Are we seeing the end of animal based products

[Texchappy]

Coming back to the forum after a while and running out of several old classics, I notice several things are shifting. Kent had stopped making badger before I stopped posting but now I read that you might not be able to buy them in Australia anymore. Several of the old tallow soaps are reformulated to exclude them. Tabac, MWF, etc. Are we in the last days of animal products in shaving products? If so, what do you think about it?

sorry if this has been discussed, my feeble search fu didn’t find anything.

 

[cranewarrior]

I see the primary factor being cost in tallow being phased out in favor of palmates. The other "advantages" are marketing after the fact. When cattle production is more economical, we'll see a comeback in tallow soaps. Soapmakers, even those outside of artisan communities, readily concede beef fat makes a great performing and long-lasting soap.

In short, when beef is cheaper at the grocery store, there will be more tallow soap choices.

 

[Rivers23]

The trend is certainly noticeable. However, I'm not sure if it is a good thing. Personally, I'm kind of sceptical.

Is it really a good thing to replace a natural ingredient with chemical substitutes and put them on your face? As for brushes, is it really completely harmless to rub plastics on your face every day, especially considering all the knowledge that we have about microplastics? So in my book, more chemistry and more plastics are not necessarily a good thing.

I doubt Arko will ever throw out tallow and I doubt Italians will stop producing boar brushes, so I do feel safe in that regard.

 

[sarimento1]

so, does this mean that Gucci will change their $2,500 bags to synthetics?!

 

[Chef455]

so, does this mean that Gucci will change their $2,500 bags to synthetics?!

View attachment 1800494

1955 Gucci made a bag without animal products. And they're possibly getting ready to release a new one...

 

[Texchappy]

I was thinking mostly of the shaving world but it’s probably more wide spread.

 

[WThomas0814]

I’ll never run out. All of my soaps have tallow and all of my brushes are boar. I think I have enough to last the rest of my life.

 

[sarimento1]

1955 Gucci made a bag without animal products. And they're possibly getting ready to release a new one...

so, the LV updated $4000 bags may not be far behind!!

 

[Legion]

I'm sure things are heading that way, though my skeptical brain says it is mostly for profit reasons than ethical ones. Synthetic bristle brushes probably have a bigger profit margin for the manufacturer than badger. Palm oil is probably cheaper than tallow, but the soaps didn't go down in price after they changed, I noticed. I'm all for giving the consumer a choice in what they want to buy, but tallow is a byproduct of the meat industry that still exists. Palm oil plantations cause a huge amount of deforestation, and potential extinction of all sorts of rain forrest animals, which is conveniently forgotten when talking about the ethics of it all.

Can't have it both ways.

 

[Barley]

If tallow-based soaps ever completely disappear, I'll just make my own. I live out in the country, get beef a half-cow at a time, and already make my own hand/body soap.

 

[Life Is A Dream]

I avoid shaving products with animal-based ingredients where possible but that is purely my personal choice. I don't think one should force their personal morals/ethics on anyone else but I suspect this shift is more profit and trend driven than for purely ethical reasons.

I do think that people should consciously choose animal-based products and that stores should stock more products without animal-based ingredients.

Nonetheless, I don't feel very strongly about it one way or another because it is not a black or white issue of right and wrong. Replacing animal-based products with potentially harmful chemical ingredients (e.g., micro plastics -- its effect is something everyone should be aware of) is certainly not desirable.

 

[Wgg2017]

I think it mostly comes down to price, rather than ethical concerns. At least when it comes to tallow, I've read here and from news sources that it's now being used to create alternative fuels that don't require as much petroleum products, increasing the demand for tallow and driving up the price.

As far as brushes go, I personally am not comfortable with how badgers are treated when farmed so I switched to synthetics. But that was also an easy switch because I prefer synthetics overall after using them. However, there is no duplicating the feel of a badger, at least not yet anyway.

 

[BigJ]

When I find a product I really enjoy, I follow the B&B dictum, ‘Stock up!!’

Thus I have enough ‘tallow’ based soaps, animal brushes and assorted blades to last for the duration!!

 

[Bjlefebvre]

Anyone worried about the ethics of boar, badger and plastics brushes - trot on over to the horse side. It's lovely.

As for talllow soaps, yeah, I've definitely noticed the phasing out of beef tallow especially and agree it's likely because of cost. Cattle raising isn't going to get any cheaper given climate change and increased droughts. But like others have noted, I'm not to keen on wiping syntetics on my face, and palm oil has its own environmental issues. I've recently been using Stirling unscented mutton tallow soaps. Stirling also advertises "sutainable" palm oil as the main ingrediant for some of its soaps.

 

[NovaDave]

 

[borwish]

I'm just waiting for the chicken fat based soaps....

 

[blade08]

I think the consumer has to have a choice. Speaking for myself I stopped eating all animal foods in 2015. I also haven't owned an animal hair brush for many years or use tallow based soaps.

Everyone should make his own choice and everyone else has to respect any choice.

 

[VerbaVolant]

I'm just waiting for the chicken fat based soaps....

I grew up on schmaltz. Chicken fat too precious for me to waste on soap. I prefer tallow in soap.

I love natural things and I believe we are in trouble because of synthetics, lead and many others...
No problem here slathering tallow lather using dead animal hair on my skin. Otherwise I would choose scissors over razors.

Are we in the last days of animal products in shaving products? Not days but maybe months. We are eating ourselves out of this planet to extinction anyway. What do I think about it? Not much, as I have other priorities in life. I just made sure I have enough animal product to keep me going for the next little while.

 

[Salty_Shaver]

On the morbid side of things with the obesity epidemic maybe there’s a market for fat harvesting and use that fat to make soaps. Just saying. I know I could sell a few pounds of my fat to help the cause.

 

[tzinc]

We live in a time when the truth and science is labelled conspirarcy theory and when lies are considered facts. This is nonsense is seeping into all aspects of society. Sad days indeed. The good news historically speaking people eventually wake up.