Campaign to end animal-hair brushes leaps ahead with L’Oréal brush ban

By Julia Wray | Published: 14-Jan-2021

The Baxter of California owner will no longer use hair from animals including badgers and goats

L’Oréal Group has announced that it will ban the use of all animal hair in its beauty and grooming products.

Following pressure from PETA US and nearly 80,000 members of the public, the Baxter of California owner pledged to end the use of hair from animals including badgers and goats in its brushes.

Badger hair is commonly used to make traditional shaving brushes, but the industry is a hotbed of animal abuse.

PETA Asia recently unveiled a video exposé of China’s badger brush industry in which badgers were confined to small cages on farms and were killed by having their throats slit; one animal continued to move for a full minute after its throat was cut.

And, last year, Cosmetics Business ran an investigation into why the badger hair industry is subject to so little legislation.

A separate exposé, by PETA, into the goat hair industry revealed that workers castrated goats, mutilated their ears and accidentally cut off large swathes of skin while shearing the goats, before stitching up their wounds using a needle and thread.

After shearing, the goats are at risk of dying of exposure; in just one weekend 40,000 goats were revealed to have died.

L’Oréal is one of nearly 100 companies – including Procter & Gamble, Morphe, Cult Beauty and NARS – that have moved away from badger-hair brushes following talks with PETA and its international affiliates.

PETA US said it had sent L'Oréal a box of vegan chocolates to show its appreciation of the French company's decision.

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