After speaking with Michelle Thew, Chief Executive of Cruelty Free International, and Emily Westhead, International Communications Director at L’Oréal, we dug into the accreditation process that Garnier has gone through. We also touched on China, and future plans for L’Oréal.

I’m happy to announce to my readers that Garnier is truly a cruelty-free brand and is not currently sold in stores in mainland China. The brand has also confirmed that they have no plans to expand to mainland China in the future as long as animal testing is a concern. You can now purchase from Garnier knowing that they’re a cruelty-free, Leaping Bunny certified company.

At Cruelty-Free Kitty, we don’t allow companies to get away with “cruelty-free” marketing claims that are half-truths. Garnier is available in more than 65 countries worldwide. You can find them at several local drugstores no matter where you live. This is why it’s so important to get all the facts right regarding their cruelty-free status. For some cruelty-free shoppers, Garnier could be the only hair care brand they have access to that’s cruelty-free.

A Thorough Leaping Bunny Approval Process

Leaping Bunny’s approval process is rigorous whether the approval is for a small, independent brand or a large company such as Garnier. In Garnier’s case, the approval process took over 2 years and over 500 suppliers had to be vetted.

After this initial audit, Garnier will be audited regularly in order to maintain their Leaping Bunny status and display the Leaping Bunny logo on products which demonstrates that the company is doing everything possible to be cruelty free and remove animal testing from its supply chain.

No Longer Sold in China

As you know, at Cruelty-Free Kitty we do not consider brands that are sold in mainland China to be cruelty-free even when they bypass pre-market animal testing by using certain loopholes. These brands include Herbal Essences, Dove, First Aid Beauty, and Aussie. While these brands are approved by PETA, they do not meet our cruelty-free criteria.

Before 2017, Garnier sold a small number of products in China. They have since completely pulled out of China and the products that were sold there are no longer marketed.

There are no Garnier products on the market which have been animal tested since 2013. Garnier is therefore not subject to either pre-market animal testing or post-market animal testing in China.

It’s Official: Garnier Is Cruelty-Free!

You can now purchase from Garnier knowing that the brand is truly cruelty-free. They’re not sold in mainland China which means that no loopholes are being used, and they have been vetted by Leaping Bunny.

Garnier is currently one of the few budget-friendly hair care brands you can find at the drugstore. Even more than that, they’re often the only cruelty-free hair care brand many shoppers around the world can have easy access to.

L’Oréal Is Still Not Cruelty-Free

Although Garnier is now a cruelty-free company, their parent company L’Oréal unfortunately still tests on animals where required by law. While we recommend supporting all cruelty-free brands at Cruelty-Free Kitty, some cruelty-free shoppers prefer avoiding any brand owned by a parent company that isn’t cruelty-free. If this is you, you’ll now find Garnier in our list of cruelty-free brands owned by a parent company that tests on animals. Garnier will also clearly be marked as being owned by L’Oréal on their brand page.

Are More Brands Owned By L’Oréal Going Cruelty-Free?

We weren’t able to get a confirmation whether or not more brands owned by L’Oréal will follow Garnier’s footsteps and go cruelty-free. Currently, L’Oréal owns the following brands that are cruelty-free: NYX, IT Cosmetics, Urban Decay, and Carol’s Daughter.

L’Oréal also owns the following brands that are NOT cruelty-free: L’Oréal Paris, Maybelline, Lancôme, Yves Saint Laurent, Kiehl’s, Giorgio Armani, Shu Uemura, Biotherm, Keratase, La Roche-Posay, Vichy, SkinCeuticals, and more.

We recently added Essie to our list of grey area brands.

Towards a Cruelty-Free Future

Efforts from brands like Garnier and CoverGirl to commit to being cruelty-free are very promising. Acquiring Leaping Bunny certification is not an easy process for these big players, which proves how important it is to go cruelty-free in 2021. These brands are setting a standard for all other brands on the market. If giants like Garnier and CoverGirl are committed not to test on animals, more brands could (and should) follow suit.

Is Garnier owned by a parent company that tests on animals?

Garnier is owned by L'Oréal which is not a cruelty-free brand. If you prefer avoiding brands owned by a company that tests on animals, we recommend avoiding Garnier.

In the beauty industry, it’s common for brands to be owned by a larger company. These are called parent companies, and they’re often global corporations such as L’Oreal, Estee Lauder, or Procter & Gamble.

Most of these parent companies are not cruelty-free, since they test on animals to some degree. They might also own several brands that are not cruelty-free.

However, some of the brands owned by these parent companies are cruelty-free and have strict policies against animal testing.

There are pros and cons to supporting cruelty-free brands owned by parent companies that aren’t.

You can either:

• Choose to boycott them since they’re a part of a larger conglomerate that engages in animal testing.
• Choose to support some of them based on the individual ethics of each parent company, or only purchase from them if there are no independent alternatives.
• Choose to support them since they are 100% cruelty-free even though their parent company is not, therefore showing their parent company that consumers are favoring their cruelty-free brands.

