Mink oil has been used in cosmetics and hair products since the s. It is made by rendering the fat from a mink carcass, then is purified, bleached, and deodorized. Despite later research showing that mink oil is really no more effective than a plant-based oil, it continued to be added to cosmetics, mostly because of its glamorous prestige, and unfortunately still is to this day, although in small quantities.
Ambergris is a traditional fixative ingredient used in expensive perfumes. It is ejected by sperm whales as a black slurry that floats on the ocean surface and eventually solidifies into a rock-like substance that washes up on shorelines. One ambergris collector explained :. Ambergris has been enormously valuable for millennia , used medically and cosmetically by everyone from ancient Egypt to the Middle Ages to present day Parisian perfumers.
The concern is in the dwindling numbers of sperm whales, which are down to approximately , from 1. Tallow is a hard fatty substance made from a rendered cow carcass. Although it's not considered toxic to human health, it is obviously a problem for vegans, who do not want to use animal products, but Environment Canada calls it a suspected environmental toxin, presumably due to the industrial agriculture methods that produce it.
Oh, plastic. The ingredient we cannot seem to escape, no matter how hard we try. Plastic appears in a few forms, such as Teflon -- yes, the non-stick pan coating.
Plastic also shows up in the form of microbeads, which serve as an exfoliant, despite the fact that there are many natural ingredients that could stand in for this with far less environmental impact, such as sugar and salt.
Avoid products containing 'polyethylene' and 'polypropylene. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. When crushed, the iridescent powder is incorporated into various forms of skincare and makeup all the way from cleansers to nail polish to give them and you a pearly glow.
Used widely in the skincare and cosmetics world, glycerin is found in several products including balms, moisturizers, hair care, toothpastes, and soaps to provide smoothness and lubrication. Many companies have started replacing it with plant-based vegetable glycerin , so if this is something that concerns you, check with your favourite brand to see where their ingredients come from.
Biotin, a B vitamin also known as Vitamin B7, is a natural hair and skin conditioner found in both plant and animal sources. In animals, it occurs in the liver, kidney, and egg yolks. Biotin is primarily used in shampoos and conditioners to add body and shine to the hair, and in creams for a smoother texture. Tallow is rendered from beef and mutton fat. Tallow is used as an emollient, or moisturizing ingredient, in soaps, lotions, balms, and anything with a potentially creamy consistency, like cream, cream blusher, and lipstick.
Why does this matter? Urea, or carbamide in its organic solid form, is a component of urine. Its skin-softening, moisturizing, and mild exfoliating properties contribute to its widespread inclusion in cleansers, lotions, hair care products, deodorants, and various types of makeup. Urea is either extracted from the urine of horses or made from synthetic ammonia and carbon dioxide.
A major component of anti-aging products because of its ability to restore bounciness in the skin, elastin is a protein derived from animal connective tissue, such as the neck ligaments and aortas of cows.
Even though human skin naturally contains elastin, the body stops producing it after the age of twelve or thirteen which, over time, enables the loss of elasticity and leads to sagging skin.
As a moisturizer and lubricant, panthenol is often used in shampoos and conditioners to add shine and strength to hair, in moisturizers to soften skin, and as an additive in certain makeup products like mascara and lipstick.
Stearic acid is a natural fatty acid typically derived from the fat the lard or tallow of pigs, cows, and sheep. A multi-tasker of an ingredient, it binds, thickens, softens, and stabilizes substances to give products form and prevent them from running when applied. Although stearic acid is also found in plant-based sources such as vegetable oils and cocoa butter, the majority of skincare products use the animal-derived kind.
Glucosamine may be a sugar, but its origins in cosmetics come from seafood. This anti-aging, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant-loaded ingredient is extracted from the shells of crustaceans like crabs and shrimps.
For an ingredient with so many benefits, enough demand has spurred vegan alternatives that are explicitly labelled as such. Throughout history, animal products have been used in perfumes as powerful base notes, enhancers and fixatives. In their pure form, these products might hit you with their pungency. Behind these alluring perfumes, however, lies a background of secrecy, killing, pain, and torture. The inclusion of animal ingredients in perfumery is controversial because of its extraction methods.
With others, the process of extraction from a live animal has historically involved cruel animal treatment. To help you out, here are four of the most widely-used animal ingredients to look out for:. Expensive and exotic, musk, a brownish substance secreted by the male musk deer, is often used as a base note in fragrances for its ability to balance out the rest of the notes.
With its sense of warmth and sensuality, many consider it to be an aphrodisiac — not an inaccurate claim considering musk is collected from the sex glands of deer. Once the deer has been killed because in most cases, hunted male and female deer are indiscriminately shot over more sustainable versions of extraction , its gland sac is removed and dried to produce a musk pod.
The powder of the pod is then stored in ethanol while the musk mellows and matures. This musk-infused alcohol is what forms the basis of several perfumes. Because only a few grams of musk can be extracted from each gland, over deer are killed for each kilogram of musk.
Barring vintage perfumes and a few contemporary perfumers who still use natural musk for their luxury lines, many perfumes now use more affordable and ethical synthetic versions. Civet is a buttery paste secreted from the anal glands of the civet cat. After all, beauty should never hurt — you or anyone else. Also listed as Carmine, this odd sounding substance is far from synthetic. This one is often confused with bat guano, or bat poop.
Bat poop or fish scales, does it really matter which it is now? Tallow is a common ingredient in many cosmetics including eye makeup, lipstick, makeup bases and foundations. Similar to tallow, gelatin is the boiled skin, tendons, ligaments and bones of animals.
It can be spotted hiding in creamy cosmetics and nail treatments. Imagine not showering for days. You know that greasy build-up in your hair? Now imagine never, ever showering and living in a steam room. Well, imagine putting that greasy build-up on your face. Lanolin is the excretion from wool-bearing mammals and is found in most lipsticks and makeup removers. This substance is extracted from the livers of sharks and then added to your eye makeup and lipsticks.
Found in cosmetic lip-plumping glosses, this is a fibrous protein from animal tissue that has no proven effect on your own collagen reproduction.
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