Is L'Oreal ethical?
Our research highlights several ethical issues with L'Oréal, including its approach to animal testing, climate, tax, and workers' rights.
Below, we outline some of these issues. To see the full detailed stories, and L'Oreal's overall ethical rating, please sign in or subscribe.
Does L'Oréal test on animals?
L'Oréal has been the target of numerous campaigns over animal testing.
It has done work developing human skin cells (what it calls Episkin) as an alternative to animal testing, and has a published policy against animal testing.
But it continues to sell products in China where it is required by regulatory authorities to test on animals for finished cosmetics products.
It does not have a fixed cut of date for use of animal-tested ingredients and was previously on Naturewatch Foundation list of brands to boycott because of animal testing.
Subsidiary company in Israel
L'Oréal owns L'Oréal Israel Ltd, meaning that it pays tax contributions to the Israeli government.
Beyond this, we found no evidence that it actively enabled abuses of Palestinian human rights and it is not subject to any related boycotts on this topic.
Human rights and L'Oréal
In 2024 the BBC named L'Oréal and other companies as using child labour in its perfume supply chain, with children in Egypt as young as five picking jasmine. When informed about this, L'Oréal responded: “Consistent with our human rights commitments, we decided to take immediate action… we have worked to put concrete actions in place ahead of the next jasmine harvest in June.”
Is L'Oréal palm oil-free?
L'Oréal is not palm oil-free. However, it only uses palm oil and derivatives which are certified by the main palm oil certifying body - the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). 100% of its palm oil and derivatives are RSPO certified.
L'Oréal’s approach to carbon emissions
Although it has science-based emissions targets to align with international climate agreements, L'Oréal’s emissions from its products and supply chain (also known as Scope 3 emissions) actually increased by 7% from 2019 to 2024.
Its reporting includes detailed plans to address this, including taking action on packaging, increasing bio-based ingredients in its products, increased use of renewable energy in its operations, and transport logistics. L'Oréal also reported that the group has achieved 97% renewable energy across its sites.
Finance and tax conduct
L'Oréal is 20% owned by Nestlé.
We found several companies in L'Oréal’s corporate family tree that were on Ethical Consumer’s tax havens list. These included a holding company in the Philippines, an investment company in the Netherlands, and a holding company in Panama.
We found no third party criticisms for tax avoidance dated in the last five years. Historically the company had been associated with a largely publicised tax scandal in 2010, in which the then owner of the L'Oréal empire Liliane Bettencourt attempted to evade paying taxes by reportedly hiding approximately €80m (£66m) in Swiss bank accounts. She also held undeclared assets, including a privately-owned island in the Seychelles. The scandal was the subject of a 2023 documentary entitled The Billionaire, the Butler and Boyfriend.
Targeted in a hair relaxers lawsuit
Some ingredients that are used in a number of Black hair care products have been linked to cancer. Chemical relaxers, which straighten Afro-textured hair, can contain lye, also known as sodium hydroxide.
A 2021 study from the University of Oxford suggested that Black women who used lye-based hair relaxers frequently over an extended period of time had a roughly 30% increased risk of developing breast cancer.
According to the No More Lyes campaign, even products that are marketed as "no lye" can still contain harmful hydroxides including calcium hydroxide and lithium hydroxide, which have been linked to hair loss and scalp burns. Various US legal websites suggest there are now thousands of hair relaxer lawsuits pending, with L’Oreal as the primary target defendant, but trials aren’t expected to begin until 2027.
L’Oreal UK says it meets the highest health and safety standards, and that there’s “no legal merit” in the lawsuits. It also says it doesn’t import or sell such products in the UK, though our short search showed the products to be available on eBay and independent retailer websites.
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The text above was written in February 2026, and most research was conducted in January 2026.