A number of companies produce cruelty-free vegan shampoo. Unfortunately, though, most shampoos still contain animal products. What’s more, many top brands are tested on animals.
This page offers links to more a dozen recommended vegan shampoos. If you’re just here to order an excellent, low-cost bottle from Amazon.com, you can stop reading now and click through to our top pick: Love Beauty & Planet’s Volume and Bounty Thickening Shampoo & Conditioner.
Not only is this product vegan and cruelty-free, it’s a fantastic deal. You get two large bottles of shampoo and conditioner for less than what many other brands charge for just the shampoo.
What Shampoos Are Vegan?
A number of companies make vegan shampoo. These brands often carry seals attesting to their refusal to use animal testing or ingredients. Despite what marketers would have you believe, most vegan brands offer comparable quality. So what you probably want is a big cheap bottle of vegan shampoo, ideally without the need to visit three different stores to find it.
A number of well-known cosmetics companies, including Acure, Avalon Organics, and 100% Pure oppose animal testing and label all their products as vegan.
Here are the bestselling vegan shampoos carried by Amazon.com:
- 100% PURE: Kelp & Mint Volumizing Shampoo
- Aspen Kay: Shampoo Bar
- Acure: 100% Vegan Ultra Hydrating Shampoo
- Avalon Organics: Thickening Shampoo
- Aveeno: Plant Protein Blend Shampoo
- Beauty Without Cruelty: Shampoo Volume Plus
- Desert Essence: Fragrance Free Shampoo & Conditioner Bundle
- Ethique: Solid Shampoo Bar
- Garnier: Pure Clean Shampoo and Conditioner
- Giovanni: Smooth as Silk Deep Moisture Shampoo
- Honest Company: Shampoo & Bodywash
- Kiss My Face: Big Body Shampoo
- L’ORÉAL: EverPure Volume Shampoo
- Love Beauty & Planet: Volume and Bounty Thickening Shampoo & Conditioner and Hope and Repair Shampoo & Conditioner
- Mineral Fusion: Volumizing Shampoo and Conditioner
- Oars + Alps: Hydrating Shampoo
- Pacifica: Coconut Power Strong and Long Healing and Moisturizing Shampoo
- Paul Mitchell: Awapuhi Shampoo for All Hair Types
Shampoos are diluted detergents, plus some thickeners and usually some perfumes and colorants. None of this need be animal-derived.
Not so long ago, finding vegan shampoo took lots of time and effort. But now, you’ve got so many terrific options. It’s great to see more and more companies using exclusively vegan ingredients. No doubt our above product list will be twice as long in a few years.
Why Do Many Companies Use Animal-Derived Ingredients?
Given the growing interest in vegan lifestyles, why do so many shampoos still contain animal ingredients? It’s not because these substances possess unique cleaning abilities, but because they’re ridiculously cheap. Non-vegan ingredients are typically slaughterhouse byproducts. Meat packers would have to pay to dispose of this waste if it couldn’t be sold for a pittance to cosmetics companies seeking cheap filler materials. Really, the only reason to formulate a shampoo with animal ingredients is to cut costs.
So choosing a cruelty-free shampoo never means sacrificing on quality or performance. Your vegan shampoo options are excellent, and any product you choose keeps animals from harm.
