trapped and killed for their pelt which is done in a terrible way:  by gassing or electrocuting just to avoid damage to the hairs.

(Horse)

(Ponies)

Horse or pony:  
Most of the times (it’s more the rule than exception) horse hairs come from horses who are slaughtered for their meat.

(Goat)

Goat: Luckily goats don’t have to be killed to obtain their fur. But that’s about all the luck they have. Goat are shorn like sheep. You might think that doesn’t sound so bad. But when you consider that they are shorn in a hurry because time is money and that they suffer from cuts or other painful injuries as a result of it, it does sound pretty bad, doesn’t it?

(Squirrel)

Squirrel: Just like the animals in the fur industry squirrels are hunted and trapped, which isn’t done in a particular nice way.

Alternatives

A great alternative for animal hair is Taklon or Toray: very fine nylon hairs. The word synthetic used to make my skin crawl even though I always bought (or at least I thought I did) them just out of principle. But nowadays synthetic is just as good as animal hairs and despite people claiming otherwise there is hardly to no difference between synthetic and animal hairs. I am no longer ashamed to admit that most of my brushes are synthetic.

Where to buy real cruelty-free brushes?

Some well-known companies:

The Body Shop International  Nederland

Hard Candy 

Urban Decay 

Aveda 

Want to know if the cosmetic company/brand you buy from is completely animal-cruelty free?

Check:

PETA: Search Cruelty-Free Companies & Products 

Or if you live in the Netherlands:   

Proefdiervrij: Cosmeticagids