In the cruelty-free community, the majority of conscious consumers purchase from cruelty-free brands even if they’re owned by a parent company that tests on animals. This is our stance at Cruelty-Free Kitty as well. We believe that supporting all cruelty-free brands is the only path towards a cruelty-free and more ethical beauty industry.

It’s also worth noting that subsidiary brands of parent companies are unique corporations by themselves. They act as independent branches and operate independently from the parent company, and can also be sold to other companies including cruelty-free ones.

Another aspect to consider is that many parts of the world only have access to limited brands, so their only cruelty-free options are owned by large corporations. This is a concern we hear about constantly from our international readers. Given this complex landscape, we believe that supporting all cruelty-free brands is ethical as well as practical.

A minority of shoppers choose to boycott brands owned by a parent company that tests on animals.

At Cruelty-Free Kitty, we make it easy for all of our readers to know which brands are owned by a parent company that tests on animals. At the top of each brand page, you’ll see a “parent company” note if that’s the case.

You can also filter our list of cruelty-free brands to only show brands that are not owned by any company that tests on animals.

Finally, for a list of brands owned by a parent company that tests on animals, click here.

Is Garnier sold where animal testing is required by law?

No, Garnier is not sold where animal testing is required by law.

You can trust Cruelty-Free Kitty to be on top of the most recent changes in China's animal testing laws. As of 2024, the vast majority of beauty brands available in China have had their products tested on animals.

Mainland China still requires these mandatory animal tests for most companies. Is it possible for brands to bypass them? Yes, however it's currently extremely rare as brands need to "jump through several hoops".

One way to bypass these animal tests is to only have their products available only online, and not in physical stores. Another way is to manufacture the products in China while making sure to adhere to strict regulations.

In all other cases, beauty brands need to pay for cruel animal tests to be performed using their products. It's estimated that close to 100,000 rabbits are used in animal testing for cosmetics each year in China alone.

Even though the company itself isn't executing these animal experiments, they bear full responsibility. Not only does the company sign off on the experiments, but they're also funding them.

Is Garnier certified cruelty-free by any organizations?

Yes, Garnier is certified by Leaping Bunny & Peta.

While companies can be fully cruelty-free without being certified, it’s still a good indicator of their ethical practices. Leaping Bunny and PETA are the two organizations giving out cruelty-free certification.

Is Garnier vegan?

Garnier is cruelty-free but not 100% vegan, meaning that some of their products contain animal-derived ingredients.

Brands can be cruelty-free without being vegan, and claim to be vegan without being cruelty-free. This is because “cruelty-free” refers to the animal testing aspect, while “vegan” refers to the ingredients.

A “vegan” product contains no animal-derived ingredients, such as Beeswax (made by bees), Carmine (a red pigment made from crushed beetles), or Collagen (from mammal or fish skin).

A company is “cruelty-free” at company level, meaning they can’t have cruelty-free products unless the whole company is cruelty-free. However, a company can offer vegan products even if not all of their products are vegan. If all of their products are vegan, then we refer to the brand as “100% vegan”.

We have a list of 100% vegan brands, and you can also filter our official list of cruelty-free brands and choose to show vegan brands only.

Looking for vegan products from cruelty-free brands? Visit our Product Database and make sure you use the vegan filter.

Does Garnier test on animals?

How do you determine that brands like Garnier are cruelty-free?

We contact brands directly with our questions in order to get their full animal testing policy. If brands answer all our questions and confirm that no animal testing is happening at any point during production and beyond, they're added to our cruelty-free list. All brands we add have confirmed the information above.

We ask all conscious consumers to be mindful of misleading statements from brands. Companies that test on animals try to minimize their involvement in animal testing, and understandably so—if a brand were to proudly claim to perform cruel tests on animals, their customers would surely reconsider being a loyal fan.

What they do instead is use clever language that shifts the blame away from themselves and makes the public believe that they’re not responsible for the animal testing, or that the animal testing performed on their products is “an exception”.

If a brand is listed as “not cruelty-free” in our database, you can rest assured that their products were tested on animals in recent years.

We monitor every change and constantly post updates. The changes in our database, list of cruelty-free, and brand pages are reflected in real time as soon as we become aware of new information.

Is Cruelty-Free Kitty reliable?

Cruelty-Free Kitty is the largest and most trusted cruelty-free shopping platform.

We vet every single brand added to our database by contacting them directly and ensuring they adhere to our strict criteria we call "The Cruelty-Free 5".

For a brand to be listed as cruelty-free, it must satisfy the following:

1. The brand itself does not test on animals, for either finished products or ingredients.
2. Suppliers do not test on animals for products, raw materials, or ingredients.
3. No third parties test on animals on the brand's behalf.
4. The brand does not test on animals when required by law.
5. The brand does not sell cosmetics in physical stores in mainland China.

At Cruelty-Free Kitty, we have an unwavering commitment to accuracy. The landscape of cosmetics animal testing is constantly evolving globally. Our team is diligent about staying current on changing laws, brand acquisitions, and policy updates that impact cruelty-free status.

To date, we’ve vetted over 1200+ brands and helped millions of conscious shoppers choose products that aren’t tested on animals. Please feel free to contact us with any questions by using our contact form.