cruelty-free makeup brushes

A lot of makeup brushes on the market have bristles that are made from animal hair, and in fact a surprisingly wide range of animals are used to supply the hair.

 

Animal Hair Bristles

Much of the hair for makeup brushes is a by-product of the food industry; but brushes might also be made with squirrel, sable, goat or pony hair. Different furs give different effects for different makeup brushes depending on the stiffness and other properties of the hair.

So now more and more often synthetic alternatives are being used to create high quality makeup brushes.

 

Man Made Alternatives

Nylon and Taklon are modern, man made alternatives to hair, which can be used to fashion makeup brushes. Although some makeup brush manufacturers will claim the hair in their brushes comes from a natural moulting process and animals are not harmed or killed to gather the fur, true vegans or those wishing to live an animal free lifestyle will prefer a synthetic makeup brush.

Toray and Taklon are very fine nylon hairs which many makeup artists swear by for giving clean lines when applying makeup. Softer, finer versions work well for blending. Although some people claim animal hair brushes work well with dry powders, as opposed to synthetic brushes working best with wet makeup, improved manufacturing techniques mean it is no longer so easy to find a distinction. Several cosmetics companies have opted for all synthetic makeup brushes which have excellent results, so buying synthetic does not have to mean compromising on quality.

 

Invest in your Tools

Because of the uniform nature of synthetic hairs, often brushes made from this are perfect for very fine detail work like lip lining, or close to the eye highlighting or shading. But it is possible to get great blusher style brushes in man made materials as well. It is a general rule that, as with all tools, you need to spend a little more to get the best quality, and people looking to buy a whole new kit of guaranteed synthetic brushes need to shop around and not just look at price. Going for very cheap makeup brushes could prove to be a false economy as often the bristles are quite hard and can cause soreness around the eye.

 

Extend Their Life

One tip to extending the life of your makeup brushes is to clean them regularly. We have introduced the detailed steps to clean your makeup brushes before, so no repetition here.