Mink and other animals on fur farms are often killed with the cheapest methods available, including gassing them, poisoning them, or beating them to death. Brands that sell mink lashes sometimes claim that mink is “brushed” to obtain the hair used to make the eyelashes. Mink lashes are often sold as “100 percent cruelty-free” or “safely collected on a farm raised outdoors” or even “taken only after brushing the minks”. Mink is held captive in terrible conditions, so their fur can be glued to false eyelashes for a “fuller and thicker” look.
But there's a much more sinister side to sporting mink lashes than meets the eye. It is driving the burgeoning mink fur industry, where animals suffer fear, stress, torture, illness and inhumane slaughter when considered to be no longer profitable. Did you know that your false eyelash extensions are made with the hair of an adorable mammal called mink? And no, they are not by-products nor are they free from animal cruelty. In fact, more than 50 million minks are raised around the world every year, mainly because of their fur.
Compared to other fabrics such as wool, cotton and polyester, mink fur is still the biggest contributor to climate change. By raising and killing minks for their fur, the industry is doing nothing to help protect and maintain vulnerable mink populations in their natural habitat and, on the contrary, participates in driving the massive global biodiversity crisis. Although Danish researchers have reported that mutations are not dangerous and the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, has admitted that it was a hasty decision, there is no doubt that the enormous impact on the mink population has already occurred. Every year, more than 100 million animals suffer and die at the hands of the fur trade, including foxes, chinchillas, raccoons, rabbits and minks.
If you know a company that sells mink fur eyelashes and eyebrows, tell them that you won't buy anything from them again until they remove them from sale. And what's worse is that, since the federal minimum sacrifice law protects animal welfare on mink fur farms, ruthless methods of slaughter are inevitably used to keep mink skins intact and preserve coat quality. To obtain their fur, minks hold on tightly to have their hair ripped off their bodies. Coveted for their natural shine, their lightweight and flexible properties that give the desired subdued look, mink lashes have become very popular.
Historically, mink fur has been the most popular in the world, but you might be surprised to learn that they're lurking in your false eyelashes. As a result, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced that all of the country's mink — up to 17 million — would have to be sacrificed, including healthy animals. While more and more countries, such as the United Kingdom, prohibit the cultivation of mink fur, it is still a living trade. Mink bred for fur often experienced short and painful lives on fur farms, without a day in their natural habitat.
They are mink skins that have been shaved off the body of a mink (either just before or immediately after the animal is killed on a fur farm) that are then glued in tufts to a human's eyelashes to achieve a “fuller and thicker look”.
