L’Oreal Bans Badger, Goat and All Other Animal Hair From Makeup Brushes

Consumers are not only reaching for vegan options in the grocery store but in beauty stores as well. Cosmetic companies are adapting to consumers' needs for vegan and cruelty-free products, with L'Oreal taking a huge step by banning badger, goat, and all other animal hair in its makeup brushes.

L'Oreal Group is the largest cosmetic and beauty company in the world and has 36 brands in its global portfolio. The ban comes after PETA pressured L'Oreal to stop using badger hair in the products of one of its companies, Baxter of California, which is a men's grooming and personal-care company. Along with L'Oreal, 100 other companies such as Sephora, NARS, and Morphe have also banned badger hair brushes.

“L’Oréal group’s compassionate decision will help PETA push the beauty and art industries to embrace synthetic brushes that don’t harm a hair on a badger’s head,” Mathilde Dorbessan, PETA France’s corporate responsibility officer said in a statement.

L'Oreal was founded in 1909 and has been a leader in the beauty industry for 111 years. Though L'Oreal stopped testing on animals in 1989, PETA has yet to deem the brand vegan since many of its products are sold in China, which requires animal testing by law. Makeup brushes aren't required to be tested on animals, but the bristles themselves are derived from farmed or killed animals.

L'Oreal's recent ban on animal-hair brushes is proof that the cosmetic and beauty industry has made significant progress towards a more cruelty-free, vegan approach. Hopefully, other brands will be inspired by L'Oreal and follow suit to ban all animal hair brushes. Vegan consumers will have a wide variety of products to choose from as more brands offer cruelty-free, vegan options.