Cruelty-free Japanese brands are not common. Although brands sometimes release information about their own animal testing policies, this information is not necessarily applicable to their suppliers, and they may also sell in physical stores in China, where their products may be subject to pre- or post-market animal testing, without disclosing that information. This means their animal testing policy may refer only to if animal testing is performed in product development, and not to if they pay for animal testing to be conducted so they can sell in a particular country.

Where we have any information about this, we will share it below.

There may be very few or no vegan and cruelty-free choices in typical drugstores or grocery stores. The only brands listed here which may be found in these types of stores are Kose and Diane, which are not cruelty-free, Miyoshi, The Public Organic, and Vegan Style. Ordering online at iHerb or other websites or going to a specialty store such as Lush may be your best bet. Natural Lawson convenience stores also occasionally stock some choices- Sukin and Andalou Naturals have been carried there in the past, albeit at higher prices than on iHerb. There are also a number of Japanese salon brands with vegan products that cannot be found in drugstores.

For those who enjoy using liquid castile soap as shampoo, Dr. Bronner’s is probably the most easily found brand in Japan. There is also a Japanese brand called The Perfect Anchor. Find information about these products in our Soap, Toothpaste and Mouthwash section.

Aesop has more than thirty stores in Japan and is listed as totally vegan and cruelty-free by the website Ethical Elephant. Find the store locations here (English).

Photos from website.

‘ala Lehua is a Japanese brand with a concept of products that use 100% pure essential oils blended with Hawaiian kukui nut and macadamia nut oils. They make a Hair & Body Wash, along with air and fabric fresheners, body cream, hand wash, and aroma reed diffusers, all in three scents. They do not make a hair conditioner. Per customer service, they do not animal test and their lip cream and hand & nail cream are the only things they make containing animal products (honey and beeswax). The products can be ordered online.

Photo from website.

Awake is a collaboration brand with the US-based Tarte. It’s owned by Kose, which sells in China and therefore cannot be considered cruelty-free. The Brand Concept (Japanese) section of the Japanese Awake website says all the products are vegan (have no animal ingredients)/ 全製品においてヴィーガン対応*。（*動物由来原料不使用).

The FAQ’s section of the U.S. Awake site says “many of our products are vegan,” but as of February 2020, a U.S. customer service representative stated all of the Awake beauty products are vegan.

Aveda‘s customer service stated as of Sept. 2019 they have 100% certified vegan formulations for all their haircare products, and by 2021 they’ll remove beeswax, honey and beeswax-derived ingredients from all their formulations, making them all animal-ingredient free/100% vegan. Aveda is owned by Estee Lauder, which is not cruelty-free. For more on this, check the excellent website Logical Harmony.

The Body Shop is a vegetarian, cruelty-free shop with many vegan options.

Botanist is a Japanese brand that has a vegan shampoo and treatment (conditioner). Both are certified vegan by The Vegan Society and vegan and cruelty-free by PETA. Available at their shop in Omotesando, Tokyo (which also has a vegan-friendly cafe on the second floor) and also online.

Botanist Shampoo & Treatment Vegan Moist.

    

For Botanist’s other products that are not marked vegan, when we contacted customer service, they would only answer if animal ingredients were not included if we asked about specific items by name. They stated that the following products do use animal ingredients:

Botanist Botanical Shampoo & Treatment Moist/ボタニカルシャンプー &
トリートメント モイスト

Botanist Botanical Shampoo & Treatment Smooth/ボタニカルシャンプー スムース

Other than the items specifically marked “vegan,” we were not able to identify animal-ingredient free products from Botanist.

Ethique products, including their shampoo and conditioner bars, are all certified cruelty-free and vegan. They are sold at Cosme Kitchen.

Although the Giovanni hair care products, per the FAQ section of their U.S. website, are vegan except for: “our Magnetic Hair Care products (which contain lactoferrin) and our Hot Chocolate^™ Sugar Scrub (which contains honey),” we’ve identified that the Shiny Hair Wax Giovanni products sold in Japan contain beeswax/ミツロウ/mitsurou.

The photo below was also taken in a branch of Cosme Kitchen. Giovanni products can also be purchased online, including from the Cosme Kitchen website (Japanese).

       

   

Hinoseiyaku is a Japanese company.

Their website explicitly states that no animal ingredients are used in the Hyakuso Monogatari Botanical Elegance shampoo and conditioner, 動物由来原料フリー.

In March 2020, they were reported to have confirmed that they do not test on animals and that their suppliers do not test on animals. We do not currently have information on if they sell their products in China or not.

The products are not generally carried in stores, but need to be ordered online.

Hyakuso Monogatari  Botanical Elegance shampoo and conditioner/百草物語 シャンプー&トリートメント Botanical Elegance.

Photo from website.

John Masters Organics, per their website, doesn’t test on animals and has a variety of vegan products.

“Are your products tested on animals?

None of our ingredients or products are tested on animals and we are recognized by PETA.

Are your products vegan?

We define vegan as products that do not contain ingredients sourced from animals. Our products are vegan with the exception of the following:  Lavender & Avocado Intensive Conditioner (contains honey), Sweet Orange & Silk Protein Styling Gel (silk proteins), Hair Pomade (beeswax), Honey & Hibiscus Hair Reconstructor (honey), Honey & Hibiscus Hair Reconstructing Shampoo (honey), and Lip Calm (beeswax).”

Ilga (Number 3)/イルガ（ナンバースリー） is a Japanese salon brand with shampoos, treatments (conditioner), scalp clean, and scalp lotion, that are all certified vegan.

Photo from website.

Kose is a Japanese company that sells in physical stores in China. Because they sell in physical stores in mainland China, the products are not cruelty-free.

Kose’s own animal testing policy (Japanese) is (from autotranslate): “The Kose Group is promoting the development of cosmetics (including quasi-drugs) with a policy of not conducting animal experiments, while putting safety first. *

In addition to utilizing the vast amount of safety data that has been accumulated over the past years of cosmetics development, we also ensure the safety of cosmetics based on our own standards through alternative testing methods and various human tests. We will not conduct animal experiments including outsourcing, and will continue to develop cosmetics in the future.

Except in the unlikely event that safety is held accountable to society or required by government in some countries.”

They make some products that are labeled on the website as not containing animal ingredients, “動物由来原料フリー.” There are 12 of these products in total, a shampoo, conditioner, and treatment in each of the Deep Moist, Extra Damage Repair, Sleek Straight, and Extra Airy varieties. Those products are shown below. The entire Bioliss Botanical line can be found here (English).

The additional products in the Bioliss Botanical line such as hair oil and hair wax are not specifically listed on the website as being free of animal ingredients. The hair water is listed as containing silk. The Deep Repair Hair Mask is listed as containing honey.

Kose Bioliss Botanical Deep Moist Shampoo/コーセービオリスボタニカル　シャンプー (ディープモイスト).

Refills are also available.

   

Kose Bioliss Botanical Deep Moist Conditioner/コーセービオリスボタニカル コンディショナー  (ディープモイスト).

Refills are also available.

   

Kose Bioliss Botanical Deep Moist Treatment/コーセービオリス ボタニカル ヘアトリートメント（ディープモイスト）.

Photo from website.

Kose Bioliss Botanical Extra Damage Repair Shampoo/ビオリス ボタニカル シャンプー（エクストラダメージリペア).

Refills are also available.

   

Kose Bioliss Botanical Extra Damage Repair Conditioner/ビオリス ボタニカル
コンディショナー（エクストラダメージリペア).

Refills are also available.

    

Kose Bioliss Botanical Extra Damage Repair Treatment/コーセービオリス ボタニカル ヘアトリートメント（エクストラダメージリペア).

Photo from website.

Kose Bioliss Botanical Sleek Straight Shampoo/ビオリス ボタニカル シャンプー（スリークストレート).

Refills for this product are available.

Photo from website.

Kose Bioliss Botanical Sleek Straight Conditioner/ビオリス ボタニカル コンディショナー （スリークストレート).

Refills for this product are available.

Photo from website.

Kose Bioliss Botanical Sleek Straight Treatment/コーセービオリス ボタニカル ヘアトリートメント（スリークストレート).

Photo from website.

Kose Bioliss Botanical Extra Airy Shampoo/ビオリス ボタニカル シャンプー（エクストラエアリー).

Refills for this product are available.

Photo from website.

Kose Bioliss Botanical Extra Airy Conditioner/ビオリス ボタニカル コンディショナー（エクストラエアリー).

Refills for this product are available.

Photo from website.

Kose Bioliss Botanical Extra Airy Treatment/コーセービオリス ボタニカル ヘアトリートメント（エクストラエアリー).

Photo from website.

The hair mask contains honey, so is not vegan.

Bioliss Botanical Deep Repair Hair Mask/ビオリス ボタニカル ディープリペア ヘアマスク.

Kose Nature & Co (Japanese) Botanical Shampoo and Conditioner, Botanical Hair Oil, and Botanical Dry Shampoo are also free of animal raw materials, although Kose sells in China so is not cruelty-free.

Refills are also available.

Photos from website.

                              

Lush is a vegetarian, cruelty-free shop with many vegan options.

Lush is a very popular store in Japan with more than 150 branches in the country. It does not do animal testing or buy from suppliers that do animal testing and all the products are vegan or vegetarian. The bags say “no animal testing” in Japanese. It sells plant-based soap as well as facial masks, shampoo, conditioner and many other products. They also sell charity products, with the purchase price, minus tax, going to various charitable organizations both inside and outside of Japan. The company’s website states that about 80% of their products are vegan.

Per Lush’s USA website, the company does use palm oil derivatives in some of its ingredients. The list of ingredients using palm oil derivatives is here.

At least in the Shibuya, Tokyo branch most, but seemingly not all, of the products were labeled vegan or vegetarian, so it might be a good idea to look up the products you want before you go. They appear to specialize in highly scented/fragranced products.

            

Miyoshi is a Japanese company that makes a variety of solid and liquid body, baby, hand, and kitchen soaps, as well as shampoo and conditioner.

Soaps shown in our Soap, Toothpaste and Mouthwash section as having animal ingredients were listed on the website as of January 2019 as having beef tallow (along with other Miyoshi soaps not pictured there), however, that information has since disappeared from the website.

Per a phone call as of January 2019, the only animal ingredient Miyoshi uses is beef tallow/gyuushi/牛脂. They only use beef tallow in some of their solid/固形 soaps or powder/粉 soaps, as well as other ingredients like palm oil. None of their liquid/液体 soaps contain any animal ingredients.

At that time, the Q&A section of their website (now gone) also stated that the liquid soaps were made of ingredients such as palm oil and rapeseed oil. However, a few of their liquid soaps did appear on their list of items containing beef tallow, so it seems their website had some inconsistencies.

Regarding animal testing, the Q&A section of their website said:

The situation regarding our animal experiments at this stage is as follows:

1 We do not conduct animal experiments on any products. There are no plans to conduct animal experiments on any products at this time.

2 We do not assign animal testing of any products to an external organization.

3 We have not received any reports from group companies that they are conducting animal experiments.

4 We do not investigate whether or not raw material manufacturers are conducting animal experiments on raw materials used by us. There are no plans to investigate at this time.

Naturelab is a Japanese company that makes a line of haircare products called Moist Diane Botanical. Because they sell in physical stores in mainland China, the products are not cruelty-free.

Their about page (Japanese) and the product packages state that their products are free of animal products, with the exception of microbial raw materials or honey.

Their animal testing policy, from the same section, is “原料・商品の製造において動物実験をしないこと,” which translates to “no animal testing on ingredients or finished products.”

Per customer service, the Damage Repairing Shampoo and Treatment (English) do not use animal ingredients. Refills and samples for the products are also available.

   

   

   

Per customer service, their Botanical Moist Shampoo and Treatment use honey. Therefore they are not vegan.

   

Naturelab’s Diane Bonheur Organic line is sold only at Cosme Kitchen and is free of animal ingredients. Because Diane sells in China, they cannot be considered cruelty-free.

Diane Bonheur Organic Damage Repair & Diane Bonheur Organic Moist & Smooth.

There are also animal-ingredient-free hair oils in the same line, as well as plastic and wooden/plastic brushes without animal hair bristles.

Diane Bonheur Organic Signature Oil Rose & Neroli & Diane Bonheur Organic Signature Oil Bergamot & Sage.

Number Three Organics/ナンバースリーオーガニック is a Japanese salon brand that makes certified vegan Natural Shampoo, Moisture Shampoo, Smooth Treatment, Repair Treatment, Scalp Cream, and Hair Oil. Their Hair Balm is not vegan. The products are available online.

There is a list of salons that carry these products here (Japanese). More details about the products are provided here (Japanese).

They also sell a line of certified vegan aroma oils.

Photo from website.

Sierra Organica (Japanese) is a Japanese salon brand with some vegan items- conditioners (treatments) and hair oils. Check for the “vegan quality” mark next to individual items on the website. Some items, like the hair waxes, are not vegan (the hair waxes contain beeswax/ミツロウ).  The list of salons that carry Sierra Organica products is here (Japanese).

The Public Organic is a Japanese brand. Per the about section of their website (Japanese), they do not animal test/動物実験を実施しないこと and they do not use animal ingredients in their products, with the exception of microbial raw materials, honey and beeswax/微生物由来原料及びハチミツ、ミツロウを除く、動物原料を使用しないこと. As of March 2020, they stated that do not sell in physical stores in mainland China.

The products and ingredient lists can be found here (Japanese). The shampoo and conditioner products that do not contain any animal ingredients are:

Check the Kitchen Soap, Soap, Toothpaste & Mouthwash section for the animal-ingredient-free soaps by The Public Organic.

The Basic Wellness Vegan Cream Hair Cleansing shampoo is available for purchase online (Japanese). No information appears to be given about the company’s animal testing policy.

Photo from website.

Vegan Style certified vegan (by the UK Vegan Society) and halal hair care products (shampoo, conditioner/treatment, and hair oil) were released May 5, 2020 in 380 Aeon and Aeon Style stores in Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku. See more details in the press release (Japanese).