Hair Dye & Colour
Shop vegan and cruelty-free hair dye and colour. All of these hair colouring products are 100% free of animal-derived materials, ingredients, by-products and testing.
Hair Dye & Colour
What is vegan & cruelty-free hair dye?
The term “vegan” with regard to hair dye and colouring products (or colour removing products), refers to products that do not contain ingredients that are derived or sourced from animals or insects. The term “cruelty-free” means a product and its ingredients aren’t tested on animals.
Please Note: On this site, we feature hair dye and colouring products that are both vegan AND cruelty-free; they contain no animal or insect ingredients, and are not tested on animals.
What animal ingredients are typically found in hair dye?
When shopping for hair dye and evaluating possible purchases, most people ask the same questions; “How expensive is it? What colour do I want? How long do I want this to last? Will it damage my hair?”. Often overlooked, are questions like, “Is there shark liver oil or cow pee in this? What about the stomach lining of a pig?”. After all, who thinks to ask these questions? Fortunately, there are people out there that do. Here’s a quick overview of common animal-derived and sourced ingredients that are found in many non-vegan hair dye and colouring products:
Vitamin A: Can come from fish liver oil (such as shark liver oil), egg yolk and butter. Vegan sources include lemon grass and wheat germ oil, carrots, other vegetables, and synthetic production.
Urea: Excreted from urine and other bodily fluids. Fortunately, most urea used these days in cosmetics is sourced from synthetic alternatives.
Stearic Acid: This name often refers to a fatty substance taken from the stomachs of pigs. Stearic acid has many aliases and derivatives, including Stearamide, Stearamine, Stearates, Stearic Hydrazide, Stearone, Stearoxytrimethylsilane, Stearoyl Lactylic Acid, Stearyl Betaine, Stearyl Imidazoline. Fortunately, stearic acid can be found in many plant and vegetable fats, including coconut.
Squalene: An oil typically sourced from shark liver. Vegan alternatives include vegetable oils such as olive oil, wheat germ oil, rice bran oil.
What companies make vegan/cruelty-free hair dye and colouring products?
The following companies make hair dye and colouring products that are cruelty-free and vegan-friendly:
- Developlus (also makes the “Satin” and “Splat” lines)
- Paul Mitchell
- Shea Moisture
- Arctic Fox
- Tints of Nature
- Primary Syn
- Good Dye Young
- Henna Colour Lab
Why buy hair dye that's vegan & cruelty-free?
It comes down to this: if you buy a vegan-friendly and cruelty-free product, you’re buying an animal-friendly product, and doing so helps to put an end to the perpetual cycle of paying companies to test the cosmetic products we use on animals. Every shade of colour for hair dye you could want is available in a vegan and cruelty-free version.
Is vegan and cruelty-free hair dye expensive?
In general, vegan and cruelty-free hair dye is not any more expensive, or any less-expensive, than products that include animal sourced and derived ingredients and/or products that are tested on animals. Just like non-vegan/non-cruelty-free products, there are differences in the quality and the availability of the ingredients used, differences in the manufacturing processes employed, and different brand names behind various products; all of these factors can make prices vary from one product to the next.
I’ve just turned vegan, should I get rid of any non-vegan products that I own?
Deciding on how to deal with your old non-vegan, non-cruelty-free clothing, protein powder, hair dye, makeup, footwear, personal care items and virtually any other product is certainly one of the more challenging aspects of adopting a vegan and cruelty-free lifestyle. There really is no right or wrong way to sort this dilemma out; ultimately, it comes down to what you decide you’re no longer comfortable using, what old products you can afford to replace immediately with vegan products, and what you feel can be given away in a hygienic manner. Your best options might be to give away any unused or gently used products to friends and family, or use products (if you’re comfortable doing so) until they have run out or otherwise outlived their usefulness.
How do you choose which products to list?
We maintain a growing list of companies that we find, or that are suggested to us, that make hair dye and colouring products that are rumoured to be vegan-friendly and cruelty-free. We contact these companies to find out straight from them if they abide by cruelty-free practices, such as:
- Not testing products or ingredients on animals themselves
- Not paying someone else to do it for them
- Not sourcing ingredients that are tested on animals
- Not selling their products in countries wherein animal testing is required by law, such as China
Any vegan-friendly products made by companies that pass this cruelty-free test and that are sold on Amazon are listed here for your shopping convenience.
Why are some products you list only available in Canada or the United States?
We try our best to find vegan and cruelty-free hair dye products that will ship to Amazon customers across the globe. Unfortunately, some products don't ship outside of the country in which they’re warehoused, due to excessive taxation on certain products, hefty importing fees, or any other number of possible reasons.
Similar product categories
If you’ve found this page on vegan and cruelty-free hair dye helpful, check out similar product categories to learn or shop more:
- Men’s Hair Care
- Hair Styling Products
- Shampoo & Conditioner
- All Women’s Hair Care Products
- All Women’s Personal Care Products
For companies that make women’s vegan & cruelty-free hair dye
If you make vegan and cruelty-free hair dye and colouring products, we’d love to feature you and your products on the “Brands We Love” section of our site! Contact us at - info(at)getitvegan(dot)com - to get started!
Sources
Some of the information for this mini guide on vegan/cruelty-free hair dye and colour was compiled from the following source(s):
- Animal Writes: “Animal Rendering Products In More Places Than You Think.” Renea Mohammed (Summer, 2003). Resne.com via The Vancouver Humane Society Newsletter. Retrieved April 17, 2017. http://www.rense.com/general39/animal.htm
- Resources: “Animal Ingredients” (n.d.). ChooseCrueltyFree.org. Retrieved April 16, 2017. http://www.choosecrueltyfree.org.au/animal-ingredients/