Lush removes eggs from all its beauty products over concern for animal welfare

‘There are some hard truths of egg production that are difficult to face up to’

(Lush)

Lush has announced its decision to remove eggs from all of its products.

The natural beauty brand had previously used free-range eggs in its face masks and hair treatments.

But in recent years, as the Lush buying team visited free-range chicken farms to check the standards, the company decided it was necessary to go completely egg-free in order for its products to be in line with its ethical standards.

“What has become clear during this process is that there are some hard truths of egg production that are difficult to face up to,” reads a statement released by the company.

“In good conscience, Lush can no longer use an ingredient they are unable to be transparent about because the truth is so unpalatable”.

In a longer statement published on the company’s blog, Lush’s ethics director Hilary Jones explains that the conditions hens are subjected to prior to arriving at organic, free-range farms go against the company's core beliefs.

“The hatching of millions of eggs at commercial hatcheries, the sorting of the chicks into the females to be sent on to farms to lay eggs and the male chicks to go straight to their deaths by methods so brutal that it would be impossible to present on our websites,” Jones writes.

“The only solution therefore was to work to reformulate our products to take eggs out”.

Now, products that once contained egg have been remade with ingredients like tofu, soya yoghurt, wheat gluten and chickpea aquafaba.

“You might have to break some eggs to make an omelette, but now that we have cracked it Lush will not need to break any eggs to make our face masks and hair treatments,” Jones concludes.

Commenting on the company’s decision, Toni Shephard, executive director of animal rights organisation Animal Equality, said: “Lush is absolutely right, even free-range and organic egg production causes enormous animal suffering. Male chicks, who will never lay eggs and are the wrong breed for meat, are killed just a few hours after hatching in all types of egg farming.

“Similarly, when the hens’ bodies start to wear out from their unnaturally high laying rate, they too are killed just like chickens raised for meat.”

See the full list of Lush products that will now be egg-free below:

• D’fluff strawberry shaving soap (this is also now vegan)
• Hair Custard hair dressing
• Curly Wurly shampoo
• Jersey Bounce shampoo
• H’suan Wen Hua hair treatment
• Brazened Honey fresh face mask
• Cosmetic Warrior fresh face mask

You can purchase Lush's egg-free products online here.