Makeup is a fairly important part of my everyday living. It’s something my friends, sisters, and I bond over. It’s the right part of my getting-ready schedule that I love the most. And it’s a kind of self-expression which I have a lot of pride in. For the majority of my friends and I buying cruelty-free make-up is a no-brainer. I don’t want the colors and pigments I put on my face to be smeared and examined on a pet first. I don’t desire to be accountable for an animal’s suffering.
Makeup should be fun- not cruel. So, as much as I can, I try to inform myself on the methods of the ongoing companies I obtain. What is their policy on animal testing? What loopholes do they use to bypass animal testing laws and regulations? What information is open to the public?
Between my sister and me, we’ve managed to amass quite a little of knowledge so that our makeup habits will match our beliefs. Then last year I found out that the “cruelty-free” products I used to be using is probably not cruelty free for children. That’s just because a sparkly pigment called mica- the one that gives all our highlighters, toenail, and eyeshadows polishes that very iridescent sheen- is mined in mainly unregulated, unsafe conditions where labor laws aren’t enforced.
I felt betrayed. All this time I thought I used to be making kind options, when the truth is, I possibly could be fueling a business that harms and kills child laborers even. According to the Center for Research on Multinational Corporations, 25% of the world’s mica is sourced from Jharkhand and Bihar, India.
- Cure Natural Aqua Gel
- 15 drops of rose hip seed essential essential oil
- Maintain pores and skin from the sunlight
- 1 tablespoon margarine
In both of these states, 22,000 children work in mica mines. Some of them are as young as 4 or 5. In 2016 an investigation by Reuters discovered that seven children had been killed in mica mines in India in just two months. Their deaths were quietly covered up so the industry could continue steadily to profit from child labor. Two of the children are six year-old Roshni and her brother Kamal (four).
Their names have been changed, but both of these little ones are extremely real encounters of the mica industry. My colleague Sam spoke to them and their parents in India. Their father Karan told Sam that his grandfather and dad worked well in the mica mines. Because of the reduced pay he receives, even his small children must pitch in. Their two older siblings, who are eight and 10, are 30 km away in the care of their grandmother.
