Is using mohair fur okay?

For some reason, reading this thread made me think of the scene of Fun With Dick & Jane where Jim Carrey does this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veNOafvrW3M
(Between 0:50 & 1:00)

But back on topic; I honestly don't have any problem with it. When I was younger it used to get me pretty upset or scare me in some cases, but I've seen since then that the world goes on. Even if one, two or three, even one, two or three hundred or thousand of an animal is used for fur, meat, trophies, etc. We do have laws in place that will still keep these animals alive and protected if need-be. As long as that's in place, as long as these animals will be around for future generations, I don't see anything wrong with it.

I've seen birds pull fur off of dead raccoons to use it to line their nests with, I don't see how a human using a fur for something makes us so different, specially if everything is used.

 

I'm gonna go somewhere a little odd with this because i just finished watching something on one of our hominid ancestors. Basically without turning to meat, without transitioning from herbivore to carnivore, we couldn't have evolved into what we are today. So, as eating and using animals were necessary for our evolution, i see no problem with our continued use of them.

Yes, they should be treated humanely and we should use as much as possible when we do kill an animal, I'm not heartless. I just choose to look at the bigger picture.

 

If the animal is delicious, then I don't have a problem with the fur also being harvested. If the animal is not delicious (or if the animal looks anything at all like a dog, a cat, or a hamster) then it seems icky. So, I'm pretty much okay with lambs and cows. I'm not sure about goats, but that's only because I haven't eaten any. If an animal isn't delicious, it isn't worth eating, and if I'm not going to eat it, it isn't worth killing it for some fur.

For my personal use, I'm not going to wear fur and my dolls won't either. I don't like the look of the stuff, and it sheds, and people are allergic to it. But that's just a personal preference, I'm fine with other people using fur.

 

How do you feel about using a mohair wig on your doll?
I don't have a problem with it.

Does it go against what you believe?
Not at all. I don't have proof but I'm assuming *and I hope* that the entire animal was used once it was slaughtered. I am totally an advocate for 'waste not want not.' Really dislike the thought of an animal being killed just for meat, or just for skin. I like the thought of meat-skin products being used from the same animal so there is no waste. I raise goats for milk and the males we tend to kill for meat and then sell the pelts so they can be used for tanning purposes.

 

I hear it's left over from eating goat meat. I eat plenty of meat and I hope their skins go to good use. The long stuff is Tibetan lamb hair.

Mohair as in wafted and woven into a backing is sheared. That doesn't bother me at all. It happens every spring to make the animals more comfortable when the heat comes.

Also it sounds like all animals live in a factory... that's not true in California. Our hills are covered with cow pasture and they happily go about their lives roaming the hills and mooing. If you go hiking in our regional parks that share pasture land, beware of cow patties on the trails... and bulls.

 

Conversely, carnivorous animals need to eat meat. Cats and dogs f. ex cannot take sufficient nutrition from a vegetable-only diet to sustain themselves.

Humans who are not fed meat from a young age on the other hand, cannot digest meat. But then humans are omnivores and can live on vegetables, provided they get the essential nutrients like iron and protein from other sources.

I can understand an unwillingness to eat eggs from caged chickens, but chickens will lay eggs very prolifically for the first two years of their lives and more sporadically thereafter, they have been bred for it and will not stop laying just because we stop eating them. My partner and I keep a small group of chickens (3 plus a rooster) and they are free-range, just locked away at night to keep them safe.

 

I think if you feel no good about the mohair wigs, you can try to use other kinds of material wigs. Right now there are so many kinds of wigs to choose, and the quality is also good. You can try to search some and consult the sellers.

 

the fact remains than humans as a species couldn't have evolved to what we are today without the consumption of meat. Our brains, as a species, could not have evolved as they are, ie. large and capable of higher order thinking, without the consumption of meat. The change to meat eating was an important evolutionary step to us becoming the species we are today. Meaning, evolutionarily speaking, bjd and any other human creation wouldn't exist if our ancestors hadn't became meat eaters. so in the end, we can thank the consumption of meat by our ancestors for everything we have and do as human beings. so, whether or not ur wig is made of mohair, animals were killed in order to make it. so you may as well buy the one you like.

 

I do not want to have mohair fur wigs. If it's not real fur,no problem. I do not eat meat and do not want to wear silk. I know fur is from a goat but I always have to think about abused cats and dogs in China,killed for their fur. (check PETA and You'll know what I mean) I'm afraid the fur from a wig is from those animals and I can't bear that. Even when it's not.

 

I have no problem with mohair or skin wigs. The wefted mohair is simply sheared from the animals & the skin wigs are a by-product of animals killed for food. I even have real fur coats for my dolls but most of those are made from vintage fur which I'd rather see recycled into something useful instead of simply destroyed.

As I'm not a vegetarian I don't have any conflict in using animal by-products. And in my own wardrobe all my shoes & purses are real leather since I'm allergic to synthetics. I've also worn vintage fur coats & wraps. As I said, I think it's wasteful &, in a strange way, even disrespectable, to an animal who's already been slaughtered to not make the most of what remains.

 

I won't eat, wear or use anything tat kills an animals. I'm not going to get preachy because I think its a choice each person should make for him/herself, but personally, I feel guilty if I do.

 

Considering how we are, on the whole, using and abusing this planet and the creatures that live on it, I can't help but feel that starting to eat meat back then was not the best choice for us as a species, but those early people could not know what their descendants would become...

Anyway, I am getting way off topic here. I think that the relatively few mohair skins that end up being used for doll wigs are not fuelling some huge industry, but as some have already said, the goats or sheep are shorn several times in their lifespan before they are slaughtered and eaten, and the skin-backed mohair is merely a by-product of feeding the families that raise and look after the animals during their lives.

