Choosing the Best Ethical & Sustainable Pet Grooming Brands
Which pet shampoo and conditioner brands are the most ethical and sustainable? To find out, explore our Ethical Pet Grooming Ratings Table, where you can compare scores across all major brands.
Why Choose Ethical Pet Grooming Brands?
Pet shampoos and conditioners are essential for maintaining our furry friends’ coat health, skin comfort, and overall wellbeing. But the brands behind these products vary widely in their environmental impact, ingredient safety, and corporate ethics.
The global shampoo & conditioner segment of the pet grooming market was valued at approximately US $5.59 billion in 2024, with forecasts projecting growth at around 6% through 2030.
As this sector expands, so does the need for transparency around ingredients, packaging, and corporate responsibility. The GOOD Shopping Guide helps you make informed choices so that your pet‑care products align with your values.
Can I trust packaging?
Packaging remains one of the biggest environmental challenges in the pet‑care sector, just as it is in human personal care. Most grooming products still come in single‑use plastic bottles, contributing to the wider problem of plastic waste.
While some brands are shifting toward post‑consumer recycled (PCR) plastics, refillable containers, or aluminium bottles, many mainstream products still rely on virgin plastic.
However, as with human personal care, not all refillable or “eco” packaging is equally sustainable. Checking our ratings table helps you distinguish between meaningful action and marketing spin.
How do I know which brands are truly sustainable and which ones are greenwashing?
Greenwashing is a growing issue in the pet‑care industry. As demand for “natural” and “eco‑friendly” grooming products rises, some companies exaggerate or misrepresent their sustainability credentials.
Our research examines both brand‑level and parent‑company behaviour, ensuring you get the full picture and not just what appears on the bottle.
How Does My Pet Shampoo Choice Affect Animal Welfare?
Ethical grooming goes beyond ingredients and packaging. A genuinely cruelty‑free brand must:
- Avoid animal testing throughout its supply chain
- Hold robust and credible certifications like Leaping Bunny from Cruelty Free International
- Ensure its parent company does not test on animals or sell in markets requiring animal testing
A brand may appear ethical, but if its parent company permits animal testing in its supply chain, it will receive a bottom rating in our Animal Welfare category. To find out more about how we research and rate brands, visit our How We Rate page.
So which Pet Grooming brands are best?
Whether you’re prioritising animal welfare or supporting more sustainable businesses, your choice of pet pampering products matters. Selecting ethical brands helps drive the industry towards better transparency, reduced waste, and stronger corporate responsibility.
As always, our top ethical picks are our Ethically Accredited brands HOWND and WildWash, which have been independently researched and verified as ethical brands by The GOOD Shopping Guide.
Other ethical and sustainable choices can be found in the green portion of our table, above our ethical benchmark.
You can explore more about each brand, their scores, and their ethical performance in our Pet Grooming Ethical Comparison Table or click on the individual brands below.
HOWND, WildWash, Beaphar, Faith in Nature, Little Soap Company, Pet Head, Burt’s Bees, FURminator, Kiehl’s, OUAI, Paul Mitchell, Virbac, Animology, Bugalugs, Coatex, Douxo, Johnson’s, Palmers, Tropiclean, Wahl