Have you ever wondered exactly what is in your beauty products?
Animal products have a tendency to show up in places where we least expect them, and in things that we rely on every day: soap, deodorant, medicines, makeup, lip balm, shaving cream, lotion, and many other drugstore items. Animal ingredients are cheap and plentiful, and are used without question by many large companies who also test their products on animals.
Once animals are slaughtered, all the leftover parts (bones, ligaments, hooves, brains, spinal columns, eyeballs, intestines, and other random parts) are sent off to a rendering plant, along with euthanized pets from shelters, horses, road kill, and spoiled meat from the grocery store. (I am honestly not making this up! If you want to know more, read Howard Lyman’s book, Mad Cowboy.) The hooves and ligaments go into making gelatin, which shows up in jello, pharmaceuticals (capsules), gummy candies, marshmallows, and film. Other bits are all boiled together in a big, nasty soup. What sinks to the bottom is what goes into cat and dog food, and is also fed back to livestock (ever wonder where mad cow disease came from?). What floats to the top of the soup gets made into cosmetics, soaps, shaving cream, shampoo, pharmaceuticals, crayons, candles, and even toothpaste. Pretty disgusting, isn’t it?
Unfortunately, animal-based ingredients are cheap and readily available because of the billions of animals slaughtered every year. It’s a huge business, and therefore these ingredients can show up in any product imaginable.
Here are some of the more common ingredients to watch out for:
I think if you’re not sure about whether the glycerin or stearic acid in your favorite beauty product or toothpaste is from an animal source or not, you should call the company that manufactures it. That way you’ll be sure, and you’ll also be letting the company know that there are people out there who are concerned about this type of thing and who won’t buy their products if they have boiled pig’s eyeballs in them.
It’s best to avoid the big evil manufacturing companies and their products anyway. I think the worst are Procter & Gamble (don’t buy Iams pet food!!!!!!), Johnson & Johnson, and L’Oreal. As well as monopolizing the market, these companies test on animals, exploit workers, and couldn’t care less about the environment. Unfortunately there are many evil companies out there. When it’s all about profit, who cares about health, the environment, or rights? Economic interests trump all others.
H.F. Lyman (2001). Mad Cowboy
C. A. Henderson, A. S. Highet, H. K. Shamy (1995). The frequency of lanolin contact allergy. Contact Dermatitis 32 (1), p52
Animal Ingredients A-Z
Once animals are slaughtered, all the leftover parts (bones, ligaments, hooves, brains, spinal columns, eyeballs, intestines, and other random parts) are sent off to a rendering plant, along with euthanized pets from shelters, horses, road kill, and spoiled meat from the grocery store. (I am honestly not making this up! If you want to know more, read Howard Lyman’s book, Mad Cowboy.) The hooves and ligaments go into making gelatin, which shows up in jello, pharmaceuticals (capsules), gummy candies, marshmallows, and film. Other bits are all boiled together in a big, nasty soup. What sinks to the bottom is what goes into cat and dog food, and is also fed back to livestock (ever wonder where mad cow disease came from?). What floats to the top of the soup gets made into cosmetics, soaps, shaving cream, shampoo, pharmaceuticals, crayons, candles, and even toothpaste. Pretty disgusting, isn’t it?
Unfortunately, animal-based ingredients are cheap and readily available because of the billions of animals slaughtered every year. It’s a huge business, and therefore these ingredients can show up in any product imaginable.
Here are some of the more common ingredients to watch out for:
- Glycerin: usually made out of animal fats left over from making soaps. Glycerin shows up in lotions, shampoos and conditioners, soaps and body washes, cosmetics, tattoo ink, and toothpaste. There is a plant-based form of glycerin and if it is plant-based the companies usually make sure they put that on the label.
- Lanolin: comes from sheep’s wool and is a known allergen (Henderson et al 1995). This product is in many lotions and body washes, as well as lip balm and other skin-care products. It is a totally unnecessary ingredient - vegetable oils can serve the same function.
- Stearic acid (and its derivatives; look for the prefix stearo-; also known as Stearyl Alcohol): this comes from the stuff that floats to the top during rendering, and also from the stomachs of slaughtered animals. Yuck. This one is in the same kinds of products: shaving cream, cosmetics, deodorants, hairspray, and even some food and chewing gum! You can get stearic acid from plants (e.g. coconuts), but since rendering is such a big business and the products are so cheap, many companies will just use the animal-based versions.
I think if you’re not sure about whether the glycerin or stearic acid in your favorite beauty product or toothpaste is from an animal source or not, you should call the company that manufactures it. That way you’ll be sure, and you’ll also be letting the company know that there are people out there who are concerned about this type of thing and who won’t buy their products if they have boiled pig’s eyeballs in them.
It’s best to avoid the big evil manufacturing companies and their products anyway. I think the worst are Procter & Gamble (don’t buy Iams pet food!!!!!!), Johnson & Johnson, and L’Oreal. As well as monopolizing the market, these companies test on animals, exploit workers, and couldn’t care less about the environment. Unfortunately there are many evil companies out there. When it’s all about profit, who cares about health, the environment, or rights? Economic interests trump all others.
H.F. Lyman (2001). Mad Cowboy
C. A. Henderson, A. S. Highet, H. K. Shamy (1995). The frequency of lanolin contact allergy. Contact Dermatitis 32 (1), p52
Animal Ingredients A-Z