Hey, i was just wondering if horse hair make-up brushes have casued any pain to the horse they come from, and if the horses live an okay life. My friend just bought one and i didn't want to get upset until i found out how it all worked. thanks.

Well, considering they're mass produced, I doubt they just get the hair off of the fence where it might have been caught when a horse passed, or by clipping the hair.

Here: http://www.funkis.com/product%20info.htm it says that it must be obtained from a live animal, as taking it from a dead one provides lesser quality hair.

I don't know much about it to be honest, but having had two horses the amount of tail hair they shed (without even taking into acount brushing) is quite large so it is possible to obtain horse hair in a humane way. However, that doesn't mean it is obtained that way.

Thank you. i guess that even though no form of keeping animals for human benifit makes me 100% happy, that i can relax a bit

This has been a tough issue for me. I do makeup for a living, and brushes *really* make a difference in application. MOST of the real good professional brushes are made from some sort of animal hair. I have made myself seperate my job from my personal lifestyle. What I do for a living isn't exactly environmentally friendly, and it isn't always animal friendly either. I use boar bristle brushes for hair, and I use animal hair makeup brushes.....though I try to use synthetic hair brushes when I can.

I rememeber finding out all this information about horse & boar hair when making brushes. I needed to buy a new one but couldn't really find any. I searched high & low to find one that wasn't & thank goodness I did from The Body Shop.

they make brushes out of animal hair? I geuss I never thought about it, I don't ware make up simply cuz I don't like it(tho lately Ive been find other resons why not to)
I knew that the first tooth brush was made out of pig hair. Im suprised they still do that sort of thing.

Hmm Well I know at home we have a paint brush made of camel hair...ew.. And I don't know if this has been discussed much at this site but remember bows for stringed instruments are also made of horse hair (I play myself).