Mink Lashes are NOT Cruelty-free

Originated
Jan 8, 2021
2 min read

Updated: Jan 9, 2021

The misinformation spread among beauty brands and salons by manufacturers worldwide has caused a debate on whether or not mink lashes are cruelty-free. As consumers and animal lovers, we've decided to research this controversial topic.

Mink lashes can not be considered "cruelty-free" because:

Minks are naturally fast, they behave 'aggressively' and can not be held by humans for a long period of time.

Minks are known to attack absolutely anything that gets in their way, especially humans, dogs, and even horses. Due to their natural behavior, minks are hard to catch and this means they can not be left to roam freely. Manufacturers will often tell beauty brands that they keep their minks in "free-range zoos" and they are able to retrieve the minks' hair during the shedding season, however, that is not the case. When a mink sheds its fur, it's because the leather underneath the pelt is starting to dry out. This means the fur that is shedding becomes dry and brittle and can not be used to make lashes.

The truth is minks are kept in cages and are commonly killed using carbon monoxide (CO) gas.

PETA, which stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, went undercover in a fur farm located in Wisconsin for two months and found employees mentally and physically abusing minks. Minks were repeatedly sprayed down by pressure washers to maintain a clean coat of fur.

It is too graphic to display any images of the conditions these minks are kept in. Unfortunately, many minks die from the conditions they live in. Often times diseases rapidly spread among the minks and if they aren't killed off by diseases, they are killed using carbon monoxide. Yes, the minks that do survive are poisoned to death. Those toxic fumes are embedded into their fur and turned into lashes.

Are profits all that matter?

At the end of the day, the main point of any representative from a manufacturer is to sell to beauty brands and salons in bulk. Unfortunately, it has been proven that fur farmers misinform manufacturers regarding the conditions these animals are kept in and there are some manufactures that will mislead brands on where they are sourcing their mink fur. Thus creating controversy behind mink lashes being considered cruelty-free.

What to do as a customer?

If you've recently discovered your favorite lashes are mink, please consider switching to human hair or synthetic silk lashes to cut down on the millions of lives that are lost yearly.

What should beauty brand owners and salons do?

You can save millions of lives a year by switching to synthetic lashes. The bigger the brand or salon gets the more backlash you might face for not making the switch. An example would be Huda Beauty. When Huda Kattan first launched her cosmetic brand, the beauty brand received many complaints regarding their choice of mink over human hair or synthetic lashes. This was their response: