avoiding lanolin and other animal by-products

I must admit it is quite frustrating when companies label a product as cruelty-free, free of animal products, or boasts their lack of testing on animals when their ingredients lists actually do have animal products. There is some sort of loop hole that allows them to claim there are no animal byproducts if the animal did not die to produce that particular ingredient. I had a question yesterday about why I avoid lanolin and animal-hair brushes (most makeup brushes are animal hair) so here is my response.

I am not comfortable with any animal derived products as they generally are a result of factory farming practices (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory_farming) that are so widespread these days. It is no longer a friendly family run organization where the animals are treated decently. There is a widespread problem of animals being treated as commodities as they are used as such. When you treat a living creature like an object (and really worse than you would treat most things you own) I feel very passionately against supporting anything to do with it - much less putting it on my body.

Lanolin is the fatty wax that comes from wool after the animal is sheered, though it can also come from sheep skin. It is found in all sorts of products, from moisturizers to hair care and everything between. The conditions under which the sheep are kept I object to but on top of that, particularly with Merino sheep pictured here, they are bred to have a higher surface area, more skin means more area to grow wool so higher production of wool and lanolin -- more money. In the process the sheep are prone to infection (and worse, maggots) in the folds of their skin and it is more difficult to sheer them so they tend to be injured more often (along with the fact that the people sheering are paid per sheep sheered so they are encouraged to go as fast as they can with little to no regard for the sheep and injuring them). Additionally to try to prevent the maggots eating the sheep alive there is a particularly disturbing practice of "mulesing" going on. You can look that up if you are interested, it is atrocious.

This is probably more information than you've ever wanted but the question was asked so there it is. That is why I do not use animal by-products whether they result from the animal's death or their life in inhumane captivity.

With regard to the brushes the fur and hair comes from squirrels, horses, minks, (all pictured to the left) and other critters. I am skeptical of the claim that it is a part of the normal trimming in horse-hair brushes. It is important to note if the hair/fur come from the U.S.? In most countries there are few or no animal regulations and the horse hair used in most makeup brushes results from horses being slaughtered for meat. On top of that I have had allergy problems with animal-hair brushes before I found my great synthetic brushes and I am sure that is a common problem. Other types of fur used for brushes are part of the fur trade that has been known for its cruelty (if you wouldn't wear it on a coat, why would you buy it to apply your makeup?). Here is a helpful article for more info, including links to fabulous synthetic brushes: http://www.caringconsumer.com/cosmetics_squirrel.asp I have been really happy with the 'good karma' brushes from Urban Decay and am currently using the "polar bear" collection from Smashbox. It was only out for the holidays but you can find it at Nordstrom's Rack now for only $40 on a $100 value brush set!

With so many great alternatives it does not make sense to me that such practices continue. Lanolin is easily replaced by plant-based ingredients and synthetic brushes work beautifully without allergens or cruelty. Clearly there are people that think these practices are a-okay so I may not be in the majority but I do not believe animals should be mistreated as objects or commodities for my beauty or benefit and I am certainly not going to pay someone to do this by purchasing their products.