June / July 2009

Although cosmeticcompanies claimotherwise, mountingevidence indicatesanimal hair makeupbrushes are anythingbut cruelty-free.

By Susanna Speier

hen Emmy-nominated hairstylistand makeup artist Peggy

Hannaman-Jones used to ask colleagues on the studio set, “What do you think happens to animals when they make amakeup brush?” she noticed their general tendency to migrate to the opposite end of the makeup trailer. Because really, who wants to focus on such an uncomfortablesubject? But Hannaman-Jones hated thinking, every time she picked up amakeup brush, that an animal might havebeen harmed. Although variousmanufacturers had assured her that theanimal hair used for makeup brushes hadbeen shaved off the source animal, much assheep’s wool is sheared, she had her doubts.

Searching for Evidence

“The first step is to figure out where it iscoming from,” said Pierre Grzybowski, Fur-Free Campaign manager at the HumaneSociety of the United States (HSUS), who

Animals the Brushoff

the Beauty Biz Gives

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wholelifetimesmagazine.com

believes that companies havean obligation to informcustomers which animal their makeup brushesuse. Natural hair makeup brushes in the US maybe made from many different kinds of animals,including squirrel, badger, raccoon dog, pony,sable, goat, weasel, fox tail and ox. Animal hair cosmetic line representativesinterviewed for this story stated that their products were derived from animals who hadbeen shaved or sheared, rather than killed, for their hair. None, however, were able to providephotographic evidence of sheared and/or shavedanimals ostensibly not harmed in the manufactur-ing process.“I find it very hard to believe that animalbrushes are being made in any way that doesn’tinvolve killing the animals,” said Grzybowski.“

We’re still investigating exactly where these hairscome from, but based on preliminary research we suspect that someof the hair is tied into the fur industry in some way.”In other words, if Grzybowski is correct,animals are suffering andbeing destroyed to make women look beautiful.HSUS has definitivelab evidence that raccoondog hair is being used inmakeup brushes sold in the US—a fact confirmedby online advertis-ing—and that sometimesraccoon dogs are skinned alive in China. Aninternationally sponsored report that wasupdated in 2007, “Fun Fur? A report on theChinese fur industry,” details with photographs the grisly production methods. These practices were also documented by the

Beijing News

in2005. However, there is currently no clear evidence linking the practice to the hair used inmaking makeup brushes.“Here is what I want to see,” saidGrzybowski, “I want to see evidence of theseoperations where the animal’s hair is being taken off and they are not being harmed. Showme the shaved animals that aren’t being killed andI’ll believe it. I’ve never seen it. If this really were the case and this truly was a selling point, then they would have made this evidence available to thepublic.”Furthermore, Grzybowski added, it’slogistically not feasible. “I would pay money to seesomeone try to shave a badger,” he scoffed.Lack of compelling evidence was enough toconvince Hannaman-Jones, an animal-lover, tocreate her own line of brushes. Althoughprevailing industry wisdom was that synthetics would be less effective, she had confidence in her design concept.“In seminars they teach you that animal hair isused with powders and crèmes, and syntheticsare used for liquids,” Hannaman-Jones explained.But after cutting and testing more than 300prototypes, many of which she cut by hand, theSherman Oaks-based designer came up with asynthetic that worked beautifully at picking uppowders. Her Branded J Collections uses Taklon,a filament made from nylon that is dyed and baked to make it softer and more absorbent. Branded Jbrushes come to a fine point at the end because,she concluded, “What matters is the way it is cut.”Branded J isn’t the only compassionate brushdesigner. Urban Decay was one of the firstmakeup companies to develop a 100 percentsynthetic makeup brush line. In their search for cruelty-free natural hair for their brushes,cofounder Wende Zomnir and her Urban Decaypartners soon discovered that, “The animalsaren't running free, frolicking in an open field. The thought of animals dying or living in a cage so[consumers] could have makeup brushes” was so

Creating Alternatives

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