 

How do you feel about using a mohair wig on your doll?
It's fine as long as it's obtained ethically, and that the animal is living in proper conditions.


Does it go against what you believe?

No, this does not go against my beliefs. I eat meat, but I am very picky about where I get it. If I know that an animal is kept in cruel conditions and not fed the right foods, I avoid that place. I am in a very lucky position right now in that 95% of the meat I eat now comes from deer that my boyfriend has legally hunted; I don't have to be concerned about them living in abominable conditions their whole lives, and I can still continue to eat meat (which is something I don't really have a choice with, as I get severely anemic without meat in my diet).

Considering that I'll eat meat, I have no issue with other parts of an animal being used within reason. Using wool is fine because the animal isn't dying. Killing a thousand small animals for a fur coat is (pardon the pun) overkill.

I'm somewhat tempted to ask my boyfriend for a deerskin, possibly to make some rustic doll clothes...

 

How do you feel about using a mohair wig on your doll?
I don't use any products that involve killing an animal (or otherwise any cruelty to animals), so they have no skin wigs, no leather footwear etc. I always check before I buy what things are made of. The closest they (or I) have are wool sweaters, and in my dolls case they are even recycled fabrics ^^

Does it go against what you believe?
Not really - at risk of sounding like I believe in double standards, I have absolutley no problem with people using skin/leather/other animal products. I would only have a problem if they were supporting a part of the industry that caused animals suffering (for example, if they were buying fur from people who kept the animals in tiny cages). However, my parents brought me up vegetarian, and although they now eat meat I don't eat meat or fish, or wear leather. I can't really explain fully why, but it certainly makes it easier to check if my lifestyle impacts cruelly on animals (I needn't contact the manufacturer of my vegan boots and ask if the cows were killed humanely) and it keeps my conscience feeling better ^^

I once declined to buy skin wigs at a convention and was presented with a very determined explanation of why it was very ethical to buy them - the created jobs for villagers where the skin came from and the sheep were very well cared for. I knew it was true, but I just didn't want to buy skin. Call me squeamish or having unbased opinions, but it's a personal choice for me and I've had to argue it enough times that I don't think it's going to change soon.

Mm, on an aside, I had no idea ^^ I've considered not being a vegetarian at certain times, and I wonder if it'd be possible now.

 

How do you feel about using a mohair wig on your doll?
I wouldn't buy fur wigs for them.


Does it go against what you believe?
It depends on the situation.
But since it is so complicated to know for sure on what conditions the animal that provided the fur lives/lived, I just won't buy it.

 

If you feel hypocritical....As long as no animal is killed to make a wig and the hair is sheared off you can use it without guilt!

 

I eat meat and I wear leather shoes, but somehow those wigs on the pieces of skin make me feel... uneasy. It has smth to do with killing not for neccessety, but for entertaintment, like hunt. Not much logical, but I prefer not to use that kind of mohair, only sheared one.

And. Honestly, I do not think we can eat mohair-goat meat or wear its skin. And I have never seen a pig or cow wig. So I can't see, how "every part of the animal" could be used.

 

As a Reproduction doll artist for over 20 years , I can let you all know that a mohair wig is in fact shorn and wefted, and the animals are treated like gold as the fiber is very expensive, you often have people calling the tibetan lambskin wigs "Mohair" and that is totally incorrect. the tibetan lambskins are from sheep and not Goats as the Mohair ones are, I doubt that anybody is ready to shell out 80.00 or so for a actual Mohair skin wig, the animals are longlived and the fiber is what they are raised for and when they die from old age, that is when they will make mohair skins with hair attached for the fortunate few that can afford them for expensive antique dolls, they are very lovely and nothing really compares to them for the look, they are and would be very heavy in the skin form for our small BJDs. I hope that this helps to clarify the difference between the Mohair and the Tiby lamb.

 

I'm fine with using mohair on my doll because its very easy to obtain the wool used to make them without actually harming the animals. Animals like sheep, goat, and alpaca are usually shaven down to obtain their wool for use since killing them would basicly been unprofitable to the farmer. Keeping the animal alive allows for the wool to grow back, and be shaven over and over which keeps profit flowing for the farmer, and supplying a material without actually harming the animal. SO I find using mohair on a doll entirely acceptable and fine.

It doesn't go against what I believe in the least... If it harmed the animal yes.

Peta are just over reactive hyped up people who really ned to chill out and think things through before they spazz out.

 

Uhara, most of the wigs sold for BJD's as "mohair" are the Tibetan lambskin ones - not shorn at ALL. They're still on the skin. No chance of getting that without harming the animal. I don't think I've ever SEEN a wefted mohair wig for BJD's.

I had thought initially that I would not want that type of wig for my dolls. Then I was gifted one. It's beautiful, soft, just gorgeous, and ended up perfectly suiting a character of mine. I also later was having difficulty finding wigs I liked for my Puki, and ordered some already made ones for her. They're light and stay on better than most other wigs I tried for her. I don't have plans at the moment to buy any more of that type, but I'm not against them.

I personally do eat meat and use animal products - I grew up on a dairy farm, and while our cows were far too valuable to use as meat, if one had to be put down because of an injury that couldn't be corrected or for illness it was used for meat if at all possible. I don't know enough about the source of Tibetan lambskin wigs, but I am fairly confident that those animals are used for meat as well. Every part of an animal is used whenever possible, it's wasteful not to do so.

I totally understand why someone would have personal objections to using lambskin wigs, and I respect that. I just don't object to them personally.